RAKU 32
A NEW CONCEPT DESIGNED FOR FUN, FUNCTIONALITY, VERSATILITY AND PERFORMANCE
It’s generally considered that 40’ is the minimum size for a cruising cat, and if full standing headroom is essential that might be a valid argument.
A forty foot cat is a big commitment, especially if you have a busy life style and a desire to indulge in other pursuits.
The Raku 32 920 concept was spurred on by Martin Vanzulli, lover and savant supreme of pretty much all things on two hulls. Martin had been impressed by our Flying Fish 11 design which he had published on Catsailingnews some years ago. Martin was happy for us to have a free hand in the design, but his engagement was highly valuable in extracting the best from the design.
Can we make it smaller, keep it simple, affordable, fast and fun to sail? Martin could see the potential for such a cat on the waters of the Rio de la Plata, where monohulls are numerous but not ideally suited to the shallow and often choppy waters. And not all owners want to commit themselves to a boat 40’ or even bigger.
We started with a clean page, developing the shape along the lines of some of our recent high performance day cats. How small can we go and still have a practical cruiser? We started at 9.2m LOA and added a permanent hard top (with or without a pop top or big sliding hatch) and kept the saloon open to the cockpit.
There was space in each hull for a generous single up forward and bathroom with full standing headroom aft. Forward in the cabin there was space for a large convertible sofa bed each side. In fact you could sleep two couples in queen sized berths if that was the brief.
A “U” shaped seating arrangement in the cockpit and a compact galley and nav station just inside the cabin rounded out the layout. Economical and efficient power is provided by twin outboards.
Sail controls from the mast lead straight back along the cabin top keeping things simple and light with winches at the ideal height from the cockpit seat.
Tiller steering combined with daggerboards puts the focus on agility, responsive and all round good fun sailing.