Ted Clements, the designer of the first Antares Catamaran, is a legend that still lives on. Ted’s designs balanced the need to take care of the customers, even if it means tempering some of their design ideas.
Ted’s career started nearly 35 years ago and is a seasoned designer of yachts. Ted believes that ultimately the designer is obliged to temper some marketing-driven ideas, such as an exposed helm position which can be treacherous when enduring the hardships of being in weather, or curved cabin tops that are difficult to maneuver around.
As Ted explains, the functional line has a proper place in the marine field. You should be constantly concerned about ergonomic and usability issues, both inside and outside the vessel. The standards in the construction and design of the Antares are a result of a long history amalgamating the requirements of working vessels with pleasing aesthetics.
I can see how a deliberate ignorance of the first principles of marine design will get you noticed, but I always presumed that tarring and feathering would follow; Apparently not, nowadays you just get a prestigious Design Award.
At what point did the design consensus decide that a truly enormous cockpit, originally designed to seat eight people for a cocktail/dinner party and fully open to the stern is suitable for an ocean voyaging vessel?
You really ought to get the steps right. We have personally witnessed three incidents of would-be boaters falling down the stairs of various creampuffs, not underway but at the boat show docks.
As a prospective live-aboard catamaran buyer, you have to make sure that the design you select is consistent with your particular cruising requirements. The tempered opinion that is frequently espoused in magazine articles intended to offend no advertiser may suggest that there is no particular right design for your usage, this isn’t true, and there is a variety of definitely wrong ones.
If you want a boat with extended term cruising in mind, the galley requirements are a most serious issue. Ideally it should be a size to store not only a number of provisions but all of the utensils we expect to find in a modern home.
The overabundance of opinion and baloney proliferating on the web makes me reluctant to participate in the melee but some limited commentary may assist our customers in assessing the true relevance to their own cruising catamaran experience.
When the design was first being developed, a stability study was undertaken to establish some parameters to apply. The company always had a very close relationship with its customers and the prevailing philosophy demanded that the new boat could be handed over with confidence to its trusting owners.
We are frequently asked, “What is the displacement of your vessel?” It seems to be the question of the month and appears to have spilled over from the marketing of the hypothetical “ocean going trawler”, cast iron bathtubs presumably trumping canoes.
