Marsaudon Composites ORC57

If you are buying a catamaran, you have one main decision to make. Do you want performance on the water and a boat that will get you from A to B quickly (and out of trouble if you need to), or do you want more living space to maximise comfort levels while at anchor?

Photos credit: Marsaudon Composites, Sebastien Mainguet (Voiles et Voiliers), Patrick le Lay, Avel Vaez

Short

On one end of the scale are the Lagoons, the Leopards and the Sunreefs (if you decide to go up the luxury scale in the case of the final brand). And in the speed section are Marsaudon Composites, Dazcats and Gunboat (again if you decide to go the luxury route in the case of the latter). And, of course, there are many other brands that fill in the spaces in between.

Video Tour

Build

The ORC57 is built with female molds using infusion process.

They are well versed in building racing machines at this yard: the process involves sandwich reinforcement with fibreglass and vinylester resin, PVC foam core with an epoxy primer below the waterline.

Composite Mastery
The company’s historical experience in offshore racing enables them to build light and fast catamarans. They achieve this by minimising the amount of material used, so by not covering the boat with panels for example. The composite is left exposed, requiring a very clean and neat finish from the infusion process, so that these boats do not need additional finishing [02:24].

Marsaudon (ORC) was one of the first companies to use this infusion technique for building large parts for racing boats in a single shot. This technique ensures the correct quantity of resin in the part, keeping weight low and preventing markings, resulting in a clean finish.

Stiffness for Performance
To ensure the boat is fast, it must be stiff. All bulkheads are laminated to the hull, not glued, which allows the wind’s power to be efficiently transmitted into speed on the water.

Minimising Weight in Components
The company follows a philosophy of “simplify and add lightness,” inspired by Colin Chapman (Lotus Cars). Instead of using classical linings with a balsa core, they infuse the decor in a laminated sandwich, reducing the weight of this specific part by up to 40%.

More Details on Construction

Craftsmanship
The skilled craftsmanship of the ORC team is crucial to their success, ensuring the high quality and precision required for their lightweight and high-performance catamarans.

After the hull is unmolded, it is moved to a different pen where systems and equipment are installed. This includes deck equipment, hardware, electricity, and electronics. The composite parts are hardly lacquered, showcasing the neatness and beauty of the developed techniques.

The daggerboards are made of fibre glass/ vinylester with suspended rudders on shafts.

There’s a choice of double tillers for direct steering like you will see on the smaller boats or twin aft wheels for helms.

The standard mast and boom are aluminium, but they have used carbon on the cross beam and bowsprit.

There are options for carbon upgrades everywhere of course.

Sailing

The ORC57 is a powerful machine, but she’s been set up for a short-handed crew.

There are 8 winches to help you manage the sails: 2 dedicated mainsheet winches, plus winches for the genoa and daggerboard lines.

There are plenty of handrails on the roof for safety (8) and a crash box in each bow with watertight bulkheads.

Living Space

This is a 57 foot cat, so there is plenty of space, but it’s not going to compare to a 57 foot cruising cat. It’s not trying to. The saloon sports a large dining area plus a day bed /watch bed, nav station and aft facing galley.

Down below in the standard version are 2 spacious, light aft cabins (200cm x 200cm beds), 2 heads and 2 queen sized forward cabins (200cm x 160com beds).

The finish is what we would call “industrial chic” with luxury touches. Everything has been optimised for weight reduction. So down below, for example, the floor panels are carbon and the sides in the interior are merely painted with aspects to warm the design up. It’s very effective and pretty cool.

Summary

This is one sleek looking catamaran and she is priced very competitively for this market. The ORC 57 is a light, fast sailing catamaran. The design mantra was “Keep it simple and keep it light”. She’s one helluva machine.

FAQs

Specs