Power Catamaran vs Sailing Catamaran: Which to Choose
Fast facts:
- The OceanWalker S60 is an 18.87 m (60 ft) power catamaran with an 8.38 m (27'6") beam, four en-suite guest cabins plus two crew, and a flybridge of more than 500 sq ft.
- The S60 pairs 2 × Volvo Penta D6-440 diesels (880 hp, 18 knots top) with a 22-panel, 9 kW solar array and a 32 kW generator, for a range of roughly 1,500 nm.
- The OceanWalker S60 is priced at €3.2M with all options included and is available now as a Mediterranean demonstrator.
- In the power catamaran vs sailing catamaran trade, power gains flybridge space, glazing and shorthanded simplicity; sail gains low-fuel passages and the pleasure of sailing itself, at the cost of rig maintenance and sail handling.
- The power catamaran vs sailing catamaran decision at 60 feet is decided less by the boats than by the owner's logbook: coastal hops favour power, long trade-wind passages favour sail.
How you actually cruise: the honest starting point
Strip away the romance and the power catamaran vs sailing catamaran question is really a question about your logbook. Not the passages you imagine, but the ones you will actually make. Mediterranean cruising, for most owners, is a sequence of two-to-five-hour hops between anchorages and marinas, often in light morning air or an afternoon sea breeze that arrives after you wanted to leave. Sailing that pattern well takes patience; motoring it takes a throttle.
This is why so many owners of large sailing cats admit — usually after the second season — that the engines do most of the work. The rig still has to be tuned, serviced, insured and surveyed whether it drives the boat or not. Standing rigging has a finite life; sails age in UV even when furled. If your season genuinely includes long trade-wind legs or you simply love the act of sailing, none of that is wasted. If it doesn't, the rig is weight, windage, cost and complexity carried for occasions that rarely come.
A power catamaran begins from the opposite premise: commit fully to the way the boat is actually used. That is why the power catamaran vs sailing catamaran fork is best taken with two seasons of honest logbook in hand. Twin diesels, no sail wardrobe, no winches, and a superstructure freed from the loads a mast imposes. Neither answer is wrong — but only one of them matches your real calendar.
Power catamaran vs sailing catamaran: space and layout
Space is where the power catamaran vs sailing catamaran comparison diverges most visibly. Delete the rig and everything above the bridgedeck changes: no mast passing through the coachroof, no boom sweeping the top deck, no sheets, tracks or winches claiming lounging areas. On the OceanWalker S60 that freedom becomes a flybridge of more than 500 square feet — a genuine second living deck with helm, dining and sunpads — plus near-panoramic glazing that a sailing cat's structure rarely allows, and 6'11" of headroom carried through the accommodation.
A sailing catamaran of the same length gives some of that back. The mast step, compression post and chainplates dictate structure; the boom limits what the coachroof can carry; and the cockpit must keep working sight-lines and sheet runs clear. Designers manage this brilliantly, but the arithmetic doesn't change: at equal length, the powercat's usable deck and interior volume are larger because nothing aloft is competing for them.
Below decks the gap narrows — both types build their cabins into the hulls, and a 60-foot example of either sleeps eight in comfort. The S60 arranges four en-suite guest cabins with two crew berths aft. What the power catamaran adds is the vertical dimension: with no rig loads to absorb, the saloon can be taller, brighter and wider-windowed, which is precisely what you notice at anchor — where, on either boat, you will spend most of your time. For a fuller tour of that second-deck lifestyle, see our guide to flybridge living on a power catamaran.
Performance and range: the wind is free, the schedule isn't
In the power catamaran vs sailing catamaran performance debate, sail's headline advantage is real: with wind on the beam, miles cost almost nothing but time. On a long downwind leg a well-sailed cruising cat is a beautiful, economical machine, and no powercat matches the silence of a boat under sail. The caveat is the schedule. Sailing speed is the wind's decision, and the Mediterranean's wind is famously either absent or excessive — which is how sailing cats end up motoring at hull speed with the rig standing idle overhead.
The power catamaran turns that occasional compromise into its whole design. The OceanWalker S60 runs twin Volvo Penta D6-440 diesels — 880 hp combined — to an 18-knot top speed, with a cruising range of roughly 1,500 nautical miles: Cannes to the Ionian and back without thinking about fuel. Departure time is your decision; arrival time is arithmetic.
The S60 also answers the powercat's traditional weakness — generator dependence at anchor — with a 22-panel, 9 kW solar array and 32 kW generator that run the house systems, air-conditioning included, in silence. It is the same silent-at-anchor virtue sailors prize, achieved with panels instead of a rig. How that works in practice is covered in our guide to how solar-assisted yachts work, and the passage-making side in power catamaran range explained.
Running costs, maintenance and crew
Fuel is the line every buyer sees first, and under sail the sailing catamaran clearly wins it. But fuel is one line in a long budget, and the rest of the ledger leans the other way. A sailing cat carries two propulsion systems — engines and rig — and both demand money: sails and running rigging are consumables measured in thousands of euros; standing rigging replacement is a five-figure event most insurers eventually require; and every survey covers chainplates, spars and furlers alongside the engines a powercat maintains anyway.
In the power catamaran vs sailing catamaran ledger, the powercat's costs are fewer in kind, easier to forecast, and increasingly offset by energy harvesting — the S60's 9 kW solar array quietly deletes generator hours every sunny day, which in the Mediterranean is most days. Our realistic breakdown of power catamaran running costs puts numbers to each line.
Crew is the quieter cost. A big sailing cat is at its best with hands who can trim, reef and foredeck; many owners end up hiring that competence. A powercat asks only that someone can drive twin throttles — with independent engines set metres apart, close-quarters handling is famously forgiving — so an owner couple can genuinely run 60 feet alone. Fewer paid hands, season after season, is a saving that compounds faster than fuel.
Power catamaran vs sailing catamaran at 60 feet: the numbers
Categories blur at boat shows; a power catamaran vs sailing catamaran table doesn't. The power column below is the OceanWalker S60's published specification. The sail column describes what the type structurally requires at this size — where a figure varies by builder, we say so rather than invent one.
| Factor | Power catamaran (OceanWalker S60) | Sailing catamaran (60 ft class) |
|---|---|---|
| Length / beam | 18.87 m (60 ft) / 8.38 m (27'6") | Comparable by class; varies by builder |
| Propulsion | 2 × Volvo Penta D6-440 (880 hp) | Rig + twin auxiliary diesels |
| Top speed | 18 knots, on demand | Wind-dependent; auxiliary motoring slower |
| Range | ~1,500 nm under power | Effectively unlimited under sail; modest tankage under power |
| Silent power at anchor | 9 kW solar (22 panels) + 32 kW generator | Builder-dependent; hotel loads usually generator-led |
| Guest accommodation | 4 en-suite + 2 crew; 6'11" headroom; 500+ sq ft flybridge | Similar cabin count; less top-deck living area |
| Air draft | Low — bridges and most berths accessible | Mast height restricts bridges and some marinas |
| Systems to maintain | Engines, generator, solar | Engines, generator, plus sails, spars and rigging |
| Price & availability | €3.2M all options included — available now, Mediterranean demonstrator | Quoted per configuration; typically ordered to a build slot |
Read down the sail column and a pattern emerges: its advantages concentrate on long passages under sail, its costs on everything else. If your cruising is coastal and Mediterranean, the power column describes the boat you will actually use. See how the S60 fares against named rivals in OceanWalker S60 vs Lagoon Sixty 7 and S60 vs Sunreef 60 Power, and what this class really costs in 60ft power catamaran prices.
Draft, air draft and where each boat can go
Berthing is the power catamaran vs sailing catamaran difference buyers discover last. Both share the shallow draft that opens anchorages monohulls can't touch — that advantage is a tie. Overhead is where they part. A 60-foot sailing catamaran carries a mast that stands well clear of most bridge and cable clearances, closing rivers, lagoon passages and some inner-harbour berths, and marinas price and place tall rigs accordingly. The power catamaran's low air draft keeps those doors open.
Beam is the constraint the two types share: at 8.38 m the S60 books the same wide berths a sailing cat of its class does, and in high season the Riviera's wide berths are the scarce commodity. Our guides to catamaran beam and volume and power catamarans for sale in Cannes cover the berthing picture; if you are visiting the coast in September, the Cannes Yachting Festival is the one week you can walk both types back-to-back in a single afternoon.
The verdict: choose by calendar, not by category
The power catamaran vs sailing catamaran verdict, then. Choose the sailing catamaran if sailing itself is the point — if the passage is the destination, if trade-wind miles are genuinely in your plans, and if tuning a rig sounds like pleasure rather than overhead. It remains the most economical way to cross oceans in comfort, and nothing under power replicates a fast reach in flat water.
Choose the power catamaran if your honest calendar says coastal cruising, anchorages, guests and schedules — if you would rather the space of a 500 sq ft flybridge than a sail locker, and would rather arrive at 18 knots than wait for wind. Independent multihull journals such as Multihulls World have tracked the segment's growth for years, and the reason is simply honesty: buyers matching the boat to their real use. Weigh the wider market in our catamaran comparison hub, see the adjacent power catamaran vs monohull motor yacht question, or go straight to the boat itself: the OceanWalker S60 — sixty feet, intelligently priced, at €3.2M all options included, available now.
Power catamaran vs sailing catamaran: buyer FAQ
Is a power catamaran better than a sailing catamaran?
Neither is universally better; in the power catamaran vs sailing catamaran question, the right answer follows your logbook. If you will genuinely sail — long legs, trade winds, crew who trim — the sailing catamaran rewards you. If you mostly make short powered hops, the power catamaran converts an unused rig into living space, simplicity and schedule control.
Is a power catamaran cheaper to run than a sailing catamaran?
It burns more fuel but maintains fewer systems. A sailing cat adds sails, spars and rigging — consumables and five-figure renewals — on top of the engines it also carries. The S60's 9 kW solar array further cuts generator hours at anchor, so total cost of ownership often favours power.
Do sailing catamaran owners really motor most of the time?
Very commonly, yes — especially in the Mediterranean, where wind is unreliable in season and schedules are not. Short hops between anchorages favour engines, so many big-cat rigs stand idle for weeks. That mismatch between the boat bought and the boat used is exactly what a power catamaran eliminates.
Who wins power catamaran vs sailing catamaran for shorthanded handling?
The power catamaran, decisively. There is no sail handling at all, and twin engines set far apart make close-quarters manoeuvring straightforward, so an owner couple can run 60 feet without professional crew. A sailing catamaran of this size usually wants experienced hands for passages and reefing decisions.
How much does a 60-foot power catamaran cost?
The OceanWalker S60 is published at €3.2M with all options included — solar array, four en-suite cabins and 500+ sq ft flybridge — and is available now as a Mediterranean demonstrator. Most rivals quote per configuration through dealers; see our 60ft power catamaran price guide for the full market picture.
Can I view both types in person before deciding?
Yes, and you should — deck space and sight-lines have to be felt aboard. Book a private viewing of the OceanWalker S60 in the Mediterranean, and walk sailing catamarans the same week at a major show to compare the two honestly.
Walk the deck before you decide
The OceanWalker S60 demonstrator is berthed in the Mediterranean — judge the space, the silence at anchor and the twin-throttle simplicity in person.
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