The two groups the above question comes from most often are:

• Multihull devotees already interested in the Neel 47 and looking for some reassurance
• Monohull sailors wanting to switch to a multihull but preferring a fun-to-sail trimaran rather than a production ‘condomaran’

We considered and sailed several catamaran brands along with the Neel 45 and Neel 51 before making our choice.

If you’re expecting a direct comparison to specific trimaran or catamaran models…then move along please.  However, if you’re looking for confirmation or reasons you may have overlooked, then stick around a while. We’re now revealing the reasons why WE chose a Neel Trimaran as opposed to a catamaran.

PERSONA

First, let’s see if you’re on our wavelength. Let me guess…

You’re a couple; either have no kids or easy-going older kids with their own lives.

Your mix of sailing friends and non-sailor-friends are all still working the 9 to 5 and then some. They’re hoping to visit you but probably rarely will.

You’ve got a good ten more years of potential earnings in you but corporate life has disillusioned and drained, perhaps spat you out after yet another ‘restructuring’ wave. Or you spat back after being expected to work days and nights for a pat on the back that just about motivates you until the next deflating Zoom meeting.

Perhaps you’ve sadly lost someone close to you. Someone too young, with no chance to realise their own graspable dreams and well-thought out plans.

Whatever your reasons, you’re ready. Ready to enjoy your life and set-off on an adventure at sea. Ready to share your time with a loved one whom you can bear to chuckle and bicker with in tight quarters every second of the day.

You’ve going to give up land-life completely; no more spacious apartment or house. You love to sail well but your boat will be your travelling home and it has to be comfortable too!

If you can relate to this, our reasons could be valid for you too. Right. Let’s get on with it…

What’s The Appeal of a NEEL ?

OK. If you haven’t yet understood the appeal of a Neel trimaran as opposed to a catamaran, then listen up…

Prime Position

That owner cabin above the waterline means the most amazing views just by lifting your relaxed head from the pillow. Waking up in a nice anchorage, having your first espresso in bed and being able to see all around you from where you lie is simply spectacular.

Because your cabin is far above the waterline, it’s also much quieter than any hull cabin. Free from glugging water sounds, the hum of engine noise from your or other boats or the crackling underwater white-noise you hear when sleeping in an ama or hull.

And then there’s ventilation. Separated from wet-areas and with a wide door opening to the main cabin, the owner cabin is always kept well-aired and dry.

On night passages, we especially love the fact that the master cabin is on the same level as the chart table. Close to any action, you can immediately respond if another pair of hands or eyes are needed – no clambering up a gangway half asleep to find out what that strange noise on deck is. (Many short-handed catamaran sailors we know sleep in the salon when not on watch – exactly for this reason!)

These benefits – for us – far outweigh any positives of a catamaran hull cabin. There’s no way we would be happy sleeping down below anymore.

Visibility is unbeatable

When you put so much effort into finding and sailing to the most beautiful anchorages and prettiest towns you want to make the most of the amazing sights of them while you’re there.

Let’s face it, you’ll be spending all your time in the main cabin and cockpit, protected from weather and going about your daily tasks or hobbies like cooking, reading, planning and socialising. Living below deck on a monohull might be cosy at times but that’s about it. Your experience on a Neel is much more enlightened by expansive views of your beautiful surroundings at all times of the day and in all directions.

The visibility you have thanks to that prime position on one deck also means added security on passages as you can keep watch very well even whilst preparing a meal. A galley up is a major plus and has generous counter space for food prep. It’s a comfortable and sociable position for cooking and snacking especially when underway.

This is how we like to live on a boat. 

Let’s Get Technical

We love that all technical equipment is below deck and grouped in one easy-to-access, spacious compartment. Once you’ve seen that, there’s no going back to generators under the kid’s bed, batteries under saloon seating, water-makers in a locker next to your cabin, engines under your bed or in horrid-to-work-underway aft compartments, just a splash from a breaking wave.

Again, a major USP for us is that all technical installations are completely sealed off from living areas. This time it’s the noise, smells, vibrations or heat that may emanate from them that are kept at bay. 

Accessibility and visibility for inspection and maintenance are unbeatable both in the engine compartment and the technical compartment. 

Most importantly,  the central hull of a trimaran allows for the placement of tankage, engine and heavy storage down low in the center of the boat. This results in better sailing performance and motion.

Sailing Performance

Some words about performance: the 47 is for sure not a racing boat. But it’s true, it does sail well in light winds and this is an important element for us. Every boat sails well in strong winds right? In 7 knots of wind , 6-7 knots of boatspeed (TWA 50° – 60°) are common. 

Upwind sailing is a surprise! This is where the Neel 47 leaves us thrilled and all those in our wake aghast and stunned! Even with apparent wind angles of around 40°, we averaged 8 knots in 10 knots true wind. On most of our passages along the Spanish coast and around Mallorca where we often chose to sail close-hauled, the ride was much smoother than expected. We regularly overtake even larger monohulls too which is always fun!

Additionally, with the self-tacking jib, single-handed manoeuvres are easy. 

On all sailboats but specifically on multihulls, by reducing weight you’ll be rewarded with some extra speed as you go into ‘switchontheenginelater’ mode. Keep in mind we’re sailing fully loaded for comfortable full-time cruising, so good payload capacity is important. At 12 tons we enjoy a comfortable sailing motion as well!

Motion on a Neel Trimaran

We look at trimarans as a hybrid between a monohull and a catamaran, reuniting the favourable aspects of both concepts.

By design a trimaran offers superior stability under sail than any catamaran. With the placement of tankage and engine low in the center of the boat you benefit from reduced pitch and roll.

Readers often ask us about heeling and underway motion. You know those photos you see with one ama raised clear out of the water as the Neel thrillingly glides by on two hulls? Well, since the amas are only partially immersed, it doesn’t take much pressure to lift the windward hull. In fact, Tania often looks over the side to check if we’re lifted as you can barely tell from onboard, that’s how stable and even-keeled it feels!

Even on maximum heel, we often don’t feel any difference to the sensation on board and our water bottles remain standing on the tables.

At the Helm 

The NEEL 47 is a big boat but the helm is very well organised. All the lines are routed to the helm station which has a good ergonomics, every thing is at arms length. This makes sail-handling very convenient if you’re a small crew or even single-handed. Adding electrical winches as we did, helps a lot of course.

We don’t particularly like a bimini but if you do add one you could have a full enclosure which would add more comfort in colder regions. Do keep in mind though, most of the time the autopilot will be your helms person and you can steer your boat from inside while passage-making.

Access to the helm station is very secure even in bad weather. We added one handrail we felt was necessary (see Handrail to Helm). Some Neel 47 owners have added handrails both outside along the main cabin roof and inside the main cabin at the sideboard. We’ve found this totally unnecessary. If your mobility is not especially impaired or challenged then movement underway feels safe. As we said earlier, we think trimarans have a more pleasant motion underway, much smoother than the hobby-horse jerk of most catamarans.

At the helm, rudder feedback is superior to that on all the cats we have sailed.

Space

A major topic when you live on a boat is space. Two of the main requirements are:

• Free deck space for crew and guests to spread out and move about.
• Practical, dry space to store the few items you have and need (even though we live minimally, as liveaboards this still adds up!).

Without exception, every boat owner that has come on TALATA has been amazed by the open living space both in the main cabin and the cockpit. It feels airy, uncluttered and unencumbered and it is. Some custom adjustments such as our foldable dining tables add to this effect and make it even easier to manoeuvre around.

Everything comes with a compromise, never truer than when talking about boats.

Admittedly, a catamaran of the same length will probably provide more volume accessible from the main cabin. Having said that, accessing the NEEL 47 amas from deck is handy and has some benefits, especially for stowing stuff like large deck beanbags, water toys, boards, foul-weather gear, foldable bikes or e-scooters.

On a catamaran, you’d need to move these through the main cabin and down into the guest hull for protected storage. But since the gangway into hulls generally have narrow entrances with little room to navigate a corner, you’ll often see these items tethered on deck or taking up space in the catamaran cockpit.

Three is greater than two

Apart from the technical compartments we mentioned above, the central mainhull offers ample space for a large separate shower and full-length cabinet storage. Being on the waterline, these cabinets are also much cooler so a great place for a pantry and keeping all the SPF creams and cosmetics!

On TALATA, the amas serve as valuable dry storage space since – in our case – they’re not needed as crew cabins and we rarely have guests. (BTW, if we did have kids onboard full-time, we’d have chosen the Neel 51.)

We’ve designated the port ama as a guest cabin, storing wine crates under the bed to help spread weight evenly. There is room for improvement though and our friend Yves on Neel 47 No. 11 has put in a nice storage solution next to the small standard cupboard. (There’ s a panel next to the small cupboard that when removed gives access to huge empty space going under the main cabin saloon seating. We can’t modify here as we have AC chiller in that space.)

The starboard ama is our space for storing anything we want easy access to. (We moved the mattress over to port cabin which makes the guest bed feel wider and even more comfortable.) The robust crates we’ve stacked on the bed platform are easily reached or moved. 

Huge compartments in the bow of each ama provide additional and ample dry storage space. We like a tidy boat and with the NEEL, there’s no reason you’ll ever have to sail with jerry-jugs strapped to the lifelines, bikes in the cockpit and SUP boards tied up on the side deck.

So you love the idea of a NEEL but are hesitant

We know how you feel and shared the concerns after seeing, reading and hearing the negativity out there. We both have very high standards and expectations and have always invested in high quality for whatever we acquired. Initially we were settled on the Neel 51 but as soon as the 47 was announced we switched to the new model. We don’t regret it. Yet.

But we’re not uncritical so how did we get to this point? Well, after many discussions with each other and the builder, we reassured ourselves.

Main reasons were/are:

1. We have absolute confidence in the most important part – construction of the boat itself.

2. We have a realistic expectation, are very clear about what is important for us, where we are willing to compromise.

Room for Improvement

In our opinion, NEEL has incorporated many innovative and good ideas that could and should be improved in realisation. As owners living full-time we are certain that NEEL could think even smarter. After all, the NEEL 47 is being positioned as a blue-water cruising boat for a couple – so longterm sailing.

• Cabinets and storage are definitely too few and too small, with unnecessarily and annoyingly small knobs.
• The ALPI furniture sharp edges are too sensitive to nicks and won’t age well. 
• Larger hatches would enable you to use the locker space in the amas more easily, especially for bulky items.
• Fixtures especially plumbing installations, mounting and finishing require more quality control to ensure durability. *Please show some love for the detail*
• The ergonomics of seating and thickness and form of upholstery is not adequate for longterm comfort.
• We like simplicity but a single main sheet is too simple a solution. When buying a carbon mast as we did, we expected to get a more refined trimming system.

But Neel learns from the feedback they get and many improvements have been made.

If you’re buying a NEEL 47 now, your boat will be a better version than ours for sure. Already the head/toilet and stairs design in the AMAs have been changed. That is one of our big pain-points. And yes, we’ve made a few modifications that you can read about on our Boat page in the TALATA Edition section.

In Summary Our Tip

Ideally you get to try out the builders boats you are interested in – especially if you’re new to boat ownership and looking for a multihull.

Over a period of 10 years gathered a lot of experience with catamaran sailing, doing 2 to 3 week charters each on Nautitech, Lagoon, Fountain Pajot, Leopard. With 10 weeks of sailing NEELs to compare to, we knew where we were willing to compromise and what we wouldn’t accept. And no other trimaran or catamaran could tick all the boxes for us.

If you’re switching from a monohull or looking for a multihull with a performance range then, well, you can’t go wrong with the Neel 47 for the much yearned-for comfort combined with great sailing qualities.

So after a year living and sailing full-time, yes, we’d choose the NEEL 47 again. For us, the above features in one boat surpass anything any similar sized catamaran offers.

If you’d like a non-owner assessment, Sail Magazine published a NEEL 47 review in 2020 which is also a good read.