Fountaine Pajot MY40

The French shipyard has scaled down its award-winning MY44 to create this new 40ft power catamaran. Is the IPS-powered MY40 as good as its talented sister ship?

- Jack Haines

It stands to reason that the smaller a power catamaran is the more you feel the benefit of its width. Big monohulls have so much internal volume these days that the transition to a multihull doesn’t always have the impact you might expect but at this size (a whisker over 40ft) the advantages are more substantial.

Drop down into the port hull of the MY40 and you’re confronted with a cabin that only a monohull of almost twice the size could hope to equal. It just keeps going; you start in an entrance lobby fitted with useful bits of extra storage, then the cabin opens up and unfolds inboard to allow space for a large walk around double berth with views over the water thanks to an oversized window. Head forward and the ensuite bathroom begins with an enormous walk-in shower to port and a vanity unit to starboard and finishes deep in the port bow with a separate toilet compartment. There are some downsides like low doorframes (anyone over 6ft will need to stoop) and plug sockets on the side of the bed nearest the door, but for a boat this size it is an incredible cabin.