2019 Fountaine Pajot Saona 47

Here’s a riddle: What is less than 50ft long, has two hulls, three big cabins and four decks? Answer: The Fountaine Pajot Saona 47. In fact, it may even be five levels if you count the large engine rooms. This boat is a “space craft” in every sense of the word.

Fountaine Pajot’s boats never make radical jumps. Rather, they evolve from one design to the next. While not what I’d consider a “Mom and Pop” boat for an older couple, the Saona 47 is a spacious, fast cat that should be perfect for an active cruising family with teenagers, or charter groups who wish to entertain in style.

The Fountaine Pajot Saona 47 maximizes living and entertaining space while retaining good speed by combining “multi-decking,” a minimum wetted surface and lots of flare at the chines. It’s tricky to put all that together, but the design staff at Berret Racoupeau have succeeded here, partly by extending the waterline to include integral stern platforms. The limitation will probably be loading—if the boat is carrying a lot of weight, the broader portions of the hulls will be submerged and performance is likely to suffer—but that’s each owner’s lookout.