POWERING YOUR CATAMARAN
Ask ten boat builders how much power you need and you’ll get ten confident answers. The honest one is: it depends on how you’ll actually use the boat. Engine choice isn’t about the biggest number on the cowling – it’s about matching power, controls and running costs to the fishing and cruising you really do.
Outboards or inboards?
Twenty years ago, a 10-metre power cat would likely have carried twin diesel inboards. The market has moved, and for good reason. On cats under about 12 metres, outboards now dominate: they’re lighter, they tilt clear for beaching and shallow water, they free up huge storage volume inside the hulls, servicing access is unbeatable, and when the time comes, repowering is a matter of unbolting and rebolting rather than major surgery. Modern four-strokes are also quiet and remarkably efficient. Diesel inboards still earn their keep on larger, long-range displacement cats and in some commercial work, where fuel range and shaft-drive simplicity win. For the way Australians use boats in our size range – trailer or marina, offshore fishing, coastal cruising – twin outboards are the right answer, and it’s how every Voyager is designed.
Twin engines, always
On a catamaran, two engines aren’t an upgrade – they’re the point. One engine in each hull gives you redundancy offshore (one stops, the other brings you home), and thrust spaced metres apart, which is why a power cat can spin in its own length and back into a pen with confidence. Every Voyager runs a counter-rotating pair, so the propellers’ side forces cancel and the boat tracks arrow-straight.
How much power?
Our standards are a useful guide because they come from 25 years of the same hull in real conditions: twin 115s on the V625, twin 200s on the V930 SportsFish and Sports Cruiser, and twin 250s on the V930 Grand Sports. Those combinations deliver honest offshore cruise speeds with reserve for weather, without paying for horsepower you’ll never open up. If you tow at the maximum, run long distances loaded, or simply want the reserve, there’s room to step up – that’s a conversation about your use, not a bigger-is-better default.
The questions that decide it
How far offshore will you go, and how often? How many people and how much load on a typical trip? Hours spent trolling versus running? Do you value fuel economy at cruise or top-end speed? Will you ever want joystick docking or station-keeping? That last one matters more than most buyers realise – those systems need fly-by-wire electronic controls, which is why they’re our standard fit. Choose engines for the boating you’ll do in year three, not just launch day.
Thinking through power for your own build? That conversation is exactly what a factory visit is for – come and talk it through with the people who’ll rig it.
More From The Build Journal
This is one story from a wider series on choosing, building and owning a Voyager – from picking your layout to the survey paperwork to the questions only an owner thinks to ask.
Got a question this post didn’t answer? Email us at info@voyagercatamaransaus.com and we’ll get back to you – good questions sometimes become the next post!