Moody 45DS: Is it Fair to Call it a Monomaran?
Reflecting a catamaran design trend, this forthcoming monohull features a deck level pilothouse that contains the galley and saloon. "Shipyard News" from our June 27, 2007, CW Reckonings.
Here's an interesting boat from Moody. It's the first one the company will build since its acquisition by the German builder, Hanse, and it will be laid up and finished in Germany instead of Britain.
Bill Dixon designed the Moody 45DS; the interior is by Mark Tucker. It seems to take many design cues from modern catamaran layouts with the saloon and galley in a pilothouse at deck level and sleeping areas and heads below. The cook and diners will have a panoramic view of the scenery. A spacious-looking master cabin is in the bow.
Mounted just aft of the extended coachroof that covers the forward six feet of the cockpit, twin wheels will allow the helmsman to move from side to side easily to see the sails and all around. In the designer's rendering it appears that he will be able to look forward through the deckhouse windows, too. Those on deck will have solid stainless-steel rails atop substantial bulwarks to help keep them aboard. The company says there will be a dedicated locker in the foredeck in which to stow a cruising spinnaker and the builder describes an innovative new way to stow the anchor out of the way, but keep it readily deployable.
Bill Dixon has a reputation for designing good-looking performance cruising boats. The Moody 45 DS is a radical departure from his previous work, but one has to applaud the imagination that went into creating a boat that will suit many cruisers to a T. We'll look forward to seeing the boat when it's introduced at the Southampton Boat Show in the United Kingdom later this year.
www.moody-yachts.com
