Neko, which means “cat” in Japanese (we like simple names), is a Switch 51 built by Sud Composites in the south of France in 2004.  She was originally named “Tatajuba” and owned by a French family who sailed her half way round the world to Raiatea, French Polynesia.  That’s where we bought her and had Thierry Torres, a wonderful and crazy French delivery skipper, bring her back for us.  She was kept in very good shape and we have done some updating and improving.  The Switch 51 is a high performance cruising boat designed by notable multihull designers Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prevost.  Above the waterline she is built in vinylester sandwich with a Klegecelle PVC foam core creating a strong, stiff, lightweight boat.  The Switch 51 carries dual daggerboards and a tall, high-aspect ratio sailplan, assuring good performance in light and heavy winds. 

Here are some basic specs:

Length: 15.40 meters (51ft)
Beam: 7.66 meters (25ft)
Draft: 1.20 to 2.40 meters (4ft to 8ft with dagger boards down)

Construction:
The hull, bulkheads, nacelle, deck, roof and cockpit are constructed from fiberglass/vinylester and foam sandwich composites and the interior fittings are made from honeycomb. The monolithic bottom hulls are made of solid glass reinforced vinylester. She is fitted with grounding skegs to protect the saildrives and crash boxes located at the bows and at the swim platforms. Her engine rooms and forepeaks are both equipped with watertight bulkheads. She is the twelfth catamaran of the Switch 51 series and is CE approved – Category A (Ocean).

Layout and Accomodations:
Starboard owner’s hull: Entire owner’s hull closes off from salon. The stern cabin has a queen size bed 160 x 200cm (63″ x 79″) with a desk and seat.
Double sink and electric toilet in head forward, with separate stall shower forward.
Guest hull has 2 double cabins with queen size berths 140 x 200cm (55″ x 79”) and 1 head.
Salon with U-shaped table seating 6.
Chart table with swing-out seat, room for computer, printer, charts and electronics.
Guest hull : 2 double cabins plus one head amidships with electric toilet. 16 BTU air conditioner in main salon and 12kBTU air conditioner in owner’s hull
Cockpit:
Large cockpit/deck saloon: teak flooring and trim. Set of cushions with sunbrella covers.
Dual helms with Lecomble & Schmitt hydraulic steering, leather wrapped stainless steel wheels, and chartplotter and engines controls at port helm.
Cockpit lighting; outside speakers.
Copious cockpit storage.
SS davits, with 3 Sanyo 240W solar panels.
Stainless steel fixed bimini with cloth + net and side curtains.

Engines:
2 x 55HP Volvo d2-55 diesel engines.  
Volvo sail drives with three blade folding propellers.
The 2 engine compartments are soundproof and totally independent from accomodations, with access from the swim platforms.
Fuel: 220 liters (58 gals) starboard SS tank and 400 liters (106 gals) port SS tank, for a total capacity of 620 liters (164 USA gals).

Deck and Rig:
Fully-battened mainsail (Dacron perf), 78 m2 (839 ft2), 3 reefs, lazy jacks and a lazybag.
Genoa (Spectra) 50 m2 (538 ft2), with UV protective strip on a Profurl NC52 furler.
Staysail (heavy Dacron) 21 m2 (226 ft2) with UV protective strip on a Profurl NC 42 furler.
Gennaker 80 m2 (861 ft2) on Profurl EC 4000 gennaker furler.
Symetrical spinnaker 145 m2 (1561 ft2) with sock.
Mainsail track + ball bearing cars – Frederiksen.
1 Winch – 46 ST Andersen.
5 Winches – 52 ST Andersen.
1 Electric winch – 52 EST Andersen.
Dux shrouds and running backstays.
13 deck hatches, 8 opening port holes and 2 Goiot escape hatches.                 Full sunbrella awnings to cover salon and hulls foward.

Anchoring:
Lofrans 1200W Tigres windlass with foot operation and remote in the cockpit.
Main anchoring gear: 1 Rocna 73lb anchor + 84m (275ft) of chain + 46m (150ft) of 1” 8-plait line.
Secondary anchoring gear: 1 anchor BRAKE 24 kg (52 lbs) + 24 m (80ft) of chain + 61 m (200ft) of 7/8″ Samson Super Strong double braid line.
Backup anchor: 21lb alu. Fortress FX-37.
Storm anchor: 47lb alu. Fortress FX-85.

Plumbing:
2 plastic water tanks of 220 liters (58 gals), i.e. a total capacity of 440 liters (116 USA gallons).
2 stainless steal water heaters of 40 liters (11 gals). Wired to accept 220V (1500W) and 110V (500W) power, for use at all docks and on generator.
Spectra Newport 400 Watermaker, with auto flush and salinity control.
2 holding tanks stainless steel with epoxy coated interior 55 L (12.2 gals).
4 Jabsco 1500 gal/hour bilge pumps – one in each hull and engine room + 2 manual pumps – one each in each hull.
2 Jabsco 500 gal/hour shower sump pumps in heads.
Splendide washer/dryer in starboard forward compartment.
Hot/cold shower on port transom.

Galley:

Large galley sink, with mixer tap and Seagull fresh water filter.
Dietrich oven.
4-burner Gaggenau stove.
2 Stainless steel 12V Refrigerators 130L Isotherm.
1 Stainless steel 12V Freezer 90L Isotherm.
Propane on auto-changeover regulator with solenoid and propane sniffer in starboard hull.

Propane grill and 20lb tank mounted on custom aft rail mount.

Electricity:
2 engine gel batteries 80Ah.
4 house gel batteries 210 Ah.
2 engine alternators 80 Ah Volvo with boosters.
2 batteries isolators 1-2 160A – Mastervolt.
Two (2) 220V Mastervolt 80A charger and one 110V Mastervolt 100A Combi inverter/charger for a total of 260A simultaneous charging capacity (Lithium ready).

One 220V/50hz Mastervolt inverter/100A 2500W and one 110V/60hz Mastervolt inverter 2500W.  

Electric system allows boat to plug in anywere in the world and run any appliance.

Generator with cover connected to port fuel tank– Fischer Panda 8kw.
3 solar panels – Sanyo HIT240S 240W + Midnite Classic 200 controller.
220V and 110V outlets throughout cabins + 2 12V outlets at chart table.
Mastervolt batteries monitor and FP genset control at chart table.

Electronics:
1 Raymarine e-127 MFD at nav station

1 Raymarine e-125 MFD at port helm.

Raymarine ST60 wind, tridata and maxiview instruments over companionway.

Raymarine ST60 Multi in owner’s cabin.

Raymarine AIS650 AIS transponder.

Raymarine HD radar integrated with MFD’s.
1 Standard Horizon GX2150 fixed mount VHF radio with AIS connected to PC navigation system.
Lecomble & Schmitt hydraulic autopilot pump with Raymarine SPX30 course computer (with Raymarine Autohelm ST 6000 spare), with P70 and wireless remote controllers.
1 GPS – GP30 Furuno.
1 ICOM M802 SSB Radio with AT140 auto tuner and whip antenna.
1 Dual stereo receiver with 2 external speakers + 2 speakers in the saloon, bluetooth capable with multiple input sources.
Iridium Go with external antenna.

One dual-band Groove wifi antenna wired to internal wireless router.

Dinghy:
AB 10′ 6″ inflatable dinghy, with Sunbrella chaps and anchoring gear.
20 HP outboard engine – Suzuki, 4-stroke.

Safety:
NKE man overboard system equipped with 4 bracelets.
Fire/smoke detectors in engine rooms.
Galerider drogue.
Plastimo 4-man liferaft.
Lifesling, MOM-8 inflatable MOB device, liferings.

Upgrades and Improvements:
All new Raymarine instruments throughout (2013)

New solar panels, including bimini frame and controller (2013)

New propane grill and tank mount (2013)

Permanent wifi antenna (2013)

110V/2500W Mastervolt inverter charger and 110V AC outlets added throughout boat (2011).
Upgraded propane system with double auto-changeover regulator, 12V solenoid, propane sniffer with alarm (2012).
Both holding tanks sandblasted and coated with long-life epoxy (2012).
Added 73lb Rocna anchor and upgraded windlass platform and attachment points.  Added FX-85 storm anchor, FX-37 spare anchor and galerider drogue (2012).
Replaced trampolines, stackpack, helm covers, cockpit and salon cushion covers, bimini cover (2014).
Installed Standard Horizon GX2150 VHF AIS radio and interfaced with PC running Coastal Explorer (2011).
Removed transom teak, replaced or refinished cockpit teak decks (this is to correct a common Switch 51 issue where the factory used the wrong caulking between teak slats) (2010).
Installed saltwater washdown system (2012).
Installed fans in all cabins (don’t know how the prior owners survived without any fans/AC) (2012).
Upgraded electric system and installed 220V/50hz wiring system (2015)

Installed 16kbtu air conditioner in salon and 12kbtu air conditioner in owner’s hull (2015).

Replaced genset with Fischer Panda 8 mini 8kw generator (2015).

Replaced all standing rigging (2015).

Replaced canvas (stakpak, bimini, awnings) (2015).