An Interview with Marc Lombard | Naval Architect

We talk to Marc Lombard, Naval Architect with Marc Lombard Yacht Design Group about his history with Privilege Marine and designing blue water cruising catamarans. We talk about what differentiates the Privilege catamaran from other mass-produced catamarans, get a better understanding on the weight of a catamaran as it relates to performance, and, of course, discuss his involvement in building the Privilege 580.

[@ajsonstegard5729]

I really appreciate this point of view. The boat is designed to be a cruising boat and the design takes into account the fact that it will be heavily stocked, and focusing on consistent performance. Thank you for this

[@peteypie333]

I absolutely love the design evolution in the 580 and hope that that trickles down to the 510. Larger salon, forward cockpit (option), and flybridge are all modern features that I love and look forward to seeing more in the Privilege line.

[@postmaster.9884]

Great interview.

[@rightright6582]

Great interview. Please do a follow up

[@PrivilegeCatamaransAmerica]

Absolutely - next time we're in La Rochelle!

[@barneyrubble1754]

two questions please. 1) is the the 580 circumnavigator structure a better sailing vessel compared to the signature because of the structure. ( not having the forward cockpit ) 2) which vessel is faster with all conditions equal the 580 or the 510? a) 4 knots of wind b) 12 knots of wind? thank you.

[@PrivilegeCatamaransAmerica]

Better is not the issue. The forward cockpit just requires more effort to achieve the same stiffness as the circumnavigator. Too soon to comment on performance as hull#1 has yet to be launched. Expectation is that it will be faster to weather.

[@FlesHBoX]

Out of curiosity, do catamaran builders not pay any attention to what other builders are doing? I ask because every single one of the major cat builders talk about foam cored vacuum infusion sandwich construction like they are the only ones doing it, and how that makes their boats better than the others. It's like Schrodinger's Layup up in here, lol. I feel like this is marketing from 15 years ago that just hasn't gone away, it's basically industry standard for catamarans at this point, and even most of the big monohull builders (who can get away with heavy thick single skin layups) are using foam core vacuum infusion sandwich construction.

[@bertmacdonald337]

Excellent post!

[@ygodbout1]

Among all recent catamarans, the Privilege 510 is probably the only one that doesn't have reverse bows. Is it because they wanted to keep using the old molds of the 515 in order to save money ?

[@PrivilegeCatamaransAmerica]

Saving money is always a consideration but many will argue that reverse bows on a cruising vessel provide little or no benefit. The hull shape has proven an excellent design for offshore, long distance cruising. No one thought a change would be a good idea.

[@FlesHBoX]

@@PrivilegeCatamaransAmerica I'm not sure I would go so far as to put a blanket statement on it like that. Reverse Bows (properly designed) can help fairly dramatically with hobbyhorsing, especially with lighter boats that displace less water (and therefore ride more ON the water than IN the water). For higher displacement boats like Privilege, this may be less pronounced, but it's definitely more of a case by case basis than general "cruising vessels". That is not to say that all reverse bow cats are ACTUALLY reverse bows from a functional perspective. A lot of them just do it for the looks, and if they aren't designed properly, can actually negatively impact stability, though this would only be in pretty far edge cases. Probably the biggest drawback to reverse bows is reduced interior volume, which would definitely be a detriment for a Privilege.

[@Kearncwilliams]

I don't want to sound stupid but what does he mean by has less Drive

[@PrivilegeCatamaransAmerica]

It's partly his accent, but he's actually saying 'less drag" - I had to listen to it closely to understand what he said the first time, too!

[@ericseidel4940]

"It doesent slam..." Just after a HUGE SLAM at 7'55''