Why Antares?
We had a laundry list of features we were looking for, which grew and evolved as we watched numerous catamaran reviews on YouTube for nearly a year.
To be honest, Antares wasn’t at the top of our list for a while. We liked a lot about it, but there were a few things we didn’t love, and we felt it was out of our price range (until we just decided to manifest it along with the rest of this crazy dream).
Here’s the original list of what we were looking for in a catamaran. The features that will be on Sorella are bolded–we think we did well in getting our wishes:
40′-47′
Owner’s Cabin version
Self-tacking jib (available, but talked out of it by other owners)
Screecher/Code 0
Solar Array
Water Maker (that’s a misnomer, really, we’re not mixing two H’s and an O, it’s a de-salinator!)
Helm & Galley connection (skipper/cook)
Protected helm
Washing machine
Electric Propulsion/Drive – one electric one diesel?
Mantus or Rocna Anchor w/ 300′ stainless chain
Salt-water faucet in galley (don’t really need with the watermaker and rainwater collection)
Nav-station forward in Salon
Opening hatches in salon (this was a new feature they announced after we already signed on)
Induction Cooktop
SSB radio (better option available now: Iridium-Go; and soon, StarLink?)
Wind Generator (not really needed)
Hydro/Tow Generator (hybrid model now has regeneration through the props, so no tow apparatus is necessary)
Rainwater cachement
OC Tender w/electric outboard (also talked out of this by another owner)
Rounded/curved corners (no sharp edges)
Shaft drive, not sail drive
Mast-furling mainsail
See what our boat will (mostly) look like here: Antares 360° Virtual Tour
How Antares Represents Our Values
Stephen drives the adorable, all-electric Smart Car, Schlafly’s Half Pint, and we own a plug-in electric Kia Niro, so naturally we wanted to find a catamaran that would offer as many eco-friendly features as possible. When we first spoke with Antares about the possibility of electric motors, they just didn’t feel it was safe, based on car batteries catching fire, or in case you needed to outrun a storm. After hearing a number of catamaran owners say they use only one motor at a time because the second one doesn’t give them more than one additional knot of speed, we asked about pulling one diesel motor and installing an electric. Apparently we weren’t the only ones asking about this.
What happened next was really amazing–click here to find out! Just kidding, we’re not into click bait, but it was really amazing! They one-upped our idea and announced a solution to run the two diesel engines in parallel with electric motors from Hybrid Marine. This means we can run either diesel or electric propulsion in each hull. Oh, yeah… 🙂
We hadn’t even considered all the other great features that are now part of our boat, including:
- Hydro regeneration under sail – the whirling propellers charge the batteries
- Separate generator is no longer necessary – giving us a huge amount of extra storage
- Reduced emissions – without the generator, there are only two diesel engines, not three
- 50% increase in solar power – from 1200 to 1800 watts
- Lithium batteries – this is a big step forward
- Gas be gone! Propane has been replaced with all-electric on the cooktop, oven, and grill