Gunboat 68
The Gunboat 68 was the first model to launch from Grand Large Yachting- the new owners of the famous performance multihull brand.
This model has been replaced by the 70. They also build the 72 (fly), the 80 and the 82 (fly).
Video Short
1 Min Summary
– Designed as a green machine
– Order from a menu of custom packs
– The 2 main options: Cruising and Racing Pack.
– Gunboat 68-01 has clocked speeds over 30 knots. Surfing, but still, these are fast yachts.
– A tidy design with most sail handling done from the forward cockpit.
– Christophe Chedal Anglay’s interior design is luxurious.
– The SA/D ratio on the Regatta set up is 38. Rotating mast is optional.
– Price is over €8 million. You could pay more for a regatta version with all of the toys.
Interview with William Jelbert on Dash (68-02)
Here´s a chat we had with William Jelbert (the Gunboat COO) at the Cannes Yachting Festival on Dash where he takes us through some of the features of the boat. Dash is set up as a cruising boat.
Customer Feedback Loop
The COO, William Jelbert, and the new team spent a good deal of time talking to existing Gunboat owners and skippers to find out how to develop the range, and then teamed up with multihull and racing boat maestros VPLP for the new design.
They know a thing or two about fast boats having designed the Outremer 5X and Comanche.
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The result has gained plaudits from existing owners and new customers alike. The lines are sleek yet aggressive, with reverse bows and some neat ideas like a modular saloon interior that is fully demountable on race days. This boat is all about attention to detail.
Let’s see how things have moved on from the Gunboat 48 and their other iconic cats shall we?
Probably the fastest performance cruising cat on the water, and it achieves all of this without compromising on comfort.
Choose from the Cruising pack or the Regatta pack with a longer rotating mast, boards and more powerful sail plan.
Designed so that you can add on options later.
You can strip out modules and get the weight down for racing. In less than a day, reduce weight by almost a tonne.
She boasts a huge array of solar on the coachroof.
Option for tillers (or wheels) and bucket seats aftas well as Gunboat’s traditional forward helm.
Will likely hold her value very well.
The price. This is a money no object, expensive yacht.
Maintenance and running costs.
Most owners will need a professional crew to run the yacht for them.
Feature Rich Supercat
The fixed bimini will house enough solar panels to make the Gunboat 68 a true green machine without the need for a generator.
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There are options for tillers and bucket seats for pure adrenaline sailing (a nod to sister ships Outremer perhaps?) as well as Gunboat’s signature inside helm and forward cockpit. 6801, now renamed Highland Fling, went into a refurb in 2021 and was fitted with twin aft racing helms.
For sailing feel, I can only think of the Marsaudon Composites TS5, the Ocean Explorer OE62, the HH62 or the Dazcats for boats that get anywhere close.
Build Your Own Boat
You can customise the performance set up on these boats: choose between asymmetric or symmetric dagger-boards (there are 3 options here: short symmetrical boards for cruising, long asymmetrical boards, for racing or long symmetrical), long or short boom, rotating wing-mast or fixed rig and so on. In fact, there are more than 80 combinations available for the interior during the production process.
Cruising or Racing?
The two main options are the performance cruising set up and the racing set up which has 4m added to the mast for lighter wind speed and a longer boom and longeron (the midships beam and bowsprit).
When the wind picks up, you won’t notice much difference between the two set ups as they both use the same template. She’s been designed to add on the extras if you want.
Gunboat are back to their very best with this head-turner. She’s an all-carbon build and those reversed wave-piercing bows and the low-profile coachroof, give her an ultra sporty look.
This boat looks like she means business.
Faster than the Wind
VPLP design are industry veterans of some of the world’s biggest, fastest multihulls of course. They’ve increased the beam and stepped the mast aft for stability and ease of handling. With or without the longer rig, she’ll go like the wind or even faster in some cases.
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500 nautical miles per day was the designer’s stretch target in the right conditions: speeds in the high teens are not a drama on a 68. This 17.8-ton catamaran has been developed with advanced hydro and aero studies, an area of expertise at VPLP which they have used to develop raceboats such as Macif.
North Sails were also closely involved. A tacking angle of 90° should be achievable in most conditions – pretty unusual for a large cruising multihull.
You can expect to be shunting along at around 25 knots in a blow, and up to 16 knots in a decent breeze. The first boat clocked a 30kt surf.
The interior helm station is pure Gunboat, and she comes with a sunroof (or Moonroof rather) for keeping an eye on the sails and ventilation. The finish matches the quality you’d see on a private jet: she’s lavish with clever details on storage, ventilation and light.
Step through two watertight doors in the front of the saloon and you are into the forward cockpit and the foredeck where all the sailing business happens.
This is an exceptionally tidy area for a boat this size, especially if we are talking the performance cruiser option (such as Dash Gunboat 6802) as you will have opted for the fixed rather than the rotating rig.
Lines run outboard from the forward cockpit, like the daggerboard raise and lower lines and two sets of spinnaker sheets. A lot of planning went in to make sure that lines run as straight as possible to reduce friction trip hazards.
There’s a sealed tunnel through the cabin top from the cockpit to the daggerboard casings for example.
There is also an option of adding a tiller and bucket seats on the aft beam to give you that maximum sailing feel while you are out on the water.
Stepping inside the luxurious saloon from the forward cockpit, the galley to port has an island if you wish, and the rear windows can be thrown open to connect the inside and outside into one.
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Down below, there is space for four, five, or even six full-sized double beds with fantastic views through the long topside windows.
Design Masterpiece
The mastermind behind the interior design is Christophe Chedal Anglay who worked with Patrick le Quément on the exterior of the Gunboat 68. He was hired after his work on a full interior redesign for Gunboat 60 Moonwave.
The key to his design philosophy is beauty through simplicity. The attention to detail can be seen in the master cabin, where the super comfortable bed has a U- shaped headboard designed to absorb sound. Much of the lighting is set into recesses to create a chilled mood and the air conditioning surrounds the bed in slow-moving, cool air.
The sight-lines have been well thought through. In all of the cabins, you can sit up in bed and see the horizon. The devil is in the detail, as they say.
A Big, Powerful Rig
The 2 options for the rig plan are the Cruising Option with a 142 m2 main or the Regatta Mast (4m taller) with 175 m2 main. The regatta option also has bigger headsails (J1 Jib, J2 Solent and J3 Staysail), and the light wind sails are beefed up.
See the full details in our tech specs section below. We calculate the SA/D and D/L ratios using the light displacement and the mainsail + J2 solent. This just allows us to compare the 68 against other boats on the site.
Sail Area / Displacement Ratio
The SA/D for the regatta version comes in at an eye-ball popping 38. As a comparison, a Lagoon 380 has a SA/D of around 21. There´s a lot of power in a Gunboat 68 rig!
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The Regatta package comes with a rotating mast, whereas the Performance Cruising option is non-rotating.
All standing rigging is ECsix carbon. The Regatta Rig, if combined with the longer daggerboards should give a 12% boost to speeds upwind and up to 20% downwind in lighter wind conditions.
When the wind picks up and you start to reduce sail, both set-ups offer similar performance.
The traveler line driver winch is inside the aft beam so you can handle the mainsheet traveler lines at source, rather than have them led all the way under the boat to the forward cockpit. So you can ease the traveler from the forward cockpit, helm, or the back of the boat.
The Gunboat 68 sits at the very head of the Top Table of Multihulls – this boat sets new standards in design and construction. The primary target market is for sailors who want the ultimate performance cruising catamaran and are prepared to pay for the privilege.
Many owners will race their boats once or twice a year, but most will be blasting off to skinny water destinations like the Bahamas.
She’s well worthy of the marque: Grand Large Yachting relaunched the brand with a starting gun bang with this rocket ship.
If you are looking to gauge her against the competition (and there’s plenty in this market segment), then I recommend you check out our Ocean Explorer OE60 review which is produced in Finland, the KC62 from Kinetic, the Black Pepper Code C69 or take a look at some of the HH Catamarans (like the HH66).
Gunboat 68s
68.01 – Highland Fling (ex Condor) – Jan 17 2019, refurbed May 2021 with dual aft helms
68.02 – Dash – Jul 3 2019
68.03 – Sea Tilt – Jul 2020
68.04 – Tosca – Jan 2021
68.05 – Break Free – Apr 2022
68.06 – Convexity2
68.07 – Little Wing
Well, you’ll only be able to get a second hand model now, as this model has been replaced by the Gunboat 70. Have around €6 million tucked into your back pocket to even start the conversation. This could easily head up to €7.5 to €8m depending on the options on the boat. If any yacht holds its value, it’s a Gunboat. There aren’t many of them, and demand outstrips supply if you want one quickly. If you have the capital and only want to hold onto a 68 for a couple of years, you might like the depreciation/appreciation numbers.
Gunboat has offices in Newport RI, (USA )and La Grande Motte, France.
There is a cruising version with a 25m mast and symmetric boards. The other option is the regatta version with a 29m mast, longer boom and longeron and asymmetric boards. There are a whole range of options between these end cases.
The Gunboat 68 has more salon seating and volume than the Gunboat 60 and 62, but less than the 66. The aft cockpit is bigger than the 60, 62 and 66’s. All 4 VIP cabins are bigger than the cabins on all the other Gunboat models apart from the the Gunboat 78 (Nigel Irens) and 90 (Morrelli & Melvin). The 68´s hulls are narrower than her older siblings and the bridgedeck is shorter than a 66. The bows are longer and the sterns are longer, too. The mast is further aft.
Gunboat offer a rotating mast on the regatta rig version for extra power from the main. The standard rig is lighter (non- rotating). So for most owners, the complexity and cost of a rotating rig, plus the extra weight is not worthwhile. If you are racing Tribe (6201) in the BVI, however, it could come in handy.
Gunboats are produced in a yard across the road from Outremer and the engineering department are all together at the Gunboat site. Gunboat has dedicated engineers for Interior, Structure, Deck/Rig and dedicated process/production engineers. They do share engineering resource with Outremer for systems. The production team is completely dedicated to Gunboat.
68-01 has clocked 30 knots. OK, there was some surfing involved, but you wouldn’t call her a slow boat.
Gunboat 68.07 Little Wing Sea Trials
We calculated SA/D and D/L based on light displacement and the mainsail + solent (J2). This is to enable a meaningful comparison across katamarans.com
| Length Overall | 20.75m / 68ft |
|---|---|
| Beam Overall | 9.1m / 29.9ft |
| D/L | 56 |
| SA/D | Calc with mainsail + J2 |
| Power | 2 x 80 HP Yanmars |
| Water | 2x378L |
| Fuel | 2x378L |
| Draft (Boards up) | 1.2m/3.9ft |
| Draft (Boards Down) | 3.76/9.84 |
| Bridgedeck | 1m / 3’3″ |
| Disp. (standard) | 17,800Kg |
| Disp. (Max Load) | 23,800Kg |
| Rig 1 | CRUISING |
| Mainsail (C) | 142m² / 1,528 sq ft |
| J1 Jib (C) | 90m² / 969 sq ft |
| J2 Solent (C) | 66m² / 710 sq ft |
| J3 Staysail (C) | 49m² / 527 sq ft |
| SA/D (C) | 31 |
| Rig 2 | REGATTA |
| Mainsail (R) | 175m² / 1,884 sq ft |
| J1 Jib (R) | 110m² / 1,184 sq ft |
| J2 Solent (R) | 77m² / 829 sq ft |
| J3 Staysail (R) | 54m² / 581sq ft |
| SA/D (R) | 38 |
| SA/D* | Calc with mainsail + J2 |
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