If you're shopping for a 40-foot cruising catamaran, sooner or later you'll be comparing a Fountaine Pajot against something older, lighter and cheaper. We know, because we did exactly that before we bought our Fusion 40 — and because most of the serious buyers who enquire about her are weighing the same trade-off. So here's the comparison we wish someone had written for us: fair to Fountaine Pajot, honest about the Fusion, and clear about which boat suits which sailor.
Fountaine Pajot: the pedigree is real
Let's start by giving credit where it's due. Fountaine Pajot has been building cruising catamarans in La Rochelle since the 1980s, and the brand's reputation is earned. The modern range — styled by Berret-Racoupeau — is genuinely handsome, the interiors are bright and cleverly arranged, and the build quality is consistent in the way only a large production yard can manage. Just as importantly for a buyer: FP boats have deep resale liquidity. There are dealers on every continent, brokers know the boats, surveyors know the boats, and when you eventually sell, you're selling into a market that recognises exactly what you have. If you buy nearly new, you may also have the balance of a factory warranty behind you — something no fifteen-year-old boat of any brand can offer.
Those are not small advantages. For some buyers they're decisive, and rightly so.
The Isla 40: what "accessible" means in build terms
The Isla 40 is Fountaine Pajot's entry into the modern range — around 11.9 metres, launched around 2019, and positioned as the accessible FP. It's a lovely boat: contemporary lines, a well-thought-out cockpit that flows into the saloon, and three- or four-cabin layouts that make excellent use of the volume.
But it's worth understanding what "accessible" means when a production yard says it. To hit the price point, the Isla is built to a cost: simpler mouldings than the bigger boats, resin-infused but with weight and specification decisions driven by the production line, and a standard inventory aimed at coastal and holiday sailing rather than full-time liveaboard cruising. None of this is a criticism — it's how every volume builder makes an entry model possible, and FP does it better than most. It just means the brochure boat and the ocean-ready boat are two different invoices, which matters when you compare prices later.
The Astrea 42: the family and charter sweet spot
One step up, the Astrea 42 (around 12.6 metres) is arguably the sweet spot of the FP range — enough volume for a family or an owner-plus-guests programme, a flybridge-style helm many people love, and a layout that works brilliantly in charter. That last point cuts both ways. The Astrea's popularity in charter fleets means plenty of used examples and, if you buy new into a charter programme, genuine revenue potential to offset ownership costs. It also means many used Astreas have led hard charter lives, so a careful survey matters. Above these sit the Elba 45 and, at the top, the Samana 59 flagship — wonderful boats for bigger budgets, with the Samana typically well over US$1.5 million.
Where the Fusion 40 takes a different path
The Fusion 40 came from a different philosophy altogether. Designed by Gary Lidgard and built in Australia as a kit/modular catamaran from 2004 onward — around 60 exist — the Fusion was engineered for owners who intended to cross oceans, not fleets that needed to sleep eight charterers. The construction is resin-infused foam-sandwich vinylester in the topsides with solid fibreglass below the waterline: light where lightness pays, solid where groundings and beaches punish you.
The result is a 12.2-metre boat with a 7.0-metre beam that is genuinely light for her size. Weight is the quiet variable in every catamaran comparison. A lighter boat accelerates sooner, sails closer to her numbers in light air, loads her rig and bridgedeck less in a seaway, and asks less of her engines. Production 40-footers, built to carry charter payloads and priced-to-build interiors, typically displace considerably more. You feel the difference the first afternoon the breeze dies to ten knots and one boat is still sailing.
Draft is the other headline number: the Fusion draws about 1.1 metres. In the Pacific — or the Bahamas, or anywhere coral and sand set the rules — that shallow draft opens anchorages that deeper production cats simply wave past.
Spec snapshot
| Spec | Fusion 40 (Mā Tori) | FP Isla 40 | FP Astrea 42 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length overall | 12.2 m | ~11.9 m | ~12.6 m |
| Beam | 7.0 m | ~6.6 m (typical) | ~7.2 m (typical) |
| Draft | 1.1 m | ~1.2 m+ | ~1.2 m+ |
| Displacement | Light for her size | Typical production weight | Typical production weight |
| Build | Resin-infused foam sandwich, solid glass below waterline | Production resin infusion | Production resin infusion |
| Year | 2007, full refit 2022 | ~2019 onward | ~2018 onward |
| Typical used price | USD $299,000 | Typically US$450–600k | Typically more than the Isla |
Energy systems: the hidden second invoice
Here's the comparison nobody puts in a brochure. A production catamaran, as delivered, is usually equipped for weekends and holidays: modest battery bank, minimal solar, no watermaker, basic instruments. Owners who go full-time cruising almost always spend heavily afterwards — lithium conversion, solar arch, inverter, watermaker, communications. On a new Isla or Astrea, that upgrade list routinely runs to tens of thousands of dollars on top of the purchase price, plus the months it takes to specify and install it all.
Mā Tori has already been through that process. Her 2022 refit and subsequent upgrades left her with 700W of solar, a 540Ah lithium bank, a 2000W inverter, an OceanF10 watermaker (2025), Raymarine electronics with autopilot, and both Starlink and Iridium for communications. Twin Yanmar 3YM30 saildrives handle the motoring. That's not a boat that needs preparing for cruising — that's a boat that's been cruising, with three consecutive NZ–Fiji seasons (2023–2025) and current NZ Cat 1 offshore certification to show for it.
Age versus newness, honestly
The Isla is the newer boat, and newer matters. A 2019+ hull has younger gelcoat, younger standing rigging by calendar, modern styling that will photograph well at resale, and possibly warranty coverage. If your budget stretches to US$450–600k for a used Isla and you value that newness, it's a rational choice — nothing we write here changes that.
But a 2007 Fusion with a full 2022 refit muddies the neat "old versus new" story. New sails in 2022, antifoul in May 2025, new energy systems, new watermaker — on the components that actually wear, a properly refitted boat can be effectively younger than a lightly-maintained 2019 boat. What the Fusion offers that no new boat can is a track record: this particular hull has crossed to Fiji and back three times. The unknowns a survey can't fully resolve on any boat have, in her case, been resolved by the ocean.
Price for capability
Strip it back to the essential question: what does each dollar buy? A used Isla 40 at US$450–600k buys newness, brand liquidity and dealer support — then typically needs a cruising fit-out on top. Mā Tori at USD $299k buys a lighter, shallower, offshore-proven boat with the cruising fit-out already done and proven. For roughly the price gap between the two, you could cruise for years — or simply keep the difference.
Who should buy which
Buy the Fountaine Pajot if: you want the newest boat your budget allows, you value worldwide dealer support and strong resale liquidity, you may put the boat into charter (especially the Astrea 42), or brand recognition matters to your plans. These are genuinely good boats from a genuinely good yard.
Buy the Fusion 40 if: you're a sailing-first couple or small family heading offshore, you'd rather have performance, shallow draft and a completed cruising inventory than a newer badge, and you like the idea of spending the six-figure difference on actual cruising. If that's you, we'd love to show you ours.
Keep reading: our full Fusion 40 review goes deeper on the design, our guide to the best cruising catamarans under $500k widens the field, and owner-built vs production catamarans unpacks the build-philosophy question. Or go straight to Mā Tori's listing.