Is it a RIB? Is it a personal watercraft? Is it a catamaran? Well, in a word, yes. Alex Smith takes a closer look at the extraordinary C-Fury Voyager.

We first saw the C-Fury Voyager at a boat show in the spring of 2009, when its extrovert strangeness made a resounding impression. It seemed a very odd amalgamation of boat forms - like a stretched personal watercraft with an inflatable collar, or a stumpy RIB with twin hulls. It was remarkable, no question, but was it remarkable in a good way? Well, now in the spring of 2011, with nearly two years of fine-tuning behind it, we finally had the chance to put the new and improved C-Fury Voyager to the test . . .

The user-friendly fit-out

At first glance, the Voyager seems to have retained the key elements that saw the original craft cause such a stir. It is still a catamaran with an inflatable collar and a hydrofoil, and it still has the central, jockey-style helm seat. But what comes as a far greater surprise is the user-friendliness of the layout.

This latest boat is a five-seat family craft with a full-beam aft bench and an extended central helm jockey seat. The storage is also much better arranged than you might expect, with a well-proportioned ski locker beneath the central deck, a large dry space inside the console (complete with spare kill cords) and an anchor locker in the bow, lined with the same excellent non-slip, PW-style matting as you see on the deck.

The inflatable RIB-style collar is not just a buoyancy aid but a three-chamber ‘Orca’ Hypalon unit, with twin lifelines - one on the inside and one on the outside, so you can find a safe grabbing point, whether you are already on board, alongside on a pontoon or floating in the water. The entire tube is also removable, enabling you to service or replace it without unnecessary delay, and the thick, oversized rubbing strake around the entire collar is a very useful feature.

The ingenious hull form

The basic design brief behind this boat is very revealing. In C-Fury’s own words, they wanted “a compact, high-efficiency craft that is fun to use, but with the sea keeping properties of a much larger vessel.” The craft had to be simple to tow behind a small family car, it had to fit in a garage (with trailer) and it had to be easy to launch, drive and recover, single-handed. In terms of performance, it had to be capable of seating four adults and a child (essentially an entire family), and it had to be capable of cruising at 20-23 knots in a one-metre swell. It was a hell of a tough brief, but the result of these demands is the boat you see here.

The benefits of two hulls

Real twin-hull aficionados will happily suggest that the catamaran is as profound an improvement over a monohull as a bike is over a unicycle - and to a degree, you can see their point. You get a tremendously soft ride, enabling you to make rapid headway through choppy seas in far greater comfort than an equivalent monohull. You get greater efficiency too (a major bonus in an age of escalating fuel prices), plus more generous inboard space and better stability at rest. You also get better directional control off the plane and the knowledge that, if you have to make your way around the boat at rest, it won’t pitch and roll as the weight begins to shift. Cats do tend to be more expensive to buy than monohulls but the practical benefits are not in doubt.

Great Expectations

On the water, it doesn’t take long to discover some key handling characteristics. As we launch into a three-knot tidal stream, I have a brief play at displacement speeds, in and out of the moored boats - and I have to say that the directional stability of this boat is tremendous. On the plane, you get lots more of the same great handling. But when getting to top speed, you’ll need to be cautious not to trim her too far out otherwise it becomes a little unstable. The only actual annoyance with the Voyager was the fact that the side-mounted throttle compels you to use the little finger of your left hand to operate the trim. For most of us, a thumb switch is by far the more intuitive option.

The hydrofoil principle

The idea of a hydrofoil is very similar to that of a wing. Once there is a flow of water over its surface, it creates upward force, lifting more of the hull free of the water. If that lift outweighs the drag brought about by the foil in the water, them you have a net gain, which means more pace and/or greater efficiency from a given amount of power. The hydrofoil also has a natural trimming effect, because as it nears the surface, the lift is reduced - and to some degree, this self-trimming dynamic often limits the impact of your manual tweaks at the helm. But in the case of the Voyager, not only does the power trim switch bring tangible results, but the driver’s position on the jockey seat can also be used to exert a subtle influence on the boat’s planing attitude.

Is she worth the money?

A purse of £22,225 brings plenty of more conventional boat buying options into the equation. But if you want a compact and efficient craft that is simple to use, and yet marries dynamic potency and user-friendliness in equal measure, the C-Fury Voyager is worth every single penny.

Performance (Voyager with Yamaha F60)

1000.............2.7.............1.4

1500.............3.7.............2.3

2000.............3.6.............3.6

2500.............5.5.............5.2

3000.............12.0...........7.4

3500.............17.9...........7.3

4000.............23.5...........9.0

4500.............21.6..........12.0

5000.............25.0..........14.3

5500.............33.3..........20.0

6000.............31.3..........21.4

* Figures obtained with two men plus 30 litres of fuel on board (175 kg in total)

Why you would

Soft ride

Great build

Simple to use

Excellent fuel efficiency

Why you wouldn’t

Lots of monohull options at this money

Awkward trim switch

Specifications

LOA: 4.0 m

Beam: 1.95 m

Weight: 370 kg (inc engine)

Tube diameter: 420 mm

Chambers: three

Max payload: 400 kg

Fuel capacity: 25 litres (plus 2x5 litres)

People capacity: four adults plus one child

Max power: 70 hp

Engines: Yamaha F30 - F70

Test engine: Yamaha F60

Price as tested: £22,225

Contact

C-fury, Herefordshire. HR9 7XL

01684 210011

www.c-fury.com

This test appeared in the Spring issue of Sports Boat and RIB magazine. Click here to purchase the full issue.