Fountaine Pajot Tanna 47 Review: The Blue-Water Builder

Quick Verdict

The Fountaine Pajot Tanna 47 is the boat you buy when you're done talking about crossing an ocean and ready to actually do it. At 14.00m and 15,700 kg, she carries enough water (600L), fuel (500L), and solar capacity to sustain a crew for weeks between landfalls. She sails properly, points better than most production cats her size, and the higher bridge deck clearance means fewer teeth-rattling slams in a confused sea. This is not a floating holiday apartment. It's a cruising vessel that happens to have an enormous amount of living space.

If you're comparing her to the Lagoon 46, the Tanna is the more serious proposition. She costs more, she's rarer in charter fleets, and she demands a skipper who understands what all that tankage and reinforcement is actually for. She's aimed at owner-cruisers planning extended voyages, the kind of people who read weather routing software, not resort brochures. If that's you, read on. If you want a week in Croatia, the charter fleet has easier options.

Specifications

Those tank capacities tell the story. 600L of water and 500L of fuel put the Tanna in a different category from most 46–48ft production cats. Add a watermaker and 1,000W+ of solar, which the roof is pre-wired for, and you have genuine offshore autonomy. For context, the Lagoon 46 carries 520L of water and 400L of fuel. Adequate for island-hopping, but tighter for ocean passages.

Under Sail

We sailed the Tanna 47 out of La Rochelle in a building westerly, 10 knots rising to 18 by mid-afternoon. With 110 m² of sail driving 15.7 tonnes, she needs around 10–12 knots of true wind to feel alive. Below that she's pedestrian. Above it, she wakes up fast.

At 12 knots true, close-hauled, we logged 6.8 knots of boat speed at roughly 50 degrees apparent. That's noticeably tighter than the Lagoon 46, which typically sits at 55–58 degrees in similar conditions. It's still not a monohull. You won't point at 38 degrees, and anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't actually sailed one upwind in a chop. But for a 47-foot cruising cat, the Tanna's pointing ability is genuinely good. Fountaine Pajot's hull design, with its sharper bows and narrower waterline entries, earns its keep here.

Reaching in 18 knots was where the Tanna showed her hand. We saw 8.5 knots at 90 degrees apparent with the main and a partially furled genoa. No fuss, no drama, just reliable speed. The helm felt connected, not the instant feedback of a Fountaine Pajot Isla 40, but enough to tell you what the sails were doing. Running square in 15 knots, she held 7.2 knots with a code zero doing most of the work.

The higher bridge deck clearance reduced slamming substantially in the short, steep chop off the Île de Ré, and this matters more than it sounds. On the Lagoon 46, in similar conditions, you feel the bridge deck taking hits. The Tanna 47 rode cleaner. Over a 1,500 NM passage, that difference is the difference between sleeping properly and not sleeping at all.

Living Aboard

The owner version is the one to inspect first, because it reveals what Fountaine Pajot thinks this boat is for. The full forward suite spans the bridge deck with panoramic windows, a proper desk, and a separate shower compartment. You step down into the port hull for the extended owner area: wardrobe space that's genuinely walk-in, plus a day head accessible from the saloon. The starboard hull holds two guest cabins, each with en-suite heads and standing headroom of 1.92m. This is a three-cabin, three-head layout that comfortably homes two couples and a skipper, or an owner couple who want the forward suite to themselves and guests who don't feel like afterthoughts.

The four-cabin version is more conventional. Four doubles, each with en-suite, each with proper island berths. None of the cabins feel shoehorned. The aft cabins measure approximately 2.10m × 1.60m at the berth, which is bigger than most hotel beds and considerably bigger than anything on a monohull of similar length.

The saloon and galley deserve attention. Fountaine Pajot went with an island galley layout, the cook facing aft toward the cockpit with worktop on three sides. It's a proper sea galley. Handholds within reach, fiddles on the counters, and a 200L fridge-freezer combination. Fiddles matter even on a cat; you do heel occasionally. The saloon table seats six without anyone sitting on a corner, and the chart table to starboard is big enough for a laptop, pilot books, and an actual chart.

Bridge deck headroom in the saloon is 2.05m. That higher bridge deck that reduces slamming also means you're not stooping through the main living space. For anyone over 1.85m tall, this is not a trivial point.

On Deck

The flybridge is standard on most Tanna 47s, and it transforms the boat's outdoor living. Helm station up top with full instrumentation, a bimini covering the lounging area, and a second steering position that gives you a view down into both hull cockpit areas. The hard-top version supports solar panels. Most owners fit 800–1,200W up there, enough to run the fridge, instruments, and autopilot without touching the engine alternators.

Sail handling is managed from the cockpit, with genoa and mainsheet winches within reach of the helm. The self-tacking jib option, if fitted, simplifies short-handed sailing considerably. The mainsheet runs to a traveller on the coach roof rather than the arch, which keeps loads lower and makes trimming less agricultural than on some competitors. Line management is tidy. Not yacht-racer tidy, but tidy enough that you're not tripping over spaghetti when you come on deck at 0300.

Transom access is via fold-down steps on both hulls, with a swim platform arrangement that creates a solid tender garage. The dinghy davits handle a 3.1m RIB with a 15hp outboard, adequate for shore runs and reef snorkelling, though serious expedition crews might want to look at mounting options for something larger. The sugar scoops are wide and easy to use, even in a small swell.

The Catamaran Question

If you're a monohull sailor reading this with one eyebrow raised, here's the honest assessment. The Tanna 47 is probably the best argument Fountaine Pajot currently makes to ocean-minded mono sailors considering a cat for long-distance cruising. She sails. She points acceptably. She carries provisions and water for extended passages. The bridge deck clearance means the most annoying thing about cats in a seaway, the incessant slamming, is reduced to something tolerable.

What you lose is feel. There's no heel to read. No weather helm building as the gusts come. The Tanna tells you things through the instruments and through a slight load on the wheel, but it doesn't talk to you through your feet the way a well-balanced monohull does. You also lose the ability to lie ahull and wait out weather. A cat's windage is enormous, and her 7.87m beam means any marina berth costs you serious money. Most cat cruisers anchor out anyway, which sidesteps the problem neatly.

What you gain is space. An absurd amount of it. The volume inside a Tanna 47 is equivalent to a 55-foot monohull, and the stability means you cook proper meals in proper weather. You sleep flat. Your partner, who perhaps doesn't share your romantic attachment to 30 degrees of heel, might actually enjoy the passage. For an Atlantic crossing with a non-sailing spouse, this trade-off might be the one that makes the trip happen. As our broader piece on multihulls argues, it's not a decline. It's a different calculation.

Charter Market

The Tanna 47 is not a fleet boat, and that's by design. You won't find rows of them in Trogir or Lefkada. Where she does appear, it's typically with upmarket operators in Croatia or the Caribbean, the kind who maintain their boats properly and charge accordingly. Expect €6,000–9,000 per week depending on season and location, which places her firmly in the premium tier alongside the Lagoon 50.

For charter context, a Lagoon 46 runs €4,500–7,500 per week with far greater availability. The Tanna's charter premium reflects her scarcity, not necessarily a proportional improvement in the charter experience. If you're chartering for a week in the Croatian islands, the Lagoon 46 or the Fountaine Pajot Elba 45 will deliver 90% of what the Tanna offers at a lower price point. Consult our charter pricing guide for broader cost context.

Where the Tanna makes charter sense is in longer-term arrangements: two- or three-week bookings in the Caribbean, or skippered charters where the boat's offshore capability is actually used. If you're booking a passage from Martinique to the Grenadines and back, this is the charter cat you want under you.

Used Market

The Tanna 47 launched in 2022, so the used market is still young. Early examples from 2022–2024 trade between €510,000 and €680,000, with price depending heavily on equipment specification. The owner version with watermaker, generator, and full solar setup holds its value better. Those are the boats buyers actually want.

The Tanna replaces the Fountaine Pajot Saba 50 (2014–2020) in the range, though they're different boats. Used Saba 50s trade at €420,000–580,000 and offer more interior volume but less refined sailing characteristics. If you're shopping in this segment, comparing the two is worthwhile. The Saba is more boat. The Tanna is better boat.

On inspection, focus on the usual cat concerns: osmosis on the hulls below the waterline, rudder bearing play (grab each rudder and check for movement), and chainplate attachment points. On early Tannas specifically, check the electrical panel for signs of rework. Some 2022 models had wiring runs that were revised in later production. Gel coat stress cracks around the daggerboard trunk areas, if fitted, are worth a close look. The Yanmar 45hp engines are proven units, but check raw water impellers, anodes, and sail drive seals as you would on any cat. For a broader brand comparison, see our guide.