NEW BALANCE CATAMARANS 482  

Climb aboard the new Balance 482 and behold the boldly contemporary lines of our trend setting high performance blue water voyager. Designed by World Champion catamaran racer Phillip Berman and Award Winning naval architect Anton Du Toit, the Balance 482 is blue water tough, fast as a gazelle, yet exceptionally easy to handle.

The initial inspiration for the Balance 482 came from our passion to design and build - from the ground up - the finest performance voyaging catamarans for a couple or small family who really want to go places in speed and comfort yet carry significant cruising payloads. We set out to design her to be simple to operate and to maintain while offering gracious living.

Restoring Balance to the Catamaran Universe
Climb aboard the new Balance 482 and behold the boldly contemporary lines of our trend setting high performance blue water voyager. Designed by World Champion catamaran racer Phillip Berman, and Award-Winning naval architect Anton du Toit, the Balance 482 is blue water tough, fast as a gazelle, yet exceptionally easy to handle

Forward-raked wave piercing bows, foam core hulls, decks and furniture, carbon reinforced, she offers incomparable performance and stunning design. The 482 can be crafted with with either dagger-boards or high performance fixed keels.

GRACIOUS LIVING, ELEGANT DESIGN
After selling over 500 catamarans we know that our customers wish to turn their yachts into gracious, elegant homes. We've spent hour upon hour examining our interior sight lines. We've profoundly improved upon catamaran living ergonomics - our beds, toilettes and showers, as well as our cabinetry and finishes are truly state-of-the-art. Our European styled interiors have been designed and coordinated by the esteemed Philadelphia design firm, OLC, known for over 25 years as a leader in high-end interior design. (Click here to check out some of our interior designs)

With her owner version configuration, the Balance 482 easily accommodates up to six people for a long voyage. Our innovative salon table converts into a queen size bed so you can always sleep another couple if required. It is a superb place to hang out, read a book, or sleep when your partner is on watch. Her master shower aft is luxurious, and the 482 sports 6 foot 10 inches of headroom, boasts a large U-shaped galley, and offers more cabinetry than any performance catamaran of her size and class

SAILING MADE EASY
With the Balance 482 there is never a need to wait for crew. We've designed her to be easily piloted single-handed. Our self tending blade jib, reefing station, and innovative Versa-helm Trademarked design now make it possible for almost anyone to single-hand our catamaran safely in any sort of weather.

With her powerful 1,432 square foot sail-plan the Balance 482 will ghost along in 5 knot winds while the others are burning diesel. Like all Balance designs, the 482 is one Green Machine. When it's blowing, however, just furl in her headsails, reef her down, and keep on going. She's built to withstand the worst weather you'd ever wish to sail in.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE
The 482 is fast, sure. But she's easily operated singlehanded if required. Her self-tending blade jib makes tacking a simple matter of turning over the helm. All of her reefing and sail management takes place at the upper helm station. With her dual furling headsails, electric winches, and a mainsheet system that operates without a traveler, you don't need to be a racer to sail her.

DUAL DAGGERBOARDS
The 482 can be configured with dual daggerboards for those seeking maximum performance under sail, or with high performance fixed keels to reduce operational complexity. To understand the trade-offs and performance differences, please see the study we conducted with the Wolfson Unit at the University of Southampton. The fully retractable dual daggerboards draws less than 3' 6" inches of water when retracted. Shallow waters are no longer off limits. Upwind performance is dramatically improved with the boards in the down position, while off wind performance is enhanced with the boards raised. In dangerous cross seas, with the "boards up, " the 482 will side-slip to avoid the tripping effect associated with large fin keeled cats.

VERSA HELM DESIGN - BECAUSE ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL
The first of its kind in catamaran design, our all-weather Versahelm design blends the best of both worlds for serious voyagers. In fair weather you open up the sliding hard top and sail upstairs in open air. In inclement weather you close the hardtop and drop our cantilevered wheel into the aft cockpit. From here you pilot in total protection looking through our large vertical salon windows. The down position enables you to see all four corners of the yacht for docking and offers a safe, warm and comfortable place to sit watch and pilot the 482 in any sort of weather. We have labored sedulously to eliminate the ugliness and problems of two-tiered hard tops that must be covered with plastic or glass for cold weather sailing. We see no reason why a modern catamaran must look like a fishing trawler but find every reason to believe she must often be piloted like one - in any sort of weather in comfort and safety. Sailing must be fun whenever it can be but warm and safe went it cannot.

The new 482 delivers the most expansive sight lines in the catamaran industry today. The flow and openness between the main salon and the cockpit are superb, and her permanent up and down helm stations take the ground breaking Versa-Helm design to an entire new level. Spitting rain? Cold And tired? Who cares? You're sailing a Balance.

WHAT MAKES HER SPECIAL
It's been said before that, "Balance Doesn't Make Perfect - Only Perfect Balance Makes Perfect. " This sums up our designs perfectly! We've thought through every aspect of the 482 to strike a careful Balance between speed and comfort. Racers at heart, Berman and du Toit are also deeply practical sailors who've spent thousands of miles at sea. For them, a great catamaran must live as well as it sails. A superb galley, great sleeping and eating spaces, plenty of storage, and enchanting areas in which to live and play - inside or outside - this is our 482

Exposure to bad weather on the 482 is minimized while your ability to sail away from the worst is maximized. But sailing fast isn't enough, is it? No catamaran should brag about being the first at anchor if she's not also a sheer delight to live on. That's why the 482 is the most gracious live-aboard catamaran we could possibly design.

She's a pleasure to move about on, to sleep on, cook, lounge, bathe, dine and entertain friends and family. There is a place to store everything on the 482, and a lot of places to just hang out and relax - you can pilot her up top in fair weather, pilot her down in the cold, you can lounge and read inside or outside, turn your tables into beds, into dining tables, into pleasure nooks for reading or watching the latest film. The 482 is your home away from home

Balance Catamarans, and VersaHelm, are protected Trademarks of Balance Catamarans LLC.
Contact us for a full list of standard 482 equipment and a detailed options pricing list.