The Story
The initial inspiration for the Balance 526 arose from our passion to design and build, from the ground up, the finest performance voyaging catamaran ever conceived 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 the 526 to be simple to operate, to maintain, and enormously gracious to live on.
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Cutting Edge Technology
Our design and build philosophy at Balance Catamarans is simple: Improve on the proven, innovate when required. As the inventors of the ground-breaking Versa Helm design we know how to push the envelope, but we never go against our prime directive – BUILD THE FINEST, MOST EASILY OPERATED, BULLET PROOF PERFORMANCE VOYAGING CATAMARANS POSSIBLE.
Exceptional Build Quality
We use the finest resins, epoxies, foam cores, fiberglass and carbon products available in the world today. Our yachts are built with a combination of resin infusion or vacuum bagged techniques. We use only foam composite bulkheads, foam cores, and all of our furniture and cabinets are made with cored, sandwich construction. We use carbon fiber heavily in all of the high load areas of our yachts and custom fabricate many of our own glass/carbon components – including davits, bimini posts, doors, bimini tops, etc. Every move we make at Balance is focused on producing the lightest, strongest, stiffest catamaran we can possibly build..
Specs
Base, sail away price for the Balance 526 begins at $1,440,000 FOB our South African Factory. A fully cruise equipped model runs approximately $1,650,000 FOB our South African Factory. For a full list of standard 526 equipment and a detailed options pricing list, please click here.
Overall Length
52.50ft / 16.00m
Waterline Length
51.31ft / 15.639m
Beam Overall
27.17ft / 8.26m
Main Sail
1141 ft2 / 106 m2
Working Self-Tacking Jib
461 ft2 / 43m2
Sail Area (100% Foretriangle)
1690ft2 / 157.1m2
Asymmetric Spinnaker
2582 ft2 / 240 m2
Draft
Boards Down: 7.07ft / 2.160m
Boards Up: 3.68ft / 1.12m
Keel Version: 4.5ft / 1.37m
Air Draft / Mast Clearance
78.53ft / 23.93m
Bridgedeck Clearance
2.89ft / 0.88m
DISP (L/Ship)
26,455lbs / 12,000kgs (Keel Version)
26,565lbs / 12,050 (Daggerboard Version)
Screacher/Reacher
1159 ft2 / 108m2
Yanmar 4JH57 x SD 60
2× 57 HP / 2×43 kW
Fuel Capacity
2×130 gals / 2×500 liters
Fresh Water Capacity
2×103 gals / 2×390 litres
Black Water Capacity
2×16 gals / 2×60 litres
Maximum Displacement
34,450lbs / 15,625kg
Maximum Cruising Payload
6,890lbs / 3,125kgs
Designers
Phillip Berman and Anton Du Toit
Layouts
- 3 cabin owners version. Owner master berth starboard forward, owner master shower aft. Queen berth forward on port side with double bed aft. There can be one or two heads on port side, depending on customer choice
- 3 cabin owner version with office to port. Owner master berth to starboard forward, owner master shower aft. Queen berth forward on port side, with single berth/office combination aft.
- 2 cabin double owner version, where both port and starboard hulls are private owner suites.
- Four cabin, four head version
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Four cabin two head version
Read What Experts Are Saying About The 526
Want to learn more about the Balance 526? Read what experts from around the world have come to learn about the Balance 526 after test sails and inspections on this special cat by visiting our media page.
“In addition to being a yacht of the finest quality, the new “Versahelm” design of the Balance 526 is so elegant, wise and functional one wonders why nobody thought to do it before…”
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