Performance Catamaran Builders

Everything you need to live well at sea.
Nothing sacrificed to get there fast.

For over 14 years, Balance has been hand-building live-aboard performance catamarans that refuse to make you choose. Built in South Africa. Sailed across every ocean.

 How we Build

100

Boats in the Water

14

Years Building

CE  A

Offshore Rated

8+

Industry Awards

Our Founding Question

Built around a question
no one had answered

Balance was founded in 2013 by Phillip Berman — a Hobie Cat World Champion, sailor, and yacht broker who spent decades surveying boats and couldn't find the one he actually wanted to live and sail on. So he built it.

"Why aren't there high performance catamarans that still offer onboard comfort and livability?"— Phil Berman, Founder & President

In partnership with acclaimed naval architect Anton du Toit and master builders in South Africa, every Balance is the answer to that question — designed to strike the perfect balance between how fast it goes and how good it is to live aboard.

  • Performance by design
    Upwind ability, sea-handling, and sail plan efficiency are engineered in before comfort fittings go anywhere near the boat.
  • Offshore-certified
    CE Category A and ABS offshore classification. Built for deep ocean passages, not coastal day sailing.
  • A floating home that moves
    Handcrafted cabinetry, spacious galleys, real wood veneers, open-plan salons. Design that performs as beautifully as it looks.
  • Customised for you
    Carbon Core, Carbon XP and / or full cruising spec — every Balance is tuned to exactly the balance its owner wants.

Craftsmanship

Not built. Crafted.

Every Balance is painstakingly hand-built — not mass-produced. A QC team member in a white coat walks the factory at every stage. Behind every cabinet, in every service locker, deep in every pigeonhole — it's faired down to every corner. Because your life will be in this boat's hands.

Hand-laminated, vacuum-bagged hulls

Hulls and decks are hand-laminated and vacuum-bagged with closed-cell foam cores. The deck is glassed over from inside and out — no rub rail hiding a fast joint. Experienced builders notice immediately.

Carbon foam-core bulkheads, CNC-cut

CNC-cut to fit perfectly, then hand-glassed on both sides. Phil spent decades as a yacht broker attending survey after survey — bulkhead failure is where lesser builders cut corners. Not here.

Custom furniture, per boat

Every piece of furniture is hand-made for that specific yacht in foam core with real wood veneers. Apprentices take pride in their first cabinet passing QC. There's no standard fit-out.

Labour hours that no European yard can match

Phil estimates at least triple the labour hours of a comparable European build. That's what enables the level of fairing, hand-finishing and QC that makes these boats so quiet, so stiff, so right.

"

The fairing quality was flawless — not a single bump in her shiny blue hulls. It is hard to imagine the amount of time it took to achieve such a finish.

- Multihulls Magazine

Why build in South Africa?

Where rough water
makes better boats

The two oceans — Indian and Atlantic — have been forging skilled sailors and serious boat builders for generations. The sea keeps the standards honest. Boat building represents 14% of South Africa's exports.

  • A generational culture of catamaran building. Multi-generational craftspeople, many who trained under legends in the industry, build every Balance.
  • Rough, unpredictable conditions set the benchmark. Every boat is sea-trialled in the same waters they were designed to handle. There's no way to fake it.
  • Take delivery in one of the world's great sailing destinations. Watch your boat come to life, then sail north on consistent beam winds to the Caribbean.
  • World-class material and parts access. 14% of SA's exports are boat-related — meaning superior procurement for every custom specification.

Not every Balance is built the same — and that's a feature, not a bug.

The 464 and 502 are built in Cape Town using vinyl-ester outer skins with full carbon cores — delivering an exceptional strength-to-weight ratio at the most cost-effective build specification.

The 540 and 580 are built in St. Francis Bay in epoxy resin with various carbon combinations, optimised for high-performance blue water cruising.

The 750 is a fully custom vessel in a category of its own — epoxy and carbon configurations tailored entirely to the owner's specification.

Every construction method is a deliberate choice, not a compromise. The right one for you depends on the model and the performance spec you're after. This is exactly the conversation worth having with Patrick or Dean.

Recognition

Industry-recognised. 

Owner-trusted.

Import Boat of the Year & Best Full-Size Multihull Over 50ft

Balance 526 — the award that started it all. Tim Murphy: "A high-performance voyaging cat that an experienced couple could take anywhere."

Cruising World · 2017

Boat of the Year: Best Multihull

Balance 482 — "A performance catamaran sailors' kind of cat." Refined daggerboards, lightweight build, serious upwind ability.

Sailing World · 2022

Cruising World describes the Balance 580 as a "light, fast, and seaworthy bluewater catamaran" that successfully merges luxury with performance.

SAIL Magazine · 2026

And a long list of many more...

See More

Take the Next Step

Inside the build.
No sales pressure. Just the real story.

Enter your details and we'll send you a build process guide — how we design, what we use, why it matters, and what truly separates a Balance from everything else on the water. 

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