Powercats in Hot Demand

With stability, space and speed, powercats are seeing fast-rising popularity among motoryacht enthusiasts, with a huge number of brands debuting new models.

Words: John Higginson; Photos: Shipyards & Dealers

Rossinavi made global news earlier in February this year for the preview of its five-strong selection of Nolimits brand of aluminium superyachts from 30-45m, which are represented exclusively by Camper & Nicholsons. In May, it caused more waves when the family-owned Italian shipyard launched the 43m Seawolf X, formerly known as Sea Cat, one of the most anticipated powercats of recent years.

Designed by Fulvio de Simoni with interiors by US-based Meyer Davis, the sub-500GT hybrid powercat has an LOA of 140ft and a 45ft delivery from the Carrara shipyard to Monaco had to double as its first sea trial.

Offering a whopping 780GT and almost 6,500 sq ft of glass windows, This Is It is among the world’s largest charter catamarans, and available in the Med from this summer through IYC.

Power catamarans like these have soared in popularity in the boating market over the last two decades. Take a tour of the new models, and new players, entering the sector.

SUPER CATS IN ASIA

In Thailand, SpaceCat is currently available for charter with Northrop & Johnson and is the first hull of the SilverCat 36M series designed by Espenino and built by SilverYachts.

The four-cabin SpaceCat, which arrived in Phuket in 2022, has an overall length of 118ft and a beam of 44ft (13.3m), which provides a platform for 478GT of volume, while attractions include a 5.5m-long pool on the aft deck, lots of water toys and up to eight crew. Meanwhile, SilverYachts is working on the SilverCat 24M and 22M models.

China’s Heysea made a huge splash in 2020 when it released its Vista 43M. The powercat has a beam of 12m and a draft of 2.3m, while twin 715hp Caterpillar engines and 60,000 litres of fuel give it a range of 4,000nm.

This May, the Chinese shipyard staged the world premiere of its V75 at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, with a V56 design to follow.

Also in China, Granocean announced the 32m Azure III, its largest powercat to date, with a 12m beam, an enclosed flybridge and a spectacular, curvaceous pool.

Granocean also offers an X-24 with helipad capability and is set to complete a carbon version this summer, while other upcoming launches include a 42ft carbon cat that will be the tender for the Singapore-based Charley 2.

MAKING NEW WAVES

Last year’s Monaco Yacht Show displayed a record five catamarans were among the 117 yachts in Port Hercules including Bluegame’s BGM75 and Sunreef’s 80 Eco and 80 Power Eco. Even more notably, there were two one-off custom builds from The Italian Sea Group: the 46.5m ArtExplorer sailing cat by Perini Navi and This Is It, Tecnomar’s radical 43.5m powercat.

In 2018, Australia’s Echo Yachts built the 84m aluminium trimaran White Rabbit and the 56m powercat Charley 2 (2023) for Singapore owners.

In Italy, Wider started the year by launching the first hull of the WiderCat 92. Designed by Luca Dini Design in partnership with Wider Centro Stile, the WiderCat 92 started with four hulls on order, with the second expected in 2025.

Wider’s advanced serial hybrid propulsion system includes twin electric motors delivering 500kW each to the thrusters, two 349kW variable-speed generators for electrical energy production, n°30 LiFePO4 (Lithium-Iron Phosphate) batteries and a state-of-the-art battery-management system.

Generators operate at low power consumption, allowing cruising in ZEM (Zero Emission Mode) with a 27nm range at six knots in silence or a 14-hour autonomy on battery power at anchor. Additionally, 150sqm of solar panels ensure self-sufficiency at anchor, with any excess energy stored in the batteries for nighttime use.

SUNREEF EXPANDING

Sailing catamarans initially popularised the twin-hull platform before many of the world’s leading cat builders also started producing power catamarans.

Founded in Poland in 2002, Sunreef, whose dealers in Asia include NextWave in Hong Kong and Hong Seh Marine in Singapore, is a world leader in the segment, launching the 74ft Che in 2003 and powercat, the 70ft Jambo, in 2008. It now builds powercats from 44ft upwards and sailing catamarans up to 143ft, and recently launched the ultramodern and luxurious 100 Sunreef Power, its largest completed model to date.

Last year, Sunreef showcased the 70 Power at Cannes, which completed the brand’s ‘New Beginnings’ range that includes the 60 Power, 80 Power, and the 50, 60, 70 and 80 sailing cats. Those models, now sometimes tagged ‘classic,’ distinguish them from Eco solar electric versions.

Already, Sunreef has launched the 60 Eco, 70 Eco and 80 Eco sailing cats, and last year used two hulls of the 80 Power Eco, Athena Too and Sol, for the powercat’s world and US premieres. This year, the 60 Sunreef Power Eco will have its world premiere at Cannes.

Its fast-growing Ras Al Khaimah shipyard in the UAE is focused on producing an Ultima series of powercats, which are slimmer and faster than their ‘classic’ counterparts. Sunreef says it has already taken close to 40 orders for Ultima models, which now comprise the 44, 55, 66, 77 and 88.

The 55 Ultima is the first model in production, with plans for a potential premiere this year at Cannes in September or the Abu Dhabi International Boat Show in November.

INBOARD POWERHOUSES

Lagoon, now represented by Asiamarine in Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand, is considered the world’s most popular pleasure catamaran brand, having built over 7,000 units. The French shipyard popularised large powercats when it debuted the Lagoon Seventy 8 at Cannes in 2017 and added to its powercat portfolio in 2019 with the premiere of the Sixty 7, with both models present in Asia.

Founded in 1976, Fountaine Pajot has built nearly 5,000 catamarans and entered the motor yacht sector in 1988, making it one of the world’s most experienced brands in the sector.

Headed in Asia by Kevin Corfa – represented by Asia Yachting in Hong Kong, and The Yacht Sales Co. in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia – the La Rochelle builder produces MY4.S sedan (36ft), MY5 (42ft 4in), MY6 (45ft 11in) flybridge motor yachts, and the flagship Power 67 (64ft 7in).

Active Marine, a Japanese dealer, has sold a Power 67 that is being heavily customised by the client in collaboration with Fountaine Pajot Service.

Leopard, overseen in Asia by Kit Chotithamaporn, is a world leader in inboard powercats, having produced them since 2002, five years since the brand evolved as the privately owned versions of charter-specific sailing cats built by Robertson and Caine in Cape Town, South Africa.

Earlier this year, Leopard announced the delivery of the 100th unit of the 53 Powercat, a model that had its world premiere at the 2020 Miami International Boat Show and succeeded the brand’s 51 Powercat, which sold 137 units.

Cape Town is also home to Two Oceans, which builds a wide range of yachts, including monohulls and multihulls, sail and power.

Other brands that manufacture both sailing and power multihulls include McConaghy, Aventura, which entered the powercat sector with the 50 MY, and is developing the 38 SC and 38 MY models, and Moon Yacht, which has produced both the 60 Sail and 60 Power catamarans.

POWERCAT SPECIALISTS

Twin Vee, with over 7,000 powercats launched in the US, produces outboard models ranging from 24-40ft, but it’s Aquila, founded in 2012, that has, arguably, led the population of powercats, producing both outboard and inboard models out of Hangzhou, China.

Exponential growth led to the production of 175 units last year, including the Offshore, Sport, Yacht, and Luxury series. Key models like the 44 Yacht and 36 Sport have sold over 200 units each, while the 32 Sport has sold over 90 units and the 54 Yacht over 80 units.

AROUND THE WORLD

PMG Shipyard in Thailand has developed its Heliotrope and Cora brands. The shipyard’s owner Philippe Guenat is a pioneer in the development of solar-assisted power catamarans. The first solar-assisted Cora 48 made its world premiere at this year’s Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show in Australia and a second hull with more solar panels will follow.

Powercat builders that emerged before Covid-19 include Turkey’s VisionF, founded in 2019 which has built four hulls of the VisionF 80 and the aluminium VisionF 82 Alu. The model features a roof covered in solar panels and a powerful battery bank that can power hotel loads for 20 hours without generator support.

Serenity Yachts, founded by Boyd Taylor in 2016, also builds in Turkey. The American-owned company produces the 64, 72, 74, and 84 solar-electric powercats, as well as custom yachts.

ILIAD Catamarans, founded in Australia with a shipyard in China, has already sold nearly 30 units in the 50-70ft range to date. In 2022 came the ILIAD 62 which premiered at the Sydney International Boat Show in 2022, followed by the 53S at Sanctuary Cove and the 53F at Sydney in 2023. This year the ILIAD 53F won the Multipower category at the Multihull of the Year awards in France.

In South Africa, Hammer Yachts was founded in Cape Town in 2018 and debuted the HammerCat 35 in 2019, now producing about a dozen each year. The HammerCat 45 went into production last year, while the HammerCat 30 is expected to debut in 2025.

In Asia, several monohull builders have developed a line in twin-hull builds, including Taiwan’s Horizon, which has built about 60 powercats, led by over 30 units of the PC60, 20 units of the PC52, four of the PC65, three of the PC68 and a custom PC74.

In China, Aquitalia – best known for its flybridge monohull motor yachts – delivered a charter-specific 72ft catamaran to Phuket in 2019, and now an upgraded 75ft version.

Gulf Craft returned to twin hulls with the SilverCat range, launching enclosed 34 Lux from the builder’s Maldives production facility in September 2020. The 34 is now also offered in CC and HT versions, while other new models include the 40 Lux that debuted in 2021, the 40 CC (2022), 46 Lux (2023) and the 46 WA.

NEW POWERCAT PLAYERS

A host of new brands and established builders have entered the multihull sector post-Covid.

Prestige’s debut of its M48 at the 2022 Cannes Yachting Festival showed that household monohull brands were ready for action. Groupe Beneteau followed up with the 65ft M8 in 2023.

Both models have starred at many major shows around the world, and this year the M48 made its Asia-Pacific debut at Sanctuary Cove in partnership with dealer TMG Yachts. The M48 is set to appear in Japan this summer through dealer Yamaha Motor.

Asia Yachting, which represents Prestige in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, has sold at least three units of the M48, with one scheduled to appear at the Hong Kong International Boat Show towards the end of the year.

Elsewhere, new brands kept arriving. At the Cannes show in 2022, the first two aluminium Vandal Explorers appeared side by side, with one hull belonging to Vandal Marine co-founder Ben Mennem and the other to Espen Øino, who designed the rugged looking 46-footer.

At the overlapping Southampton show, British brand Archipelago debuted its aluminium 47, designed with Chartwell Marine and expects to debut the Archipelago 40 in 2025. Its portfolio of designs includes the 52F, the 63 powered by biomethanol, and 80.

Another big name, Bluegame, represented in Asia by Simpson Marine, entered the market in 2023, while Sanlorenzo’s sister brand debuted its BGM75 at Cannes, with one hull featuring Piero Lissoni’s zen-like interiors.

New players have included Tesoro, who quickly made a name with T38 and T40 luxury day boats, before debuting its T38 Power Cat at Cannes last September, Four Winns who debuted its TH36, the American’s first twin-hull motor yacht, a model represented by Asiamarine, and Portuguese Catana Group, who debuted Yot 36.

New Zealand’s Valder Yachts has built high-powered 68-footers, while China’s Skywalker launched the S60 Urban in Fujian last September. Makai premiered its M37 at this year’s Palma show and Spain-based Linx Tenders is building a second unit of its foil-assisted Linx 30 for the UAE.

Poland’s Dracan Marine hopes to premiere its first 42 at Cannes this year, while other upcoming brand-first models include the first Omaya 50 from Bulgaria, Xquisite Yachts’ Sixty Solar Power and 40 Powercat, and Nova Luxe’s Orphie 29 trimaran and Elight 44 powercat.

Further ahead, Cosmopolitan announced it sold its first 70 and is working on the development of an 85 with enclosed flybridge and a 125 with a sub-500GT volume.

Lazzara Yachts expects to deliver its first LPC 300 (70ft) in October to a French client, while fellow Turkish builder Bering, which laid the keel for its first aluminium B60 Cat at its Antalya facility this April, rounds out big-name brands moving into powercats.

This article is originally available at www.yachtstyle.co