This futuristic new catamaran has ecotourism written all over it. Soel Yachts and Naval DC are proud to introduce the SoelCat 12, an autonomous solar electric catamaran for coastal water, lagoon and inter-island transportation. 

“It is great to see a lot of green initiatives at resorts these days; however, water bound transport always seems to be neglected,” says Joep Koster, designer and naval architect at Soel Yachts.

Green initiative is far from lacking onboard the SoelCat 12, however. This vessel is designed to be a 100% sustainable alternative to conventionally powered boats used in the industry so far, Koster explains.

“Taking your guests on a lagoon tour without the noise and smell of combustions engines opens up unique PR values for the industry, given that the people will experience the sustainable technology hands on. Furthermore, the boat can offer surplus solar energy to the resort when the SoelCat 12 is moored,” says Koster.

With generous deck space that can be customized to host a variation of seating layouts, this catamaran doesn’t skimp on offering the option of yacht-like luxury features. Neither does it cut corners with offering economical deck gear for things like eco-tourism, water taxi services, and water-bound resorts. For those into dive operations, there’s plenty of tank storage space and wet storages for dive gear. With a mobile power station capable of providing 6kVA of AC power, the SoelCat 12 can also be used as a platform for research conducted on coral reef and marine life. Purposefully designed to stand up to salt water and with a lightweight fiberglass composite reinforced hull, this catamaran can also be beached on sandy beached.

“Lightness is key to the vessel’s performance: Our marine grade lithium polymer battery systems weigh in at just 8kg per kWh and we can remotely monitor all electric propulsion system vitals worldwide via our Naval UI alarm & monitoring system,” says David Czap from Naval DC.

Coming in at 39 feet long, the SoelCat 12 can cruise up to 15 knots. While maintaining the speed of 6 knots, this vessel actually operates entirely off the energy provided by solar panels while it’s sunny.

This incredible vessel is taking nautical design in very exciting directions. Currently, a weekender yacht version based on the SoelCat 12’s platform is being sketched out on the drawing table.

Interested in more details? You’re welcome to contact Soel Yachts BV at +31 622068879 or by visiting their website here.