Russia Engineers Catamaran in Automobile Style for Sport Car Connoisseurs

Many times yacht companies tried to engineer motor boats styled to automobile design. There are examples of successful styling but in most cases the features of the car brand are hardly to be recognized in the boat design.

The idea to style a new catamaran was born at Baikal Yachts Group Company not by accident. The first attempt to make a 10-meter catamaran in Porsche Cayene style was taken in 2012. But the project did not find its customer and remained only in paper form.

After development of the catamaran series that received positive feedback at the yacht market the Company management has decided to return to automobile subject and style a new 14-meter catamaran project to auto design. The project also proceeded as a new alloy combination has appeared that enables implementation of this idea.

Rusal Company has developed and tested aluminum and magnesium alloy with addition of scandium. By its characteristics the alloy achieved is strong as steel and it is lighter than composite bodies. Application of aluminum-magnesium-scandium alloy enables to engineer very durable and light bodies. As compared with a standard aluminum body it allows to reduce the weight by 20-25%. Considering that the moderate speed of such a light catamaran will comprise about 52knot lightness and strength are the main criteria for engineering of such bodies. Thus the idea to design catamarans styled to the favourite cars of our customers emerged. For a start the common version of a 14-meter catamaran was engineered with some details in exterior resembling the ideas from Mercedes, Land Rover, Bugatti.

With such a light and durable catamaran body you can go off on any journey without fear to suffer damages. It can be operated as an escort vessel or a tender catamaran when you need the speed and body strength, for example for visiting the Arctic or Antarctic or making landfall to the islands in the ocean. It is convenient to make journeys between maritime towns and cities if you need quickly to come from port to port and to show at the same time that the owner can afford more than purchase of a production yacht. A bright and non-standard design will draw everybody’s attention and eye, almost without exception.

According to Sergey Gmyra, the Company’s owner, Baikal 14 DS catamarans will be assembled only by preliminary orders as in an automobile tailoring shop. Besides, exterior of catamaran is designed firstly, then interior solutions will be prepared and the body will be improved with additional options. Both outside and inside catamaran can be styled to your favourite automobile, it is possible to give it the features specific to a particular make of car or to make a combined version of several makes as it is shown by design of the first pattern. What model do you like? Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Range Rover or Land Rover, Bentley, Porsche, BMW, Jaguar, Aston Martin? It is feasible to engineer any styled variant and inside the original parts will be used for inner trim and control station.

The period for such project development will take from 6 to 12 months: the more options and requirements are imposed to the project, the longer time the specialists need to match the parts together.

The engines of the Italian company Iveco are planned to be installed. These engines smoothly undergo marinization, they are low-maintenance, well operable and have a long overhaul period. Such Iveco diesel engines are extensively used in other projects of catamarans and houseboats from Baikal Yachts Group Company.

At customer’s request the project team is ready to modify motor compartment and to install there the engines of any manufacturer. The Company’s engineers have a sufficiently long experience with manufacturers of different engines, so replacement of any engine for another one poses no difficulties for them.

Maxim Lodkin, the chief project designer, has previously worked on design of yachts with the length from 15 to 100 meters for the Moscow Shipyard and other customers. ‘Catamarans are only growing in popularity,’ – he says. ‘We achieve interesting concepts that many people like. But the project in automobile style is special, only exclusive in each variant. I think that the future owners will proudly show it to their friends and fill them with enthusiasm by its speed characteristics.’

Sergey Gmyra and Maxim Lodkin have started working together not so long ago, although they came to the yacht industry almost simultaneously, in 2006. But fate brought them together only after 10 years when it was time to invite one more designer to the Company. The Baikal Yachts Group’s projects began to attract considerably growing interest; the market favourably accepted the first works created jointly with the architect Max Zhivov, and it was needed to enhance the team by another talented designer. Over a year of collaborative work 16 projects of yachts, catamarans, houseboats and trimarans were developed, and 6 more projects were added to the total portfolio by Italian partners.