Nautitech 47 Power - Remarkable Seakeeping

Though the first release of the Nautitech 47 Power dates back to January 2018, this powercat was given a deep restyling of the interior and the cockpit a few months ago. Basically, this was pretty much a new model that we were testing in the Florida sunshine.

This model is a first for Nautitech - based at Rochefort, just south of La Rochelle, on France’s west coast - as it is the first power catamaran from this brand that has been around since 1994. The builder and its in-house architect, Marc Lombard, decided to build using the basis of a sailboat model, the very successful 46 Open. A rather clever decision in terms of investment, since a large part of the studies, designs, molds, tools, etc. can be (re)used. The silhouette of the 47 is logically reminiscent of that of the 46 Open - in the Flybridge version - with rather narrow hulls, a fairly short coachroof forward, and a large beam - respectively one meter (3’3”) and 0.5 m (20”) wider compared to the Aquila 44 and the 48. A design that is less “motorboat-like”, yet is still elegant in the Flybridge version with its (optional) arch/bimini. The fact remains that transforming a sailing catamaran into a powercat is not as simple as that. The design team and the architect had to considerably reinforce the structure in order to fit the 300 hp engines where previously the much more modest 40 hp motors sat, and finally to redesign the aft third of the hulls – taking into account engine b...