Solaris Catamarans For Sale

Solaris Marine Ltd was formed in 1970 by its chairman, Dr C.E.F. Riviere, a French scientist intrigued by the catamaran’s hull shape and performance. Early boats crossed the Atlantic, the Pacific and the North Sea, and their crews noticed something unexpected: heavily loaded, the boats actually performed better at higher speeds. Three years of tank testing in France followed, and in 1974 the company patented the hull form that came out of it.

That hull is the Solaris signature. Most cruising catamarans lift the bridge deck high to escape slamming. Solaris kept it low and shaped the inner faces of the hulls so the two bow waves meet under the bridge deck and support it instead of striking it. The low deck gives over six feet of headroom in the saloon without a tall, windy cabin top. Each boat was a one-piece GRP moulding built under Lloyd’s supervision to +100A1 classification, and reviewers of the day believed Solaris was the only production cruising catamaran built to that standard.

For its first years the company built one boat, Terry Compton’s 42-foot ketch. Models of 51 and 60 feet followed, along with commercial craft. In 1977 H.L. Francis joined, bringing naval and oil-field experience. That same year Solaris bought the British Hovercraft Corporation yard at Woolston, Southampton, a site of more than seven acres. In the United States, the American Catamaran Company sold an upgraded, lighter version of the 42.

Later Solaris models came from several designers. The Sunrise 36 was another Compton design, the Sunstream 40 was developed from Rod Macalpine-Downie’s Cherokee 35, and the Sunstar 32 and 36 came from Erik Lerouge designs. Solaris built in Southampton until 2000, and the boats keep a reputation for stability, safety and efficient use of space.