A New Scale
At 213 feet and roughly 1,800 gross tons, Sunreef's new project is, by the shipyard's account, the largest luxury catamaran ever designed. A long-range explorer that carries the builder's design language to a scale the multihull world has not seen before.
For two decades, Sunreef Yachts has made the case that a catamaran can be a luxury yacht. With the 65M Sunreef Explorer, its new flagship, the ambition is larger: to prove that it can be a fully fledged expedition superyacht.
For now, the 65M is a project. Sunreef unveiled it in 2025 through a set of renderings and describes it as the largest luxury catamaran designed to date: 65 meters long, 15 meters in beam and a volume of about 1,800 GT, spread across two hulls built in a mix of steel and aluminum. The images in this story are the shipyard's visualizations, not photographs of a finished yacht.
The company French entrepreneur Francis Lapp founded in 2002, with yards in Gdansk and in Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, credits itself with the first luxury oceangoing catamaran and now builds everything from sailing yachts to superyachts on the same twin-hull architecture. The 65M takes that idea to its logical conclusion within the Explorer Line, the shipyard's family of yachts designed to go far and stay out for a long time.
What the scale allows shows up in the layout: seven double cabins for twelve guests, accommodation for twenty-two crew, two interior dining and lounge areas, a 6-meter pool, a Jacuzzi, a gym and a beach club that unfolds over the water. Much of that program comes down to a 15-meter beam.
The project
65M Sunreef Explorer · Explorer Line · Sunreef Yachts. Unveiled in 2025 as a concept and, according to the shipyard, the largest luxury catamaran designed to date.
A first look
The 65M Sunreef Explorer, stern to bow
Architecture
The volume of two hulls
From the outside, the 65M reads instantly as a Sunreef. The massive reverse bows, the generous use of darkened glass and the simple, clean curves are the house signature, and the shipyard stresses that it has carried the DNA of its smaller superyachts onto a far larger canvas. The difference is proportion: four living levels on a platform 49 feet wide.
That beam is the reason the project exists. A catamaran spreads its volume across its width rather than stacking it upward, which translates into expansive interiors, a stable platform and a draft that is shallow for the size: 3 meters, one of the advantages the shipyard itself highlights. Sunreef adds the redundancy inherent in the architecture, with critical systems duplicated, and storage capacity planned around long passages.
The stability of two hulls, at superyacht scale.
Social life is concentrated aft on the two main decks, while the forward half of the upper deck belongs to the owner alone. Higher still, on the bridge deck, a crescent-shaped bar wrapped entirely in glass anchors a contemporary lounge with views in every direction.
Deck by deck
From the bridge deck to the beach club
01 · Bridge deck
The crescent
A crescent-shaped bar, fully glazed, at the heart of a contemporary lounge.
02 · Upper deck
The owner's level
Owner's suite across the forward half, two VIP cabins, dining for twelve, a four-seat bar and a Jacuzzi aft.
03 · Main deck
Shared living
Dining for fourteen, twin mirror-image lounges, four double cabins and a 6-meter flush-deck pool.
04 · Beach club
At the waterline
Fold-down transom platform, side wings, a 7-meter tender, a gym to port and a toy store to starboard.
Aft
Where the catamaran opens to the water
It is aft that the twin-hull architecture shows what it can really do. A 6-meter pool sits flush in the main deck, surrounded by sofas, sunpads and low tables. From there, clad steps lead down to the hull extensions, which join into one long waterside gallery when the transom platform is lowered.
The space takes a 7-meter tender and several personal watercraft, or it can become a beach, with deck furniture and a parasol at the water's edge. Two long wings fold down from the hull sides to carry the platform around the quarters and open onto a sea-view gym to port and a large toy store to starboard. The official brochure describes an area about 20 meters wide for lounging, diving and watersports, with a dive locker and room for e-foil and kayak gear.
On deck, a fully retractable A-frame crane can handle submersibles, off-road vehicles or a chase boat of up to 45 feet. When not in use, it folds flush into the deck and leaves the profile untouched.
This is a yacht to broaden the horizons of an exceptional owner.
Francis Lapp · Founder and CEO, Sunreef Yachts
Interiors
Natural light, organic textures
On the main deck, a large dining room seats up to fourteen around a custom oval table. The curved, fully glazed aft wall draws in light and opens the view over the wake. Ahead of it, twin mirror-image lounges repeat the floor-to-ceiling windows.
The shipyard's brochure describes the salon as a light-flooded sanctuary where organic textures meet modern design. The renderings show pale woods, dark ceilings edged in indirect light and sculptural pieces, with a staircase rising to the upper deck. There, a second dining area for twelve, a four-seat bar looking astern and an L-shaped sofa set a more intimate register.
The owner
The entire forward half
The owner's suite occupies the forward half of the upper deck, with direct access to a private foredeck lounge meant, in the shipyard's words, for solitary sunrises or sunset celebrations. A king-size bed sits within floor-to-ceiling windows, among loose furniture and a swing chair designed specifically for the space.
Behind a screen is a two-person bathtub, along with separate his and hers bathrooms. A large walk-in wardrobe and an office complete the suite. Aft of it, two generous VIP cabins, each with a walk-in wardrobe and its own bathroom, are of a size that on any other yacht would belong to the owner.
The owner's suite
A retreat at the bow
The remaining four double cabins are on the main deck, each with its own storage and bathroom. With twenty-two crew for twelve guests, the ratio says a great deal about the level of service the shipyard has in mind.
Exploration
Range for ocean crossings
As part of the Explorer Line, the 65M is designed to spend long stretches away from harbors and support bases. Sunreef quotes a top speed of 18 knots, a cruising speed of 14 and an eco speed of 10 knots, at which the official brochure puts her range at 6,800 nautical miles; at cruising speed, the figure is 4,000.
The press release specification lists four 800 eKW main engines, four generators of the same rating and two 1,200 kWh battery banks, with capacity for 140,000 liters of fuel and 20,000 of fresh water. The shipyard also cites heat recovery and an air-conditioning system it calls the most energy efficient in the industry.
Francis Lapp, Sunreef's founder and CEO, calls the 65M the most comfortable platform he can imagine for a genuinely ambitious cruising program: ample room for easy living and for carrying large quantities of provisions and toys, and, in his description, an extremely efficient operator.
In context
The 65M leads Sunreef's Explorer Line, which the shipyard presents as a family of expedition catamarans built around system redundancy, large storage capacity and shallow draft.
Specifications · Project
65M Sunreef Explorer
- Length overall
- 213 ft 3 in (65 m)
- Beam
- 49 ft 3 in (15 m)
- Draft
- 9 ft 10 in (3 m)
- Gross tonnage
- 1,800 GT approx.
- Construction
- Steel and aluminum
- Main engines
- 4 × 800 eKW
- Generators
- 4 × 800 eKW
- Batteries
- 2 × 1,200 kWh
- Top speed
- 18 knots
- Cruising speed
- 14 knots
- Eco speed
- 10 knots
- Range
- 6,800 nm at eco speed · 4,000 nm at cruising speed
- Fuel
- 36,984 US gal (140,000 l)
- Fresh water
- 5,283 US gal (20,000 l)
- Black and gray water
- 3,170 US gal (12,000 l)
- Guests
- 12 in seven double cabins
- Crew
- 22
- Tender
- 7 m · chase boat up to 45 ft
- Builder
- Sunreef Yachts
Concept-stage project. Data from Sunreef Yachts' official press release; range from the model's official brochure. Specifications may change as the project develops.
For years, the question around luxury catamarans was how large they could grow and still be catamarans. The 65M Sunreef Explorer answers with a proposition at 213 feet: that the stability, beam and shallow draft of two hulls are not an alternative to the expedition superyacht, but another way of building one. Now the project has to become a yacht.
USA Onboard Editorial