Designed and built in South Africa, Novacat creates premium catamarans that combine innovative engineering, exceptional craftsmanship, and reliable performance on the water.
The Novacat Story
Born from experience. Built because good enough wasn’t good enough.
NovaCat was not born in a boardroom. It was born at sea. Years of commercial diving, sport diving, offshore fishing and thousands of cumulative hours aboard commercial, recreational and offshore vessels created an intimate understanding of what works on a boat — and, perhaps more importantly, what doesn’t.
Time offshore has a way of exposing weaknesses. Poor ride quality. Inadequate stability. Compromised deck layouts. Structural shortcomings. Boats that performed acceptably when conditions were good, but became very different machines when the sea turned against them. The conclusion became increasingly difficult to ignore: The boats available simply weren’t good enough. So rather than continue searching for the right boat, the decision was made to build one. That decision became NovaCat.
WHEN THE AVAILABLE BOATS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH, BUILD A BETTER ONE. From its beginnings in 2003, NovaCat developed around a straightforward philosophy: A serious offshore boat must first earn the confidence of the people who take it to sea. That means more than speed. It means stability. Structural integrity. Predictable handling. Safety. Practicality. Fishability.
And the ability to bring its crew home when offshore conditions are very different from those they departed in. These principles shaped the NovaCat hull and have continued to shape every generation that followed. NovaCat was never conceived as a mass-production boat. It evolved through practical experience, offshore use, continual testing and refinement. Every boat taught us something. Every owner contributed another chapter. And every improvement became part of the next NovaCat.
BUILT IN AFRICA. PROVEN OFFSHORE. More than 136 NovaCats have been built, with vessels operating across some of Africa’s most demanding and spectacular offshore environments. From South Africa to Mozambique, Tanzania, Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe, NovaCats have worked and fished waters where reliability is not a marketing slogan. It matters. The waters surrounding Vilanculos, Benguerra and the Bazaruto Archipelago became particularly important chapters in the NovaCat story. These are serious offshore waters. They are also extraordinarily beautiful ones. NovaCat’s connection with the region ultimately extended beyond building boats. Two NovaCat 27 Marlin Express Sport vessels, powered by twin Yamaha 150 HP outboards, were sponsored in support of conservation activities in the Bazaruto region. For us, that matters. Because the ocean that gives us the opportunity to build these boats deserves something in return.
EVOLUTION, NOT REINVENTION. NovaCat has never believed in changing something simply because a new model year arrives. Good engineering does not work that way. Instead, the NovaCat platform has been continuously refined. Construction techniques evolved. Materials improved. Layouts became smarter. Systems became more sophisticated. The boats became stronger, cleaner, more efficient and increasingly purpose-built around the people who actually use them.
Today that evolution can be seen in the NovaCat 27 Marlin Express platform. Vacuum core-infused and bagged construction, carefully engineered structural components, sophisticated offshore systems and uncompromising attention to practical detail represent years of accumulated knowledge. But beneath the technology remains exactly the same objective that started NovaCat: Build a better offshore boat.
BOUTIQUE BY CHOICE. NovaCat does not aspire to build hundreds of boats every year. We build a limited number. That is deliberate. A NovaCat is not simply pulled from a production line. Each vessel is individually built, configured and finished around its intended purpose and owner. That allows us to concentrate on the details that disappear when production volume becomes the priority. Materials. Engineering. Rigging. Electronics. Fishing systems. Finish. And the countless small decisions that collectively determine whether a boat merely looks impressive at the dock — or remains impressive after years at sea. We would rather build fewer boats properly.
ONE HEART. There is another part of the NovaCat story that cannot be measured in horsepower, laminate schedules or performance figures. It is the determination required to keep improving. Boatbuilding is difficult. Building something genuinely exceptional is considerably harder. There have been challenges. There have been setbacks. And there have been times when the easiest decision would have been to compromise. We chose not to. That philosophy has become part of the identity of NovaCat. One Heart. Through Sheer Tenacity. It represents the people who build these boats. The people who have believed in them. The owners who take them offshore.
And the determination to continue making the next NovaCat better than the one before it. More than two decades after the journey began, the principle remains remarkably simple: If the available boats are not good enough — build a better one. And then keep making it better.
NOVACAT One Heart. Through Sheer Tenacity.
Designed in South Africa. Built for Adventure
At Novacat, we design and build premium catamarans that combine innovative engineering, exceptional craftsmanship, and dependable performance. Every vessel is created with one goal in mind – delivering confidence, comfort, and unforgettable experiences on the water.
🌊 Exceptional Hull Design
Designed for stability, comfort, and performance.
🛠️ Quality Craftsmanship
Built with precision and attention to every detail.
⚓ Reliable Performance
Engineered for confidence in a variety of marine conditions.
🇿🇦 Proudly South African
Designed and built with local expertise and global standards.
Novacat Gallery
DCIM100GOPRO
DEVELOPED AT SEA
The first NovaCat was not the end of the development process. It was the beginning. From the outset, the objective was to develop an offshore catamaran around real-world experience rather than assumptions made on a drawing board. The hull had to work where the boat would actually spend its life — offshore, loaded with fuel, equipment and people, running into head seas, crossing following seas and dealing with the constantly changing conditions encountered along the Southern African coastline and the Indian Ocean.
That meant development through use. Hull behaviour was studied and refined. Weight distribution mattered. Balance mattered. Engine position mattered. Fuel position mattered. The relationship between the two hulls, the tunnel and the water passing beneath the boat mattered. Small changes could make significant differences. And those lessons accumulated.
THE HULL The NovaCat hull developed around a fundamental requirement: offshore capability without sacrificing stability and practicality. A catamaran gives the designer opportunities that a conventional monohull cannot, but simply having two hulls does not automatically produce a good offshore boat. The geometry has to work. The hulls, tunnel, displacement, weight distribution and power package have to operate as one system. That understanding became increasingly important as NovaCat evolved. The objective was never simply to produce the fastest boat. The objective was to produce a boat that could maintain useful speed in real offshore conditions while remaining predictable, stable and comfortable for the people aboard. A boat must work on the days when the ocean isn’t cooperating. That became one of the defining characteristics of NovaCat.
EVERY BOAT BECAME PART OF THE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME There was no point at which NovaCat simply declared the design finished. Owners used the boats. We used the boats. They travelled. They fished. They dived. They carried heavy loads and substantial fuel. They encountered rough water. And we listened. Where something could be improved, it was improved. Where equipment could be positioned better, it was moved. Where access could be improved, it was redesigned. Where additional strength was justified, it was incorporated. Those changes were carried forward into subsequent boats. The result is more than two decades of accumulated development embodied in the NovaCats being built today.
FROM STRUCTURE TO SYSTEMS The development was not limited to the shape of the hull. Construction evolved with it. Materials changed as better materials became available. Lamination and composite techniques advanced. Core materials improved. Vacuum processes allowed increasingly controlled composite construction. Structural areas were reconsidered and strengthened where experience showed that strength mattered most. Below deck, buoyancy and structural integrity remained fundamental considerations. Above deck, the same development philosophy was applied to virtually everything the owner touches. Fuel systems. Electrical systems. Steering. Bilge systems. Livebait systems. Tuna tubes. Seachests. Washdown systems. Fish hatches. Rod storage. Seating. Helm ergonomics. Electronics. Access for inspection and maintenance. Each system had to earn its place aboard the boat.
THE MARLIN EXPRESS As the boats evolved, so did the way owners wanted to use them. Longer offshore runs, serious game fishing, greater protection from the elements and increasingly sophisticated electronics and fishing systems led to the development of the Marlin Express concept. The philosophy remained unmistakably NovaCat. It was not about filling a boat with unnecessary equipment. It was about creating a serious offshore platform where protection, fishing capability, engineering and practicality could coexist. That development ultimately led to today’s NovaCat 27 Marlin Express Sport — a boat carrying the accumulated experience of the NovaCats that came before it while introducing an entirely new generation of construction, systems and functionality.
MORE THAN TWO DECADES OF DEVELOPMENT There is an important distinction between designing a boat and developing one. A boat can be designed on a computer. Development takes time. It takes boats in the water. It takes owners. It takes mistakes, discoveries and improvements. It takes thousands of offshore hours. And, above all, it takes the willingness to keep changing something until it works the way it should. That process has never stopped at NovaCat. The NovaCat being built today is therefore not simply the latest model. It is the result of more than two decades of continuous offshore development.
