Crescent builds its first catamaran on spec, 45m volume at 33.5m
A 45-metre brief on a 33.5-metre hull
Crescent Custom Yachts has started construction on the CCY110, the first catamaran in the Canadian yard's history. The boat measures 110 feet, or 33.5 metres, on a beam of 36 feet, and the yard puts its volume at more than 400 gross tonnes. Tim Charles, who runs the company, put the pitch plainly: the CCY110 "offers the amenities of our 45-meter monohull within a 33.5-meter platform." Crescent counts 7,100 square feet of living space across the interior and the open decks. That is the entire argument for the boat, and it is an argument about volume rather than length.
For an owner the arithmetic is worth doing before the styling is. A 45-metre monohull sits in a different bracket for berthing, for crew numbers and for the price of every scheduled job in a yard. A wide hull recovers most of the accommodation without carrying the length, and the CCY110 stays under the 500 gross tonne line that separates a large yacht from a heavier regulatory class. Six staterooms take 12 guests, with a full-beam master among them. Nothing in the layout is exotic; what matters is where it sits on the size and cost curve.
The draught decides where the boat can go
The CCY110 draws 5 feet 4 inches, about 1.6 metres. That figure does more for the brief than any of the others. Crescent has aimed the design at Florida and the Bahamas, where a great deal of the best anchorage sits in water a comparable monohull simply cannot enter. An owner with a 45-metre displacement yacht spends a fair part of the Bahamas season sending guests off in a tender because the mothership has to hold station outside. The CCY110 is built to take the guests in with it.
Shallow draught is one of the few advantages a catamaran holds that a monohull cannot buy back with money. It is also why the platform reads differently in the Caribbean than it does in the Mediterranean, where depth is rarely the constraint and berth width often is. The 36-foot beam is the trade, and an owner planning to keep the boat on a Riviera quay in August should price the berth before he prices the yacht. Read the other way, the same beam is what produces the deck area the yard is selling. The boat suits an owner whose season runs west.
The first hull is being built without a buyer
The aluminium hulls are in build and deck fabrication has started, and nobody has bought the boat. This is the first time Crescent has committed a hull on speculation, and Charles was direct about the reasoning: "The CCY110 represents a significant evolution for Crescent. Building our first hull on spec demonstrates our confidence in the concept." For a yard of Crescent's size that is real money standing against a buyer who has not appeared yet. Yards that build to order do not carry that risk, and they do not get the upside either.
The upside runs to whoever does appear. Structure and systems are being fixed now, but the interior is not: Crescent lists the interior designer as the owner's choice, with Joe Lazzara responsible for the exterior lines and the layout brief. A buyer who signs while the deck is still open can specify the finish and much of the technical schedule, and can have it years ahead of a custom order placed today. That combination, a boat far enough along to arrive early and unfinished enough to still be personal, is the reason spec building exists at this size at all.
What the yard is actually selling
Gregory C. Marshall Naval Architects handled the engineering. Marshall gave the objective as eliminating unnecessary complexity, maximising structural efficiency and producing a platform with long-term operating economy. That is a running-cost argument as much as a design one. Aluminium construction, a modest tonnage and two shallow hulls make for a boat that costs less to keep than the 45-metre it is meant to stand in for. Crescent also points the CCY110 at charter owners, where the volume and the guest count do the earning.
The social space is where that volume goes. The beach club runs to 1,500 square feet, or 139.4 square metres, with an open-air kitchen and teppanyaki grill, a prep galley, an infinity plunge pool and a wellness room, all with direct access to the water. Crescent has published neither a price nor a delivery date. The commercial test of the CCY110 is straightforward enough: whether this first hull finds an owner before it is finished, because that is what turns a demonstrator into a series.
What is good, and what to watch
Strong points
- Shallow-draught access to skinny waterA 1.6m draught is confirmed across builder statements and coverage as deliberately shallow, to reach Bahamas and Florida anchorages a monohull of comparable size and volume cannot enter.
- A 45-metre monohull's interior on a 33.5-metre platformCrescent president Tim Charles is quoted directly saying the CCY110 delivers the amenities of the yard's 45-metre monohull within a 33.5-metre platform. Crescent's own 45.83m monohull Legacy is 499GT, and the CCY110 hits 400-plus GT at 27 percent less length, so the volume claim is directionally supported by real numbers, not just marketing language.
- Spec build leaves the interior openMultiple outlets confirm a buyer coming in now retains freedom to customise interior layout and technical specification as construction proceeds, since no owner has signed on yet.
- Aluminium buildReported as an all-aluminium hull and superstructure by the majority of sources, though one listing states a steel hull with aluminium superstructure, which conflicts with every firsthand build report and looks like a database error. Aluminium is lighter than steel, which matters more on a catamaran needing shallow draught, and is easier to repair locally than large composite tooling.
What to watch
- No catamaran track recordEvery source describes the CCY110 as Crescent's first catamaran ever built. The yard's reputation is built on monohulls, and there is no prior in-house data point on how its catamaran construction or performance holds up.
- Unsold hull riskConstruction started with no buyer, described as available for purchase rather than sold. If no owner signs before completion, expected around 2027, Crescent is carrying a finished custom multihull with no committed buyer.
- Thinner comparable-sales pool for large custom catamaransGeneral market commentary on catamarans is mixed to positive on value retention for production and charter cats, but that data does not address bespoke 33-metre-plus superyacht catamarans specifically, where the population of comparable sales is far smaller than for monohulls of the same size. Treat this as a reasonable inference from scarcity, not a documented resale statistic for this class.
- Unproven seakeeping and motion characteristics for this hullNo outlet found discusses the CCY110's motion or seakeeping in a beam sea. This is a real, known catamaran-versus-monohull engineering tradeoff at large scale, but no CCY110-specific data or sea trial exists yet since the boat is still in build.
Practical detail
| LOA | 33.5m, 110ft |
|---|---|
| Beam | About 11m, 36ft |
| Draught | 1.6m, 5ft 4in |
| Gross tonnage | 400-plus GT, designed to stay under the 500GT threshold |
| Builder | Crescent Custom Yachts, Vancouver, Canada |
| Naval architect | Gregory C. Marshall Naval Architect Ltd, Victoria BC, the same firm that designed Crescent's 45m monohull Legacy |
| Exterior and interior design | Joe Lazzara |
| Hull material | Aluminium hull and superstructure per the majority of sources; one secondary listing states steel hull with aluminium superstructure, which contradicts firsthand build reports |
| Build status | Under construction, with hull and deck fabrication under way as of July 2026; built on spec with no confirmed buyer as of this story; public debut planned for the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, October 2026 |
| Expected delivery | 2027, not independently confirmed by Crescent with a specific month |
| Asking price | Not published, listed as price on application |
| Comparison vessel | Crescent's own 45.83m monohull Legacy: 499GT, steel hull with aluminium superstructure, same naval architect, also due 2027, cited by Crescent's president as the amenity benchmark for the CCY110 |
Questions this story answers
What happened?
Crescent Custom Yachts has begun building the CCY110, a 33.5-metre aluminium catamaran, with no buyer for it yet. The yard puts the volume at more than 400 gross tonnes, says the boat carries the amenities of its 45-metre monohull, and draws 1.6 metres. For an owner it is a bet on width over length: Bahamas anchorages a monohull cannot reach, and a spec slot with the interior still open.
What is good about it?
Shallow-draught access to skinny water. A 1.6m draught is confirmed across builder statements and coverage as deliberately shallow, to reach Bahamas and Florida anchorages a monohull of comparable size and volume cannot enter.
What should an owner or buyer watch?
No catamaran track record. Every source describes the CCY110 as Crescent's first catamaran ever built. The yard's reputation is built on monohulls, and there is no prior in-house data point on how its catamaran construction or performance holds up.
Who reported this?
Megayacht News, Boat Show China, Crescent Custom Yachts, Gregory C. Marshall Naval Architects.
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