Company history

Despite the name, Nauticat has not built or is building catamarans. Siltala Yachts is a family shipyard founded in 1961 when founder Pentti Siltala started building small boats from the new GRP. His first boat was a 33 foot high deckhouse sailing yacht, the Nauticat 33. It started the history of the yard, which later became one of the most famous in the world. The yacht was designed by Finnish engineer Wilho Aarnipalo.

Nauticat 33 became a bestseller – it was produced since 1968, and then after modernization in 1997 it was produced under the name Nauticat 331.

The overall shape of this boat was not entirely new, it was very similar to the strong Nordic structures that can often be seen sneaking through the turbulent Baltic. As the popularity of the Nauticat 33 grew, so did the demand for larger Nauticat 44 and 36, also designed by Aarnipalo. In the early 1980s, Nauticat 521, Nauticat 43 and Nauticat 40 were introduced in collaboration with Sparkman & Stephens. In the 1990s, the shipyard collaborated actively with designer Kaj Gustafsson, the latter later becoming the manager of the shipyard and one of its owners. In 2005 the shipyard changed its name to Nauticat Yachts. In 2018, after several difficult years, the owners of Nauticat had to declare bankruptcy. 

After 4 years, in 2022, the company resumed operations. The revival of production was undertaken by a group of Latvian entrepreneurs led by businessman and owner of the Sunlight Sailing yacht school, Dmitry Muratov.

Production

Before the bankruptcy, the shipyard was located in Southern Finland in Rihiikoski, near Turku. Today, the production facilities are in Latvia.

Status

The shipyard continues to operate.

Model range

The shipyard’s range includes sailing yachts with deck saloon, closed wheelhouse and traditional motorcycle dealers in composite hulls 30-52 feet long.

Features

With their reliability, seaworthiness and focus on long voyages, the Nauticat is an excellent cruiser suitable for cruising in almost any climate zone. Nauticat’s motorcycle cruisers are mainly chosen by those who are in no hurry – the traditional Finnish Nauticat cruisers by definition do not require high speeds. On the other hand, the quality of Nauticat construction is confirmed by the presence of a significant number of these yachts in the secondary market.