| MARINASIA CO., LTD. is a registered Thai company. Marinasia has been running charter and research cruises in Southeast Asia for the last 10 years, sailing catamaran cruisers. Marinasia's director Luca Schueli has been involved in designing and operating multi-hull boats for the past twenty-five years. Luca is also a keen conservationist and he has been promoting nature research cruises for the last ten years in the Med and in for three years in the Mergui Archipelago in Southern Burma. | | Luca Schueli - Boat Designer | | Luca Schueli's early works include The Namaste, built in 1978. It was the largest Kevlar cruising boat in Europe at the time. The Namaste and the innovative, no compromise concept of the Sea Nomad, conceived as a research and expedition boat, are evidence of his independent thinking. Luca was also a director of a boat building company for five years and while there came up with the idea for the container, a 23 ft. catamaran, GRP hulled, inflatable and small enough to be transported in a 20 ft. container and yet able to haul heavy cargo. This catamaran can carry 12 divers with equipment, even a car and she is very fast, capable of speeds in excess of 30 knots. | | | | | 
1/20 scale model - seacat mini-cruiser | | | Luca identifies one of the greatest problems of most cruising sailors as being afraid of leaving their boat at anchor, of having a boat too expensive to leave alone even for short periods, of needing a dinghy to go ashore and leaving that on the beach, of having often to choose a boat more expensive than they can really afford to have enough space on board. Luca's previous designs have made it obvious that he is a master at exploiting interior space and maximizing usable deck area. This design once again demonstrates his ability for making the best possible use of available space. The newest concept in boat design from Luca, done in collaboration with Multidesign S.A. of Switzerland, is a mini cruiser catamaran only 6.5 meters (21 ft.) in length and 3.6 meters (12 ft.) across the beam. | | 
1/20 scale model - seacat mini-cruiser As with all catamarans, the speed of this one will be a function of weight. So, the decision will be yours, but this cat's asymmetrical hull design is more forgiving than those with V-shaped or rounded hulls. | | | | This new mini cruiser will not be built according to the usual two pontoon - separate beam pattern common to most designs in this size range. On the contrary, she will be built of full box construction similar to that of larger cruisers. This will allow for a habitable interior space never before seen in a boat of this size. Accommodations inside will be spartan but large enough for two adult couples and two children. On the other hand she is a very easy and fast boat to sail for the solo cruiser and we would not be surprised to see her crossing oceans in the near future. Her true potential lies in being a weekend family boat, a vacationing island hopping cruiser or a forgiving rental boat for the novice sailor. Her shallow draft of less than 1 foot at full load allows her to come up to any beach and her light weight of 600 to 800 kg makes it easy to haul her out using the inboard winch . A special folding version is planned to be available for export. The folding model may be shipped in a 20 ft. container, fit on to a trailer (2,45 m folded width) or be conveniently placed in winter storage and her foam cell construction and added buoyancy make her unsinkable. | |
