Build Photos

The 52 foot Kia Ora Catamaran was built in Phuket, Thailand using high tech materials and high tech design in a low tech environment.

Using Australasian ingenuity we put down a concrete slab under some palm trees, put up a "traditional" Thai blue tarpaulin roof and away we went. Materials were mostly imported and include foam sandwich, fibreglass, carbon fibre, 2 x 75 hp turbo Yanmar engines as well as a Matrix mast. Construction started in 1999 and was completed in late 2001 in time to go into brief service in Phuket before coming home to Koh Samui in May 2002.