Lloyd Stevenson Boatbuilders (LSB) has many years’ experience building superyacht tenders, but T/T Skorpios is the first Catalyst from the yard since the company acquired the moulds from Salthouse Boatbuilders in 2019.
T/T Skorpios is Catalyst number 19 – Salthouse built 18, starting with the original high-performance chase boats for Emirates Team New Zealand’s 2013 Louis Vuitton and America’s Cup campaigns. T/T Skorpios is the 67th custom-build for LSB.
Designed by Morrelli & Melvin, who – along with Greg Salthouse – were associated with ETNZ for the 2013 San Francisco campaign, the original Catalyst was a high-speed, 13.7m (45-foot) power catamaran built as a chase boat and support vessel. In recent years three America’s Cup teams have used Salthouse-built Catalysts in various roles.
Although the Catalyst hull moulds are 45-feet long, the versatile design lends itself to customisation: Salthouse built shorter and longer versions, some as RIBs and some with hard sides, in both outboard and inboard power configurations.
The Catalyst is suitable for a variety of roles, including luxury tender, island hopper, resort boat, chase boat, private motor yacht, sport fishing and scuba diving. There are Catalysts fulfilling all of these roles and more, with LSB reporting a gratifyingly high level of enquiries around the design.
While T/T Skorpios is designed as a multifunctional yacht support tender, her primary roles will be providing chase boat and weight reduction services to S/Y Skorpios.
To meet this brief, LSB extended the Catalyst hull to 15.3m (50 feet), creating extra cockpit space and enough room for holding tanks inside the hulls. The custom deck layout includes a narrowed, offset cabin, which provides a massive deck space for sail storage and superyacht maintenance tasks and a raised foredeck enclosed with a stainless-steel railing. The tender’s Hypalon tubes wrap right around the bow.
The tubes allow the vessel to nose up to the mothership (or the dock) for crew and passenger transfers without risk of damage, while the raised foredeck, a first for the Catalyst, also serves
as a superb viewing platform on race days.
A couple of removable stainless-steel railings on the bow make passenger transfers easy and safe, while the boat’s SeaDek-covered decks provide comfort and secure footing.
The superyacht’s owner is a dedicated racing sailor. While the maxi yacht S/Y Skorpios is unashamedly luxurious, she is also designed to be highly competitive on race days. To attain racing trim, she will undergo an extensive weight reduction exercise, transferring heavy items to the tender, including up to 500 litres of water and 1,000 litres of diesel. To facilitate the process, the tender is equipped with a special a high-speed fuel transfer system.
In addition, T/T Skorpios permanently carries the mothership’s 160kg anchor and 400kg of chain. The anchor sits on a massive custom fairlead in the cockpit between the hulls and each pair of engines, from where it’s deployed by a Maxwell winch.
The chain, housed in a box in the cockpit, is then attached to the mothership. Heavy-duty bollards at each corner of the transom are suitable for serious towing duties, while stainless-steel rails either side of the cabin provide strong, versatile tie-off points for gear or to secure the tender alongside the mothership or another vessel.
Constructed to LSB’s meticulously high standards, T/T Skorpios is a true superyacht tender, built light from E-glass with a foam core. Powered by four F300 V6 Yamaha outboards and equipped with Yamaha’s impressive new Helm Master digital joystick control system, she is fitted with the latest B&G electronics.
With 1200hp on tap, T/T Skorpios is capable of 45 knots, despite carrying the extra weight of specialised equipment and engineering systems. The Catalyst hull delivers a flat ride and can execute tight turns at full speed without cavitation. High-tech Ulman suspension seating ensures a soft ride at any pace.
