A power catamaran gives you the best of both Bahamas fleets: the space and shallow draft of a catamaran, at close to motor yacht pace. No masts, no rigging. Just two hulls, big engines, and the full beam turned into living space.
That mix fits the Bahamas unusually well, which is why the power cat fleet here has grown so fast: the crossings are short, the water is skinny, and the boat doubles as your base in out-islands where there’s nothing else built.
Motor-yacht pace, catamaran comfort. Power cats cut the Nassau-to-Exumas crossing to a fraction of a sailing cat’s run, so you’re at the good anchorages by lunch on day one.
More boat per foot. With no rig and a full-width deck, a 62-foot power cat lives like a much bigger motor yacht: wide salon, flybridge, and cabins across both hulls.
Shallow draft. Same skinny-water access as a sailing cat: sandbar anchorages and cays that deeper motor yachts have to skip.
Lower fuel burn than a motor yacht. Two efficient engines pushing two slim hulls use far less fuel than a comparable motor yacht, and several boats in this fleet skip the APA entirely (see cost below).
Built for families and groups. Stable at anchor, low swim platforms on both hulls, and toys standard across the fleet: jet skis, Seabobs, SUPs.
Broker insight
A power catamaran gives you about 15-20% more space than a motor yacht of the same length. A 62-footer feels like a 90-foot motorboat, and I tend to put clients with that size motor yacht in mind on a power cat instead. You have the engines, you have the speed, and you have the luxury of a catamaran, with a much lower fuel bill at the end of the week.
Chris de Kock
Yacht Charter Broker
Crewed power catamarans in the Bahamas run $38,000-$100,000+ per week. Pricing model varies boat to boat here too: some charter all-inclusive (food, drinks, and fuel bundled into the rate, look for the ALL INCLUDED tag below), others charter plus-expenses with a 30-40% Advance Provisioning Allowance on top, the same model most Bahamas motor yachts use. The Bahamas’ 14% charter tax is always added on top for plus-expenses charters; for all-inclusive it’s sometimes already folded into the rate, so confirm with your broker.
The Exumas loop is where a power catamaran earns its keep: fast enough to make the Nassau crossing in hours, shallow enough to anchor right off the sandbars once you’re there. The classic week runs Highbourne Cay, the sunken plane at Norman’s Cay, the nurse sharks at Compass Cay, the pigs and Thunderball Grotto at Staniel Cay, then back through Warderick Wells and Shroud Cay. With the extra speed, adding Eleuthera’s pink-sand beaches to the same week is realistic, something we’d rarely plan on a sailing cat.
Same twin-hull space and shallow draft, no mast. A power cat crosses to the Exumas far quicker, which matters over Bahamian distances. For the sailing version see our catamaran charters.
Usually yes on both the weekly rate and the fuel, which pulls the APA down. Compare with our motor yacht charters.
Yes, that is its main advantage here. The shallow draft opens up sandbar anchorages and cays that a deeper motor yacht has to pass by.
It varies by boat. Several charter all-inclusive with food, drinks, and fuel bundled in; the rest run plus-expenses with a 30-40% APA. The 14% charter tax applies either way.
Most sleep 8 to 10 guests in four or five cabins, with 12 the legal maximum on a crewed charter yacht.
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