Charley 2 - said to be the largest catamaran Motoryacht ever built in Australia.
Australian superyacht builder Echo Yachts has launched its latest new-build – the 56m adventure support yacht, M/Y Charley 2.
At 56m LOA and 1041GT volume, the aluminium-hulled Charley 2 is a significantly larger variant of its predecessor, the 50m composite-hulled M/Y Charley, which was delivered in 2017. It is said to be the largest catamaran motoryacht built in Australia and the second
largest Echo Yachts superyacht created at the Echo Marine Group shipyard near Fremantle, in Western Australia.
Naval architecture for Charley 2 is by Australian firm One2Three Naval Architects, with engineering, electrical and fitout design performed by the in-house team at Echo Marine Group.
The decision to build Charley 2 with a full-custom designed aluminium hull has resulted in improved hydrodynamic efficiency, says the yard, and enabled the use of much smaller engines to propel what is a significantly larger yacht than M/Y Charley.
Charley 2 features a 12m custom-built catamaran tender on an upgraded launch and retrieval platform positioned at the stern of the vessel. This new tender platform design ensures improved tender operations and full walk-around access for ease of tender cleaning
and maintenance.
The yacht is equipped with a large helicopter ’touch & go’ pad suitable for an Airbus EC130 helicopter, dive store, decompression chamber and specialist sonar equipment on the 12m tender for wreck finding and diving adventures. The design and construction of Charley 2 was completed within three years of project commencement in 2020, resulting in a very high standard of finish thanks to the skills and expertise of the design and build team involved. Sea trials commence at the beginning of September, with delivery several weeks later.
