Solaris 48 Open

Solaris is a relatively new name in the motoryacht world, but the Italian builder is more than familiar with the requirements of high-performance, luxury yachts: It has been building schooners up to 111 feet since 1974. Solaris is extending its expertise to powerboats in collaboration with Victory Design, and it is making its U.S. debut with the Solaris 48 Open, a lobster boat with Italian flair.

Solaris may be a newcomer to the production powerboat market, but it’s no stranger to this type of vessel. The company built the 47-foot Express Cruiser designed by Hinckley’s Bruce King, making it one of the first European companies to ever build a lobster boat.

“Solaris is very much following the wake of its own tradition,” says Brunello Acampora, founder of Victory Design. Like Solaris, Victory Design also has a background in lobster boats; it designed all of the Marquis vessels for the Ferretti Group.

Solaris’s aim with the 48 Open was to provide an exceptionally reliable, smooth and dry ride. The hull form offers a deeply flared forward section, a low center of gravity and deep-V hull at the transom.

“She is very stable because she is not a narrow boat, and above the waterline there is a significant amount of flare, much like the sportfishermen-style of flared bows,” Acampora says. The 48 also has good directional stability in following seas, according to the company.

The topsides have also been designed with performance in mind. There is a knuckle in the hull at the height of the windows, which not only creates more livable space inside the cabin, but also makes for a dryer ride in beam-to seas, acting as a spray rail above the waterline to catch any water that escapes the chine.

Victory Design was among the first European companies to integrate Volvo Penta IPS, and it optimized the 48’s hull shape specifically for pods. Owners can opt for a pair of 600s or 650s, and 800s are also an option. With the 650s installed, Solaris reports a top speed of 36 knots and a 25-knot cruise. The boat should cruise efficiently at 10 to 14 knots in displacement mode, but it can also hop onto plane and reach speeds near 40 knots with the upgraded power option.

The hull features resin-infused sections with a high-density, PVC foam-cored sandwich bottom. Solaris drew on its background in sailboats to create a strong, capable hull, all the way down to the interior. “On sailboats, you have to be very careful that there is no noise coming from the furniture, because you don’t have the engine covering up the sound,” Acampora explains. “Even the joinery inside the 48 is very robust and capable of withstanding slamming loads, and at the same time it is very fine.”

Despite being a true walkaround design, the 48 has accommodations you may expect to find on cabin cruisers. Belowdecks you’ll find up to two staterooms (plus a crew cabin), each with good headroom and generous berths, and two heads with separate showers. “You don’t feel like you are in an open boat,” Acampora says.

Solaris optimized the space above deck as well with large sunpads forward and aft and a wide tender garage beneath the aft sunpad that offers enough room for a dinghy or smaller water toys. Midships is a dinette and outdoor galley that are primed for entertaining guests, and the bulwarks open up to increase the cockpit space by 20 percent. A large swim platform with a hydraulic gangway that converts into a swim ladder makes water access easy.

While the 48 Open looks right at home in the Med, Solaris is confident this new model will be equally comfortable in the U.S. market, where owners are more demanding of their boats, often taking them into steep, open waters. And this is only the beginning for Solaris Power Yachts; the company is actively expanding its lineup, having introduced six new builds in two seasons—including a 48 Lobster and Flybridge—and it plans to continue adding one to two new models per season, both smaller and larger.

The 48 Open will make its official U.S. debut at the 2021 Palm Beach boat show. With its striking Italian looks, it will be hard to miss.

Solaris 48 Open Specifications:

LOA: 48’7”
Beam: 15’9”
Draft: 3’4”
Displ. (light): 32,518 lbs.
Fuel: 396 gal.
Water: 114 gal.
Power: 2 x Volvo Penta D6 IPS 650
Cruise Speed: 25 knots
Top Speed: 36 knots