5 new aluminium cruising yachts set to impress in 2025
Serious shoal draught aluminium cruisers are a new and developing trend. Here's our pick of five impressive new aluminium cruising yachts for 2025
For many serious cruisers, the appeal of an aluminium yacht is fundamental. These cruisers are inherently robust, offering the ruggedness needed for extended voyaging and exploring remote destinations. Their durability and go-anywhere capability have long made them a preferred choice for those seeking adventure or cruising in the high lattitudes.
This year, a new crop of new aluminium yachts has arrived with several notable developments. We’re seeing clever solutions for enhanced performance, more thoughtful integration of sustainable materials, and practical design innovations drawn directly from extensive cruising experience.
These aren’t just incremental updates; they represent meaningful evolutions in how these capable boats are conceived and built. Here’s a closer look at five new aluminium cruising yachts that caught our eye for 2025.
Pure 42
The Pure 42 promises more performance than most shoal draught aluminium yachts. A lightweight foam composite interior helps keep the weight down (literally), when you consider the hydraulic system for the daggerboard style lifting keel. It’s a development of a concept introduced by Berckemeyer Yacht Design 10 years ago, which also sets this design apart from the crowd.
The keel fin is slightly angled aft, so the leading edge pops up in front of the mast step when raised, protruding around 80cm above the deck and coachroof. This allows for a deeper draught than most similar systems, where the keel box is typically directly under the mast step.
The Pure 42 therefore has an impressive maximum draught, with a hefty lead bulb 3m (9ft 9in) below the water, but a minimum draught of only 1.4m (4ft 0in) with the keel raised. In addition, the keel can be locked in any desired draught position and is engineered to enable the boat to dry out standing on the keel bulb and the twin rudder blades.
Pure points out this can be a big advantage when cruising off the beaten track, where shallow anchorages or river bars may provide the only options for shelter, or access to interesting cruising grounds. At the same time the arrangement employed for the Pure 42 helps to reduce the boat’s overall displacement, without compromising righting moment, as less ballast is needed.
Pure 42 specifications
LOA: 13.80m 45ft 3in
Beam: 4.20m 13ft 8in
Draught: 1.20-3.0m 4ft 0in-9ft 9in
Sail area: 99m2 1,065ft2
More: pure.yachts
iYacht Hu’chu 55
This 55ft performance catamaran built from reusable materials was designed to meet the specific needs of actor, producer, and environmental entrepreneur Daniel Roesner. The brief to German yacht design and engineering firm iYacht was to create a sustainable catamaran designed with circularity in mind: a robust multihull on which the owner can live, enjoy adventures, produce films and conduct ocean research.
The structure is built of an aluminium specially developed for the project that includes more than 90% scrap material, reducing the CO2 footprint by an impressive 87% compared to the market average. The boat also includes natural fibres, reclaimed wood and recycled cork.
Similar thinking pervades throughout the design, including a central boat garden that’s expected to provide self-sufficient cultivation of fresh food regardless of location, including vertical hydroponic gardens ideal for growing vegetables.
This may all sound a bit far-fetched, but the concept has already been proven by Corentin de Chatelperron’s cruising catamaran Low Tech Lab.
The sail plan is configured for easy handling, without sacrificing performance, and the boat will have daggerboards, thus minimising draught and improving progress to windward.
The team is currently evaluating shipyards with appropriate aluminium expertise capable of building such a specialist vessel.
iYacht Hu’chu 55 specifications
LOA: 17.61m 57ft 6in
Beam: 8.66m 28ft 3in
Draught: 0.64m 2ft 0in
More: huchu-sail.com
Delos Explorer 53
Few people are lucky enough to be able to take a hands-on approach to the design and build of their own dream yacht. But that’s exactly what Karin and Brian Trautman, along with daughter Sierra, are currently doing to replace the 53ft Amel Super Maramu ketch Delos that has taken them on a huge number of adventures. It also established Sailing Delos as one of the most popular sailing channels on YouTube.
Delos 2.0 will be a 53ft aluminium explorer catamaran borne of the experience gained while covering some 85,000 miles at sea over 15 years. Brian has described the project as “one of our biggest adventures ever” and it’s no surprise this yacht appears to be very carefully thought out, including layouts on deck that reflect how people use their boats in reality.
An unusually comprehensive outdoor galley at the aft end of the main cockpit, for instance, has refrigeration, sink, barbecue/stove, plus a fish filleting and preparation station. It’s an arrangement they say is “inspired by years of cooking and entertaining in the sweltering tropics.” In addition, this area incorporates stowage for six dive bottles and a liferaft.
There’s a Gunboat-style forward sailing cockpit at the base of the mast area, connected to the bridgedeck saloon by a full-height door, creating excellent ventilation when at anchor. A full watch-keeping station, including a wheel, at the front of the saloon enables the boat to be conned from inside during bad weather.
Delos Explorer 53 specifications
Hull length: 16m 52ft 7in
Beam: 7.7m 19ft 5in
Draught: 1.2m 4ft 0in
Displacement: 16,340kg 36,023lb
More: svdelos.com/delos2
Boreal 56
The concept for this range of no-nonsense long-distance explorer style yachts, starting with the Boreal 50 back in 2005, included excellent shelter for two people at the front of the cockpit and two more in a doghouse that provides complete protection. The Boreal 56 is an aluminium centreboarder with a new triple chine hull design by Boreal founder Jean-François Delvoye.
Rugged construction includes a 12mm keel plate, 10mm bottom plating and 8mm lower chines, reducing to 4-6mm for the upper chines, deck and coachroof. There are also watertight bulkheads fore and aft. As with earlier designs from Boreal, the heavily cambered doghouse coachroof extends over the forward end of the cockpit, giving excellent shelter.
The hull shape has broader forward sections, while maximum beam is carried further aft, creating significantly more interior volume, including space for much larger aft guest cabins that can be arranged as doubles, or with side-by-side single berths. The deck saloon format gives an exceptional view of the outside world, while interior and on-deck layouts were optimised for easy circulation of people around the boat.
In our experience shallow draught and hefty displacement doesn’t mar the feel of steering a Boreal, and attention has been paid to improving ergonomics at the helm. You can therefore sit behind each wheel on a curved seat, or stand behind them on an inclined platform.
Boreal 56 specifications
LOA: 17.12m 56ft 2in
Beam: 4.94m 16ft 2in
Draught: 1.20-3.18m 4ft 0in-10ft 6in
Sail area: 145m2 1,560ft2
More: voiliers-boreal.com
Ovni 490
Anyone who has followed the last two editions of the Vendée Globe, or even developments in the Class 40 fleet, will know it’s now well understood that, if sailors have good protection on watch, they’ll perform better as well as be more comfortable. Similar thinking is being applied to cruising yachts, though this can be complicated by a stronger emphasis on aesthetics.
Ovni’s latest all-aluminium centreboarder is a Mortain/Mavrikios and CBA design intended to meet what the French yards says is a ‘high demand for a 50ft Ovni with a pilothouse’. Hull shape is similar to the Ovni 430 launched in 2023, with broad forward sections that help create high form stability and increase interior volume.
The pilothouse gives excellent shelter for two or three people when on watch, and there’s a panoramic roof that helps maximise natural light. In addition, a raised saloon offers a clear view out even when seated.
Three-cabin accommodation includes a space for a washing machine, freezer, plus a dedicated locker for foul weather gear. Systems are concentrated in a technical space accessible from both the cockpit and the interior. There are watertight bulkheads fitted fore and aft, and several large on-deck stowage spaces.
The standard configuration has twin 50hp shaftdrive Volvo Penta diesel engines, with twin fuel tanks with a total capacity of 1,000lt.
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