The Fatcat Evolution

Founded By Blair Mclay and Roger Tweddell on the Hibiscus Coast just north of Auckland, FatCat’s design philosophy is about stability, space, and safety, emphasising superb handling at speed.

FatCat, a specialist HDPE polymer boat manufacturer, was continually being asked for a bigger design than the roto moulded 4000 model it was already producing. With the limitations of moulding technology, they felt that alloy was the most suitable material for larger boats over 5.0 metres. Blair set about designing the 5.25-metre long 5000 model, and construction took place in a specialist alloy construction facility in Napier – Tekam Engineering.

Due to the change from the initial polymer construction, FatCat rebranded as AirCat and split it off into a new entity, with Tekam Marine developing a range of larger aluminium boats up to 10 metres or more. FatCat has, in the meantime, developed the new 4500 polymer model, which will be available by October 2021.

Blair and Roger’s philosophy has always been to design and test prototypes carefully before settling on the production version. The production version of the FatCat 5000 will be refined a little longer, but the AirCat Prototype is available for demonstration.