With Spanish Tennis Player Carlos Alcaraz already signed up for a fully customised example before the first hull had even hit the water, Sunreef’s Ultima 88 has arrived with plenty of attention around it. The reason becomes fairly obvious once you take a look at it. This is not a conventional volume-led powercat.
Sunreef Ultima 88
- LOA 26.8m
- Model Year 2026
- Cabins 5
- Crew 5
- Max Speed 20 knots
- Status In Production
- Yacht Type Multihull
- Use Type Cruising
- Vessel M/Y Wasabi
Video Tour
On Deck
The Ultima 88 feels like a very deliberate shift in direction for Sunreef. At 26.8m (87ft 11in) long with a 9.1m (29ft 10in) beam, it still has all the volume advantages you would expect from a large powercat, but it is much lower, sleeker and more performance-minded than the yard’s more upright cruising cats. From certain angles, it barely looks like a catamaran at all. The roofline sits low to the water, the glazing is sharp and aggressive, and the whole profile has much more of a fast GT yacht feel than a traditional multihull.
The most important exterior space onboard is undoubtedly the Ocean Lounge aft, because really the entire stern of the yacht has been designed around water access and outdoor living. Fold-down side terraces extend the beam out even further once at anchor, while the hydraulic bathing platform links directly into the aft garage to create a huge waterside leisure space. The whole arrangement feels closer to a floating beach club than a traditional cockpit.
What makes the setup particularly clever is the layering of the deck spaces. Cantilevered sunpads sit above the garage structure itself, another large sunbed lives higher up again, and there is still enough free deck area left over for loose furniture, beanbags or additional lounging depending on how owners choose to use the space. With direct jetski access from the garage and easy launch capability via the hydraulic platform, the whole area feels heavily geared toward active use on the water rather than simply somewhere to sit with a drink.
The main cockpit continues that same indoor-outdoor living approach but in a more sheltered format. Despite the Ultima’s low sporty profile, the aft deck is surprisingly protected thanks to the long flybridge overhang and the substantial side buttresses extending down from above.
There is room here for a large freestanding dining setup, aft-facing lounge seating and an exterior galley arrangement, while the connection into the saloon is almost entirely uninterrupted thanks to the huge glazing and open-plan layout. Sunreef talks a lot about lifestyle aboard the Ultima 88, but in fairness the deck arrangement genuinely supports it.
The side decks are another area where the multihull platform quietly earns its keep. Even with the yacht’s low roofline and sporty proportions, the walkways remain notably wide and easy to move around without ever feeling tight or compromised. You never get that slightly awkward squeezed side-deck feeling some sleeker monohull designs can suffer from.
Forward, the bow area carries its beam impressively well and creates another genuinely usable social space rather than simply somewhere to place a token sunpad. Large lounging areas stretch right across the foredeck and take full advantage of the yacht’s width, making this one of the better entertaining zones onboard for quieter anchorages or evenings at rest.
Up above, the flybridge keeps the same open and flexible atmosphere. Instead of overloading the space with fixed furniture, Sunreef has left much of it configurable depending on owner preference. A jacuzzi can be fitted here if desired, or even a small workout space, while the standard arrangement focuses more on open lounging, alfresco dining and casual entertaining.
There is a secondary galley setup up here as well, complete with refrigeration and ice-making capability, which makes the upper deck far more self-contained during long afternoons at anchor. The views are vast, naturally, and that's very useful for the upper helm. This is centred around a huge 167.6cm (66in) ultra-wide display handling the yacht’s major systems and nav functions.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Ultima 88 is not simply the amount of exterior space onboard - plenty of catamarans offer that. It is the way Sunreef has packaged all that volume into something that still feels low, sharp and surprisingly athletic from the outside. Most powercats still tend to wear their size in a hefty way. The Ultima 88 hides it rather well.
Interior Accommodation
Where the outside of the yacht feels low, aggressive and performance-led, the interior settles into something much calmer and more architectural. The 9.1m (29ft 10in) beam obviously plays a huge role in that, but so does the way Sunreef has handled the layout itself. Rather than trying to divide the main deck into a series of formal rooms, the saloon feels vast, open and uncluttered.
The first thing you notice is the amount of natural daylight coming into the space. Huge side windows run almost uninterrupted along both sides of the saloon, dropping surprisingly low to the waterline and creating a constant visual connection with the sea outside. Combined with the relatively restrained furniture arrangement and low cabinetry, it gives the interior a much lighter and less enclosed feeling than many yachts of similar length.
The seating layout itself is arranged more like a modern apartment than a traditional yacht saloon. Large sofa sections and relaxed lounge seating replace the heavily structured seating groups you often find on more formal superyacht interiors, and because the furniture remains relatively low throughout, sightlines across the room stay remarkably open.
The Ultima 88 uses lighter wood, large stone surfaces, black metallic accents and soft neutrals to create a much more contemporary residential atmosphere. There are still moments where the yacht becomes a little more expressive - the carbon fibre staircase elements leading toward the owner's suite are one obvious example - but overall the styling remains surprisingly restrained.
The dining area is within the saloon rather than being isolated as a separate formal room, which suits the yacht’s generally relaxed character rather well. It feels like a space designed for long evenings aboard rather than ceremonial entertaining, helped by the uninterrupted connection to the surrounding lounge areas and the amount of glazing running alongside it.
Integrated wine storage, extensive concealed cabinetry and the sheer amount of usable floor area all suggest that the Ultima 88 has been designed around spending lots of time aboard rather than purely as a short-term entertainment platform. The catamaran beam helps enormously here because circulation throughout the yacht feels notably gentler than on many monohulls of similar length.
That same feeling extends down into the operational areas as well. The lower-deck galley sits within its own dedicated working zone and comes highly specced with Miele appliances, including full refrigeration, induction cooking, multiple ovens, dishwasher facilities and laundry equipment.
Owner's Cabin
Access into the owner’s suite comes via a dedicated staircase finished with exposed carbon fibre detailing, which gives this part of the yacht a slightly different feel from the rest of the accommodation below. It does not feel especially dramatic or overdone either. You just gradually move down into a much quieter and more private part of the boat, and once inside the suite itself, you immediately notice just how much space the catamaran platform creates down here.
The full-beam layout gives the room a huge amount of usable floor area around the bed, and because there is very little intrusion from the hull shape or side decks, the suite feels unusually open for a yacht of this size. On many monohulls, even large owner’s cabins can still feel slightly narrowed in places, but the Ultima 88 avoids that rather well.
The hull windows are enormous and sit low enough to keep a strong connection with the water outside, while also bringing a huge amount of natural daylight into the room during the day. Combined with the pale finishes and relatively restrained styling, the atmosphere stays calm and comfortable rather than overly formal.
The en-suite bathroom looks straight out of a penthouse, centred around the floating column feature and the switchable magic-glass privacy sections built into the surrounding structure. Even by catamaran standards, it is an unusually open bathroom arrangement, helped by the amount of floor space and the use of a full standing shower rather than a compact wet-room setup. Some layouts also introduce a bathtub, which only adds further to the feeling that this is a space designed around proper long-term comfort aboard.
Guest Accommodation
Guest accommodation is arranged across four additional cabins, allowing the Ultima 88 to sleep up to 10 guests in total. The layout combines several double cabins alongside a dedicated twin, and importantly the guest accommodation never feels like an afterthought despite the amount of emphasis placed elsewhere on the owner’s suite and exterior spaces.
Like the rest of the yacht, the guest cabins rely on natural light and openness so they need less decoration. During the day especially, the cabins feel bright and surprisingly airy for spaces located this low inside the hulls.
The amount of room inside the guest cabins is impressive as well. The circulation around the beds, the ceiling heights and the storage capacity all benefit from the width of the multihull platform, and there is a consistency to the accommodation that many yachts struggle to maintain once you move away from the owner’s area. Even the twin cabin feels properly generous rather than squeezed in simply to hit a guest number on a specification sheet.
Storage has been sensibly integrated throughout, with dedicated wardrobe space and enough cabinetry for guests to settle in comfortably during longer trips. Again, the yacht feels designed around extended cruising and proper use rather than short overnight stays between marinas.
All guest cabins receive private en-suite bathrooms with separate standing showers. The styling stays consistent as well - pale finishes, clean lines and very little unnecessary fuss. It all feels modern and well resolved without trying too hard to impress.
Crew Accommodation
Crew accommodation is arranged separately aft and allows for up to five crew across three cabins, including a dedicated captain’s cabin alongside two additional crew cabins. The chef also receives a private cabin and bathroom arrangement within the lower service area.
Performance & Engine Room
The Ultima 88 is really an attempt to combine two very different types of yacht. On one side, you have the space, stability and shallow-water capability of a large powercat. On the other, Sunreef clearly wants this to feel faster, lower and more responsive than the typical volume-led cruising multihull. Technically, that balancing act is probably the most interesting thing about the whole project.
The catamaran platform itself brings several advantages before you even get into the propulsion systems. At 26.8m (87ft 11in) long with a 9.1m (29ft 10in) beam, the Ultima spreads its displacement across two relatively slender hulls rather than relying on one large central hullform. That reduces resistance at moderate cruising speeds and also dramatically improves stability both underway and at anchor. The yacht’s 1.2m (3ft 11in) draft is another major advantage because it allows access into shallower bays and anchorages that many monohulls simply could not comfortably reach.
Most examples of the Ultima 88 are expected to use Volvo Penta IPS pod-drive propulsion, and indeed, the very first hull uses twin Volvo Penta IPS1050 engines, with a top speeds of 26 knots, cruising at 16 knots. In the IPS900 engine option producing 691hp each, Sunreef quotes a 20-knot top speed with a more natural cruising pace sitting around 15 knots.
Those figures are not outrageous in pure performance-yacht terms, but for a 75-tonne catamaran carrying this much interior volume, they are still fairly impressive. More importantly, the yacht appears designed around relaxed fast cruising rather than headline speed numbers which has been a recent trend in the yachting industry.
The IPS installation itself brings several operational advantages beyond straight-line performance. Pod drives free up additional internal volume (if the Ultima 88 needed any extra) compared with traditional shaft arrangements, while the integrated steering and joystick control systems dramatically improve low-speed manoeuvrability. On a yacht with this much beam and exterior volume, that becomes particularly important around marinas and tighter harbours in the Med.
Sunreef is also pushing the Ultima range heavily toward hybridisation. Alongside the conventional diesel IPS setup, the yacht can be specified with a full diesel-electric hybrid system combined with the company’s integrated solar skin technology. The idea here is less about fully electric cruising and more about reducing generator dependence, extending silent operation at anchor and improving overall efficiency during longer periods aboard.
There has even been discussion around optional hydrofoil assistance for the Ultima platform, aimed at reducing drag and fuel consumption further while improving efficiency under diesel power. Whether that ultimately becomes a mainstream option remains to be seen, but it does show how aggressively Sunreef is trying to push the engineering side of this range beyond the usual expectations of a luxury powercat.
In Summary
The Ultima 88 is probably the clearest sign yet that Sunreef understands where the modern luxury catamaran market is heading. It still delivers the huge volume, stability and long-range comfort multihulls naturally do well, but packages it all inside something far lower, sleeker and more contemporary than the yard’s earlier powercats. The Ocean Lounge aft is genuinely clever, the interior feels calm and surprisingly restrained for a yacht of this scale, and the accommodation avoids the over-styled hotel feeling some modern catamarans drift toward.
Looking to own a Sunreef Ultima 88? Use YachtBuyer’s Market Watch to compare all new and used Sunreef Ultima 88 Catamarans for sale worldwide. You can also order a new Sunreef Ultima 88, customized to your exact specifications, with options for engine choice and layout configuration. Alternatively, explore our global listings of new and used catamarans for sale and find your perfect catamaran today!
Rivals to Consider
The Sunreef Ultima 55 was the yacht that first introduced their new low-slung performance-catamaran idea, but the Ultima 88 is where the concept really starts to stretch its legs. The sharp glazing, sporty proportions and Ocean Lounge aft all carry across from the smaller yacht, yet the 88 pushes the formula much further toward crossover-superyacht territory. Where the 55 feels like a fast luxury weekender with unusually good space, the 88 starts feeling like a serious long-range cruising yacht that just happens to sit on a very modern multihull platform. Three more models in the Ultima range are currently in development.
The Lagoon Eighty 3 is one of the closest catamaran rivals to the Ultima 88 in overall concept and scale. At 24.4m (80ft), it combines huge multihull volume with a much more modern and lifestyle-focused design language than earlier large Lagoon powercats, placing a strong emphasis on open deck circulation, beach-club living and long periods aboard. Twin John Deere diesels deliver cruising speeds in the low to mid teens, with a transatlantic-capable range that can stretch beyond 3,500 nautical miles at displacement speeds depending on specification and load. Accommodation layouts vary by owner specification, although most configurations centre around a large owner’s suite alongside four additional guest cabins and separate crew accommodation.
Princess and Sanlorenzo both do an excellent job of creating huge internal volume within monohull platforms, but the Ultima still delivers a noticeably different sense of width and openness once aboard.
The Sanlorenzo SX100 is probably the closest monohull rival in overall philosophy. At 30.5m (100ft), it is considerably larger than the Ultima 88, but the thinking behind the yacht is remarkably similar - a crossover design intended to blend beach-club living, large social exterior spaces and contemporary long-range cruising into a more lifestyle-focused package. Like the Ultima, the SX100 avoids the traditional upper-deck-heavy superyacht profile and instead pushes much more volume aft toward the water. Twin MAN engines push the SX100 comfortably into the low 20-knot range, while range sits at approximately 1,600 nautical miles at 10 knots. Accommodation typically includes a main-deck owner’s suite and four further guest cabins below.
The Princess X95 Vista tackles the same modern luxury-cruising brief from a very different technical direction again. At 29m (95ft), the X95 Vista focuses heavily on interior volume, long sightlines and open-plan living, using Princess’s “Super Flybridge” architecture to create almost full-length upper and main-deck social spaces. Like the Ultima 88, it feels designed around movement, openness and extended time aboard rather than traditional compartmentalised yacht layouts. Twin MAN V12 or V16 engines deliver speeds well into the 20-knot range, while the yacht offers a range of around 2,000 nautical miles at displacement cruising speeds. Accommodation generally centres around a main-deck owner’s suite with four additional guest cabins below.
Considering a new catamaran? Explore Sunreef's entire current range to find the model that best suits your needs, and compare it with alternatives from competitors to ensure you make the perfect choice.
Specifications
- Builder Sunreef Yachts
- Range Ultima Range
- Model Ultima 88
- Length Overall 26.8m
- Beam 9.1m
- Hull Composite
- Cabins 5
- Berths 10
- Crew 5
- Cruising Speed
- Max Speed
- Fuel Capacity 6,000 Litres
- Fresh Water Capacity 1,600 Litres
- Engine Model 2x Volvo Penta D13-IPS1050
Sunreef Ultima 88 Layout
-
Flybridge
-
![Flybridge Sunreef Ultima 88]()
-
Optional jacuzzi layout
![Flybridge Sunreef Ultima 88]()
-
Main Deck
-
Lower Deck
-
Standard 5 cabin layout
![Lower Deck Sunreef Ultima 88]()
-
Optional 4 cabin layout
![Lower Deck Sunreef Ultima 88]()
-
Optional forward master with larger ensuite layout
![Lower Deck Sunreef Ultima 88]()
Available Stock
Interested in a Ultima 88?
NEW Build
Find your local dealer for a personalised, no-cost consultation
or just request
Brochures & Pricing
Used & In Stock
Looking for a ready-to-go Ultima 88 or pre-owned options? Explore all inventory of the Ultima 88 available worldwide
