FunCats Solar Electric Catamarans - Eco-friendly Fun for Your Fleet!

As a resort or boat rental operations manager, you’re faced with the challenges of keeping your guests happy and encouraging repeat visits by offering a variety of new and exciting activities. Whether it’s a family of four or a couple in their sixties, providing your guests with fun things to do, while not busting your budget is likely at the top of your priority list!

While jet skis and giant water trikes are fun for some, not everyone is looking for heart-pumping action or a water workout. And, some personal watercraft can be tricky to maneuver, which can be frustrating for guests. Vacationers looking for relaxation on the water do not want to waste precious vacation time learning how to operate an unfamiliar watercraft.

Enter the FunCat solar-electric catamaran! From San Diego to Spain, FunCats are popular rentals at resorts, private islands, and beach facilities. FunCats are an ideal addition to a facility’s activities list. FunCats provide guests with blissful relaxation on the water, a family outing, or an easy to maneuver boat for a fishing expedition! Just about anyone can drive a FunCat, which is not only cool for kids but helpful for guests who may have physical challenges that prevent them from managing a larger watercraft.

The FunCat is also very unique in appearance, and when out on the water it draws attention from onlookers. It’s a floating billboard and great “free” advertising tool for beach rental locations.

The eye-popping Pompano Beach Club in Bermuda offers FunCats as a rental product. Pompano is unique in that FunCats are free to use for resort guests, and available to rent at an hourly rate ($80/hr.) for non-resort guests. Not only does the hourly rental rate generate revenue, but FunCat renters may also purchase food and beverages while on property.  Tom Lamb, the Managing Director at Pompano shares-

“We have been renting motorized FunCats from our resort’s watersports center for over ten years.  Our guests love them because they are so easy to handle and cruise along effortlessly at about 5 miles an hour, enabling our guests to soak up the sunshine and enjoy the spectacular scenery on our shallow sandbar. We often refer to them as “motorized floating chaise lounges!” The FunCats are definitely the most popular rental item we have at our watersports center!”

Several of the World’s largest cruise lines offer FunCat rentals at their private islands, including
Disney’s Castaway Caye in the Bahamas, Carnival’s Mahogany Bay in Honduras, and Norwegian’s Harvest Caye in Belize. This creates more revenue for the cruise lines and more fun for their passengers. In fact, FunCats have been so popular with cruise guests that Carnival recently added two more FunCats to their fleet, and Norwegian ordered four more FunCats to launch at Harvest Caye!

FunCats are a proven revenue generator for watersport rental businesses. One location in San Diego, California, Action Sports Rentals, has over 30 FunCat boats for rent! Rental customers are attracted to the FunCat because they are relaxing– imagine a giant chaise lounge floating on the water, fun to drive– push the button and go! And you can enjoy all the amenities needed for a day on the water– sunshade, storage compartments, ice chest compartment, cup holders and more! Steven Pinard from Action Sports remarks-

“Action Sport Rentals in San Diego has FunCats at six locations. They are one of the most popular items that we rent. A family favorite!”

Staff love the boats because they are very low-maintenance, only requiring battery charging and a freshwater rinse off at the end of each day. Additionally, units with solar panels may not even require additional charging overnight, as they continuously charge throughout a sunny day.

The solar panel kit has become such a popular accessory with FunCat customers that all future boats will include this popular feature. And… drum roll, please… we are re-branding! With the focus on solar power, the FunCat will now be renamed SolarCat, solar-electrically powered catamaran. We are confident this new direction fits with today’s consumers and the market demand for environmentally friendly products. We’re excited about SolarCat and look forward to sharing our new website soon!

For our loyal FunCat customers, we will continue to provide service and replacement parts for your boats. And for our future customers, we look forward to introducing you to the new and improved SolarCat!

If you’re interested in learning more about SolarCat and how these fun, eco-friendly boats can help increase your bottom line, visit our current site at funcats.com, where you can chat live during business hours!

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On the Road Again with Carl Hanson

Sub Sea Systems Director of Water Operations and Safety, Carl Hanson racks up more frequent flyer miles in a month than most people collect in years! His most recent trip took him across the planet to Dubai. Carl shares his unique adventure with us below.

Q Why did you go to Dubai?

C: I went to visit Our Sea TREK Operator at Atlantis the Palm, Dubai. Atlantis the Palm’s Sea TREK helmet diving is done at its Ambassador Lagoon, part of its incredible Lost Chambers Aquarium, which houses over 65,000 marine animals!

Q: How long were you away?

C: I flew out on March 20th, and I returned on March 26th 

Q: What kind of work did you do during your visit?

C: This trip was primarily for site inspection, however, the facility also has a new Training Coordinator, Abdulla. He and I worked together quite a bit during my trip. I also shared some new training techniques for their backpack system.

Q: What was your travel route?

I left Sacramento on the 20th around noon, flew to Dallas. From Dallas, I flew to London, where I scored an upgrade! I was surprised that my upgraded seat was actually a bed. I got to take a shower at the London airport, then traveled on to Dubai. The trip in miles looks like this: 

Sacramento to Dallas- 1431

Dallas to Heathrow- 4740

Heathrow-Dubai 3410

Total travel time to get to Dubai, a mere 26 hours 

On the way back, I had a stopover in L.A., which added a few extra miles to the return trip.

Q: What surprised you about Dubai?

This was my second trip to Dubai, so I didn’t experience quite as dramatic a culture shock this time around. But what surprised me the most is how accepting the culture is to other cultures. The people of Dubai are perceived as closed off, but they are actually very open to tourists of different cultures.

Also, Dubai is home to some of the largest buildings in the world. It’s also incredibly dusty! When I arrived the visibility was tough. Dubai is set up in a series of villages, and each is like its own small city. For example, Sports City is where the vast majority of the sports bars are. Each city is similar in design but quite different in function.

Q: What is unique about this particular Sea TREK adventure?

C: Aqua Trek at Ambassador Lagoon has so many animals, including Bowmouth guitarfish, eagle rays, zebra sharks, cow nose rays, and thousands of schooling fishes! Sea TREK is done from a ledge that is about 2-3 meters deep. Guests walk out on the ledge and TREK while overlooking the rest of the 30-feet-deep tank. One of the things that we tested was the possibility of bringing people to the bottom. So in the future, TREKs may include a drop to the bottom of the tank!

Q: What did you do in your free time?

C: I met up with a friend from high school, Donte! Donte is in the U.S. Army and happened to be in Dubai on deployment while I was there. I had not seen him in at least 10 years, so it was fun to catch up. We connected on social media, and we met up at Kite Beach. 

I also got the chance to visit the Dubai Mall, which happens to house one of the largest suspended aquariums in the world! The tank is 10 million liters and is home to over 140 species including 300 sharks and rays. Who knows, it could someday be home to another Sea TREK operation!

Check out Carl's amazing Atlantis video compilation!

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