On August 25 the 42-metre Merinos touched water in Tuzla, Istanbul — the first hull of the GX42 RPH and the first yacht GX Superyachts has ever launched. Two years ago the model existed only as a concept on a Monaco stand; this September she returns to the same show as a finished boat.
More than a roof
From the air, the most unusual thing about Merinos is the colour of her superstructure: the dark roofs are solar arrays, up to 27 kW of them, woven into the hardtop and deckhouse. They feed a lithium battery bank at the centre of a parallel diesel-electric drivetrain — two MAN D2862 diesels paired with two 200 kW electric motors.
The numbers the yard quotes are specific. Six knots on electric power alone. Up to 48 hours at anchor with every generator switched off. About 45 percent less electrical consumption than a comparable conventional yacht. For a 353 GT aluminium boat, two silent days on the hook is the kind of claim owners can actually test on the first weekend.
The pedigree behind it is unusual too. The GX brand belongs to Vladimir Zinchenko and draws on the team of Greenline, which has been building hybrid production boats for more than fifteen years. Merinos scales that experience into superyacht territory for the first time, with the hull built at SES Yachts in Tuzla.
Solar takes the lead
Design, inside and out, is by Marco Casali and his studio Too Design, with naval architecture by the NAMES bureau under Francesco Rogantin. The GX42 RPH accommodates ten guests in five cabins, with the master on the main deck, and a crew of up to seven.
That 10,000-mile range at slow speed puts transocean legs on the table — rare ambition for a boat of this tonnage.
"Seeing her on the water for the first time is an emotional milestone — a vision that has become reality," Zinchenko said during the launch. The brand's chief commercial officer, Maurizio Magri, framed the idea behind the boat as proof "that responsible yachting and uncompromising luxury can coexist."
What happens next
Merinos now begins sea trials, which will show whether the figures the yard quotes hold up at sea. Her public debut is set for the Monaco Yacht Show on September 23–26. A second GX42 RPH is already in build, with delivery planned for 2027 — and the GX Yachts line spans boats from 24 to 56 metres.
Photo: GX Superyachts / SES Yachts. Source: GX Superyachts, SuperYacht Times, BOAT International.
