Maas Boats - Boats > Soliton Details


California inspired, designed and built.

Inspired by California

The San Francisco Bay is unique both geographically and culturally. We have tide rips, shallow water, 30 knot winds and notoriously short wavelength, steep-sided waves. The design inspiration came from wanting a boat that could handle these conditions, innovate and keep the clean design look that is so distinctly Californian.

Designed in California

The design was developed in 3D CAD by Doug Kidder, M.Sc. N.A. The first prototype came off a foam plug CNC-machined by Erich Chase of Chase Boats here in Novato. That hull was extensively redone with a second CAD model and second prototype was built. After much testing that hull was further refined by cutting back the bow knuckle, lowering the seat deck and adding volume to the foredeck. The final hull accelerates very quickly, surfs even the smallest bump and the high volume bow keeps her riding nicely upwind and downwind.

Built in California

The Maas Boat Company has been building small boats in the San Francisco Bay area for over 30 years. We are a green certified business and are deeply committed to environmental building practices. Our tight control extends to our rigorous quality control. All our boats are built using vinylester resin, syntactic foam and divinycell core and a mix of direct-sized s-glass (custom made for us by Hexcel) and carbon fiber.

We are a certified green business.

Design Details

The hull is 19' 5" long with a maximum waterline beam of 12". This makes the boat relatively shorter and narrower than most, if not all, OC-1s. Minimizing the beam reduces the cross sectional area of the hull and keeps the wetted surface down (both of which contribute to drag).

The transom stern allows the water to stream cleanly off the back of the boat and minimizes the wetted surface.

The center of buoyancy in the hull is placed as far forward as possible in order to promote surfing. The tall, narrow bow allows the Soliton to slice through waves and shed water easily. The ama is remarkably easy to fly at only four pounds.

The seat is closed-cell foam CNC'ed into shape and set into a carbon fiber seat pan anchored into a track on the seat deck. The seat pan sides cradle the paddler's hips giving a tremendous connection to the hull and superb control while the track allows the paddler to easily adjust the seat to fit his or her leg length.

The footpedals attach to the rudder cables on the sides. The traditional bungee cord has been replaced with stainless steel springs to keep the rudder pedals in position.