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Amphibious Encyclopedia · Amphibious boats

Iguana Yachts

Iguana Yachts is a French builder of amphibious motorboats that leave the water on a pair of retractable crawler tracks instead of wheels [1][5]. Founded in Normandy in 2008 by engineer Antoine Brugidou, it has built leisure tenders and day boats as well as military and rescue craft, including two amphibious boarding boats for the US Navy [1][4]. The company entered judicial liquidation at the end of 2025, and its assets were split between new owners in early 2026 [7][8].

  • Amphibious boats
  • 2008 to present
  • France

History

Antoine Brugidou, a graduate engineer of the Ecole Centrale Paris who had been a senior executive at the consulting firm Accenture, founded Iguana Yachts in Normandy in 2008 [1]. He wanted a boat that could land and launch itself on the region's tidal beaches [1]. The boats were styled by the French design studio Fritsch-Durisotti [1]. Company records cited by Wikipedia give the founding date as 15 July 2008 [9].

The company dates its first model, the Iguana 24, to 2011 and calls it the first amphibious boat with tracks [1]. Its first export sale, to a customer in the Middle East, followed in 2013, and in 2016 it developed its first boat with electric track drive [1]. Production moved to the Caen area, and by 2020 the company said its boats were in more than 20 countries on six continents [1][3].

In August 2022 Iguana bought Wettoncraft, a smaller French amphibious boat builder from Tourcoing founded by Eric Divry, and moved its workshop to Iguana's site at Mondeville near Caen. The stated aim was to add smaller and more affordable boats [6].

How the tracks work

An Iguana is a planing boat driven on the water by outboard motors. Under the hull it carries two rubber crawler tracks on hydraulically moved struts [5]. Afloat, the tracks fold up into the hull and stay clear of the water while the boat is under way. Near shore the driver lowers them, and a hydraulic unit unfolds, tensions and locks the tracks [2][4]. The maker says deployment takes about 8 seconds [2].

The tracks have their own power source, separate from the outboards. On the US Navy boats it is either an electric motor with a lithium battery or a 55 hp (40 kW) air-cooled engine driving a hydrostatic transmission [4]. On the electric Commuter tested in 2018, two 22 kW electric motors drove the tracks, steered with a pair of joysticks [3]. Because tracks spread the boat's weight over a large area, the maker compares their ground pressure to a human footprint and says they can climb slopes of up to 22 degrees (40 percent) on sand, shingle or mud [2].

Land travel is slow, about 6.5 to 7 km/h (4 mph), and is meant for short trips across beaches, slipways and mud rather than long distances [2][3].

Models

Recent leisure models are built on hulls of about 9 m (30 ft). The company's range has included the Iguana X100 rigid inflatable, the Fisher and Sport center-console boats, a Bow Rider, and the Commuter, a cabin tender that the company introduced in 2018 as its fourth model [1][6]. Boat International's 2018 test Commuter was 9 m long with twin 200 hp outboards, a top speed of 41 knots (47 mph) and a land speed of 7 km/h [3].

A professional line, Iguana Pro, targets military and emergency services [5]. In 2021 Baird Maritime reported on two 9.3 m (30.6 ft) amphibious RIBs designed by Iguana Pro and built by Iguana Pro USA in New York as the US Navy's newest interception and boarding craft, with twin 300 hp outboards and a top speed of 50 knots (58 mph) [4]. New Atlas reported the same year that the Iguana Pro could reach 55 knots (63 mph) [5].

Liquidation and current status

French trade press reported in January 2026 that Iguana Yachts had been placed in judicial liquidation at the end of 2025. ActuNautique cited the effects of the COVID-19 crisis, about 1.5 million euros of debt and harder export conditions, and said annual sales had been between 6 and 8.5 million euros without lasting profit [7]. Of about 30 staff, 14 faced layoffs [7].

The business was split. Sailboat builder Grand Large Yachting took over the Mondeville buildings, machinery and nine production employees [7][8]. The majority shareholder took the patents, software, orders in progress, after-sales service and the engineering team, and ActuNautique reported that the Iguana technology would continue under the new owners [7].

Sources

  1. The History of Iguana since its creation in 2008, Iguana Yachts. www.iguana-yachts.com/history
  2. How the Iguana Amphibious Mobility System Works?, Iguana Yachts (2026-05-20). www.iguana-yachts.com/how-the-iguana-amphibious-mobility-system-works
  3. Iguana Commuter: Test driving the amphibious tender, Boat International (2018-05-11). www.boatinternational.com/yachts/editorial-features/iguana-commuter-test-driving-the-amphibious-tender--36973
  4. Vessel review: US Navy's newest interception and boarding craft feature amphibious self-deployment capability, Baird Maritime (2021-05-13). www.bairdmaritime.com/work-boat-world/small-craft-world/ribs-and-rhibs/vessel-review-us-navys-newest-interception-and-boarding-craft-feature-amphibious-self-deployment-capability
  5. Iguana prepares to launch the world's fastest amphibious boat, New Atlas (2021-06-27). newatlas.com/marine/iguana-worlds-fastest-amphibious-boat
  6. Iguana Yachts Acquires Wettoncraft, Iguana Yachts (2022-08-04). www.iguana-yachts.com/iguana-yachts-acquires-weetoncraft
  7. Liquidé, le chantier Iguana Yachts est repris par Grand Large Yachting et son actionnaire majoritaire, ActuNautique (2026-01-12). www.actunautique.com/2026/01/liquide-le-chantier-iguana-yachts-est-repris-par-grand-large-yachting-et-son-actionnaire-majoritaire.html
  8. Le chantier naval Grand Large Yachting s'agrandit près de Caen, Le Journal des Entreprises (2026-01-07). www.lejournaldesentreprises.com/article/le-chantier-naval-grand-large-yachting-sagrandit-pres-de-caen-2134034
  9. Iguana Yachts, Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguana_Yachts

Last reviewed November 2026. Spotted something to correct or add? Tell us and include a source.

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