
SUPERYACHT #494 June 2003
Article selected from our quarterly magazine dedicated to the largest
and most luxurious boats with information, interviews, technical
articles, images and yachting news

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Article by Angelo Colombo
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PROJECT
A new yacht or a restored vintage or work boat?
Once upon a time designing a luxury yacht or restoring an old one
entailed the help of professionals with well-defined roles. The first
professional figure to be involved was the naval architect, who would
design everything, from the waterline to the arrangement of the
interior. Then an interior decorator would be involved, using
professional skill to choose the colours and materials for the decor
and furnishing arrangements. Things have changed with the passing of
time and now the roles are less well-defined. In fact to build or
restore large boats you start with the designer, or rather a stylist
responsible for a range of tasks from exterior design to the uniforms
of the crew. The naval architect has the role of taking the designer's
work and adapting the hull, which must also meet the customer's
performance requirements as well as international safety standards.
Alternatively, the design may begin with the naval architect whose
work in this case is limited to the planning of the water lines. Then
in comes the designer who develops the exterior layout and afterwards
everything is passed on to an interior decorator.
Each has their own special role in meeting the customer's requests,
which are often to do with the arrangement of the interior and the
overall look. In recent years there has been a very interesting trend:
vintage, as applied to yachting, i.e. the conversion, renovation,
transformation and recovery of vintage boats. We often hear the word
vintage used in the furnishing sector, in fashion and for ornaments
but now it has also entered the word of large yachts. If you want to
find a parallel with the Italian proverb "an old barrel makes good
wine", we could claim that "old hulls make good yachts".
Of course it's stretching things a bit but maybe it's from this basic
idea that yacht-owners get the desire to adapt these old tugs, fishing
boats, military boats and others once involved in working activities.
The result is that the yachting world is now full of prestigious boats
which elude the logic of design innovation and the search for
original, up-to-date forms which have never been seen before.
On the contrary, classical lines - unusual lines for this way of going
to sea - are becoming popular and the result is a luxury yacht which
is extremely personal. It's no coincidence that some shipyards produce
boats with avant-garde content but in a typically retro style, to
combine the desire of many yacht-owners for the antique with the
resources offered by modern technology. There are two chief reasons
why some enthusiasts prefer old working boats to new designs.
The first is the recognised reliability that these hulls can
guarantee, given the vocation they were designed for. The second
lies, on the other hand, with the time necessary for transforming for
example, a tug into a yacht, compared with the time needed to build a
new luxury yacht. In the first case the waiting time to become owner
of the boat is on average six months while in the second it may exceed
two years. In any case, some considerations should be made: not
everyone is capable of entering the market of tugs or other working
boats; finding the right boat or ship to transform or restore requires
skill.
Furthermore, the costs of transformation are often the same as
those of making a boat of the same size from scratch. Thus, the
enthusiast's choice is not an easy one. 'New' is appealing and
shipyards allow the owner the faculty of adapting everything to
personal tastes. Old boats have a unique allure and can sometimes be
adapted to measure but it is not always easy to find ones that are in
a decent condition. What is it that influences a yacht-owner in one
direction or the other? The word should go to two yacht-owners who
have made different choices. Probably from their observations we would
discover that the difference is not in the choice but is further up
the line, or rather, in their approach to the sea.
The choice of a new
yacht or else a tug adapted to yachting in some way expresses the
owner's relationship with the sea. No choice is better, but each is
just a different way of experiencing the natural element. As
professionals in the sector we are attracted in the same way to both
alternatives. One for its technological appeal and for stylistic
innovations, the other for the skill of some shipyards to transform an
old ship made for work into a very attractive luxury yacht. To sail a
yacht that first crossed the seas decades ago is certainly a
fascinating idea. But it is just as fascinating to set sail aboard a
modern, luxury yacht, the result of modern engineering and technology.
There are certainly considerable differences between the two that go
beyond the aesthetic aspect, in particular as regards the water lines
but also the spaces inside. In the case of working boats adapted to
yachting, the interior is conceived from scratch but always to fit
within the original house. In a new yacht as wève seen, the
point of departure is often space requirements to then go on to the
right water lines, weights and volumes. To try to reveal the secret of
the right choice would be a tough undertaking but as wève
already said, perhaps it doesn't exist; they are simply different
preferences, like those which push a yacht-owner to choose a sloop
rather than a motoryacht.
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