SUPERYACHT #11
Winter 2007
Article selected from our quarterly magazine dedicated to the largest
and most luxurious boats with information, interviews, technical
articles, images and yachting news
Summary
Subscription
Yachting catalogue
Navigation tests
Used boats
Boatshow
Video Nautica
Article by
Fabio Petrone
Photos by Neil Rabinowitz and Martin Fine
|
|
DELTA MARINE HAPPY DAYS
The yacht presented here, Happy Days, at 50 metres LOA is the
biggest pleasure craft in composite ever launched in America.
Merit for her construction goes to Delta Marine - based in Seattle
on the banks of the river Duwamish - a very well known brand name
which is considered by many to be one of the best shipyards in
North America and probably the world.
| |
TECHNICAL DATA
LOA 50 m.
beam 10.39 m.
draft 2.86 m.
medium load displacement 560.8 t.
engines 2 x 1.650 CAT 3512
maximum speed 16.8 knots
cruising speed 14 knots
fuel tanks 82.900 litres
water tanks 13.230 litres
generators 2 x130 kW Northern Lights
Stabilisers Quantum QC 1800 Zero Speed
Certification ABS Maltese Cross A1 Maltese Yachting Service.
For further information: Delta Marine Industries - 1608
South 96th Street - Seattle, Washington 98108 USA - tel. +1
206.763.2383 - fax +1 206.762.2627 - website www.deltamarine.com -
email info@deltamarine.com
|
Delta Marine undoubtedly owes its fame among the public at large
to a series of really beautiful superyachts, but its history began
in the early 60's as a builder of fast pleasure craft. Shortly
afterwards it made a name for itself above all as a builder of
professional fishing vessels. With those robust, reliable and
easily maintained boats, built for rough seas, and with their
design and construction, Delta achieved great fame and success.
This in turn led to the yard's progressive growth until it reached
the size of an actual shipbuilding industry. After the first
successes obtained in the pleasure craft sector the Jones family,
who have always been at the helm of Delta, decided in 1980 to
orient production towards the luxury yacht segment, building in
steel, aluminium and composite. We chose Happy Days precisely to
represent this last typology of vessel. With a length of 50 metres
this displacement yacht can call herself the brand flagship in
composite, but also the biggest in a recently launched mini-range
of four. Happy Days is not only longer but also beamier - almost
zoomed up to 10.40 metres - exclusively because the owner wanted
an even more spacious yacht with huge volumes. This is borne out
by the nearly 700 square metres that guests can enjoy while under
way. The whole is the work of the Delta Design Group, a many sided
structure specially created by the yard and responsible for the
exterior, the interior and also for the full displacement hull. A
workgroup that operated in close contact with the owner, also with
regard to the furnishings and décor which are indubitably
rich in inspirations that run from early 20th century modernism to
more recent Pop Art. A yacht that can take you anywhere: big,
comfortable and embellished with art works and furnishings that
contribute to rendering the overall effect highly personal,
welcoming and luxurious. The restrained use of wood for the walls
is original, while the use of glass is more extensive: there are
tons of it aboard! To give some idea, over and above everything
that is normally in glass aboard a yacht - splendid doors,
interior stairway parapets, shower cabins, furnishing accessories
and lamps created as works of art - the grand dining room on the
main deck has a rectangular table (about 3.6 by 1.2 metres)
consisting of five great transparent slabs, created by master
glassworkers and weighing 90 kilos each. Around the table the
twelve chairs are upholstered in different coloured leathers. Plus
a huge wall-effect partition and furniture and doors worked with
geometrical motifs. Simulated frames, also used in the cabins and
actually a sophisticated lighting system, are a reference to the
age of great voyages - the 1930's - and the vast "machines" that
made them possible. Symbolically it's a tribute to the interiors
of the Pan Am Flying Boats, comfortable, luxurious and long range,
just like Happy Days, which took their guests to Latin America but
also as far as Asia. References to frames and lighting are also
found in the main saloon which extends aft, featuring two living
areas with different furniture and upholstery which, together with
the floor covering, light up the space with colour. The aft zone
includes a very large cocktail area with a six seater sofa and
armchairs. Though it is outdoors it can also be closed in and air
conditioned.
Farther forward on the port side, the very spacious and fully
equipped galley is followed by a service dinette, both well linked
to the exterior and to the crew's night quarters on the lower deck
which sleep 10 in 5 cabins. Farther below, Happy Days has a
technical half-deck for storage. There are six guest cabins, four
of them on the lower deck - two with double and two with twin beds
- and the other two forward on the main deck, next to a gym and a
landing that serves as a library. The furnishings and spaciousness
of these two cabins give them VIP status.
The owner's cabin is on the upper deck, occupying the whole area
aft. The bedroom extends the whole breadth of the beam, with
nuances of colour and furnishings in Caribbean style, and the
bathroom has a shower cubicle and Jacuzzi, but above all there is
exclusive access to the outside deck, which can also be closed in,
becoming an actual terrace for the owner. Amidships on the upper
deck the classic sky lounge is accessible from the main deck also
by means of the lift that links the vessel's four decks. The sky
lounge looks onto two external balconies and features a piano, a
bar and the umpteenth living area. Farther forward are the
captain's cabin, a daytime bathroom and the wheelhouse, again with
light-coloured wood contrasting with the blue of the fabric and
leather that covers everything, even the command station which is
chock-a-block with screens for controlling each part, each machine
and each piece of apparatus on board.
The sundeck above is protected for more than half its length by a
hardtop that bears the aerial mast and creates an area beneath
that's well suited to parties and celebrations. Here too there's a
bar and dining and living areas, but also a circular mini swimming
pool, a solarium with sun-beds and the housing for a small tender
and a jet-ski. The main tender is aft of the engine room, in a
special submersible garage between the workshop and the control
room.
Now let's look at performances: with the thrust of 2 Caterpillar
3512's that deliver 1.650 HP each, Happy Days touches 17 knots
maximum speed, with a cruising speed of 14 knots. With 82.900
litre capacity fuel tanks the vessel has a range of 5.000 nautical
miles at a speed of 13 knots.
|
