Summer 2009: Pacific NorthWest Yard Tour...

Summer 2009: Pacific NorthWest Yard Tour
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Got back from the NW late Friday night. Although it's near 90 degrees in Florida, it will take some time for my fingers to warm up to the keyboard again. Expect some typos! We flew into Seattle, rented a car and headed south to stay in Vancouver, WA, where we stopped for a bite at 'Beaches', a popular waterway restaurant with a unique drive-thru service.

The following morning we met with John Lance from Christensen Yachts for a yard tour, including a sneak-peak at the new 49-meter 'Odessa'. This ominous looking yacht has one of the most modern interiors they have ever built, as well as a unique sub-surface attribute, all wrapped up in Christensen's first ever black hull with a gray superstructure. While the color combo stands in stark contrast to past launches, it is much more than paint. A new resin system was used to withstand the heat generated by an all-black hull. As photos were not allowed by request of the owner, here is a render...

As we made our way through many halls, I came across this hull, which appears to be similar to 'Casino Royale', which means it could be the new 'Liquidity III'?

Here's one that's further along in build. All that is wood is no good. It's scaffolding.

Same boat from behind, showing the transom access doors and a make-shift 2x4 gang-plank to the swim platform. Remember, this boat is on the hard, so the elevation here is near 15 feet off the floor.

Same boat with workers fairing the bow. This process is a extremely labor and skill intensive. These guys have a better eye for curves than a college kid on spring break...

This picture was an accident, so it's a little fuzzy, much like the logic of the guy standing with a camera in-hand, wearing a YF shirt. Yep, that's me, speaking with John Lance on the Portuguese bridge of the boat.

Later that day, we travelled north to Tacoma and visited Northcoast Yachts for a tour of the new 125’ Stephen Yadvish is building. Later that night, we joined him for eats and drinks along Lake Union in Seattle, where he also owns a refit and repair marina called YachtFish Marine. Yes, the name is a play on his own.

One big present waiting to be unwrapped, the bow of the new 125'...

On the day of our visit, the props had just been screwed on... pun intended.

Later that night, we had dinner at Daniel's along Lake Union. You really pay for the view at this place, but in this case, it was worth it. Right outside our dining table was a significant build from the past... Plumduff. Why? Because it was built by Admiral Marine, which was owned by Daryl Wakefield... now the president of Westport and a man we were scheduled to meet that week.

Here's a close up of the bridge. Plumduff is an all-glass boat with wood overlaid. Very unique boat...

The following day, we met with Michele Jones for a complete walk-thru of Delta’s manufacturing facilities, including their engineering offices and latest splash, the 151’ Katya. This picture is one of several buildings in Delta's yard. All that is glass, from one end to the other, are engineering offices. Delta has more engineers on staff than the entire workforce of some yards. And they have an excellent gene pool to draw from too, with Boeing located nearby.

Delta owns most of the property in the foreground of this aerial view. Not shown is the new facility that was recently purchased up the river for building even larger vessels. Specifically, to build steel and alloy based hulls. Yep, you read that right. Delta's welding Reynolds Wrap!

Michelle walked us through Delta's new 151' "Katya", a boat with interior volume that seems substantially larger than its length. It even has an enclosed, air-conditioned engineer's station. Delta is planning to debut it at FLIBS, which will be the first time in 5 years they've had a boat at the show.

The following day (Friday), we took the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, then drove to Port Angeles for a tour or Westport’s facility. Darrel Wakefield had planned to meet us, but was unable to make it, so Westport’s Dennis Schosboek gave us the grand tour. Dennis was very knowledgeable in most every aspect of Westport’s boats. We started with a look at one of the 164' hulls in the mold. The machinery you see here is part of their automated production process, which lays and impregnates fiberglass as it's rolled out and applied to the mold.

The honeycomb pieces you see scattered about the laminate is excess resin squeezed out after vacuum bagging.

This is the flip-side of the deck house superstructure having carbon strips laminated to cross ribs to add structural rigidity.

Look familiar? If you're a Westport fan, you know this piece. It's the hinged hard top of the 164' that flips-up for heli-rotor clearance.

Again, if you know your Westports, you'll recognize this piece. It's one of two vertical fins that support the hardtop. Here, a worker is using a crane to maneuver the piece over the bow, then up to the flydeck for positioning.