Choosing a yard to build a new yacht?

Something for comparison:

MY Beluga

BELUGA - Yachts For Sale | ***** Yacht & Ship

Moonen offers aluminum in the size range you're looking at as well and goes from explorer yachts to what they call fast displacement. There would be three American builders offering custom metal boats but neither one of them seems to have much going on at the moment and I don't know whether I'd trust them to build or not. It would take some deeper research on one and the other two I doubt I would right now as they're really concentrating on commercial.

Now in glass, there are several semi-custom builders in the US in the size range you're looking at. And I'd recommend semi custom, where you can get a proven hull and engine and equipment combinations but customize the interior. Hatteras has both 80' and 100'. Westport has 98', 112' and 130'. And there's also Christiansen, which is primarily custom but they're building Ocean Alexander's 120'.

With your interest in fishing, I'd look at McKinna. Their 94 might interest you. The owner of ACY also built a 90' ACY. Jim Smith's 95' might interest you.

And then traditional Chinese manufacturer's would include Horizon and Hargrave.

Now nothing against Outer Reef, but a lot against what you have going on with them. It would be one thing to build their 86' or if you wanted an explorer type, which I don't think you do, their 108', but proceeding on a custom boat with an unknown hull just doesn't make sense to me.

Getting a boat built has enough risks (See "Baden") so doing anything that adds to them appreciably can get you in big trouble. If you proceed on a custom boat anywhere then you need someone representing you who has knowledge of building custom boats.

Maybe you just need a Jim Smith. Something along the lines of Marlena.....a 104' SF. Built right in Stuart, Florida......

You can always run a SF at displacement speeds or any fast yacht (aside from Jet propulsion) and get the same range as the OR or one built to do 12 knots max. If you want 12-15' seas and semi-displacement, I'd be looking towards Steel and not fiberglass. But that's just me.

Hi,

If you need to do 15 to 20 kts to get your preferred fish I guess you will either need SD or a much bigger displacement vessel capable of doing those speeds.

Hmmmmmmmm.

Just curious, have you taken the time to eye the Mikelson 75?

Installed CAT's expected to purr mightily, if needed.

Taken a walk-through, discussed your desires?


Mikelson 75 Luxury Sportfisher, Long Range Fishing Boats for Sale

Hi,

Have you ever given displacement boats a good look?

They might be better overall if you look at the space available, the ride and the longevity of a tough beast, especially of you are looking to fish way offshore in various far flung locations.

You can run modern electronic diesels at slow speeds for 6hrs, then run them at cruise 30 mins and you should be fine with most of them.

You can just tie the boat to a strong dock and secure it properly and ride it out. This tends to be the best thing IMO. Generally they fare worse out of the water with full wind on them. One falls over, they all fall over. Generally most of the time when you run from a Hurricane you end up running into it's path.

In four hours? Oh but halfway you're saying in two hours? Did you check before starting? Was it already at 6-9' or what? 10-12' or 15' doesn't just happen instantly with no forecast or warning between Bimini and Miami. That's 50 miles.

If this is your disaster avoidance plan, best be sure the boat has the fuel capacity to get out of the way and stay out of the way. All that speed is for naught if you can only run a couple of days before looking to refuel.

You have received some good advice on contracts and boat building. You say a cockpit is desired for fishing. Assuming that money well spent is on your list too, have you considered a Nordhavn YF. Having spent time on both a Nordhavn and OR, the engineering, build quality, range and sea keeping is in Nordhavn's corner.

Nordhavn's reputation for adherence to contracts and guaranteed completion price are well established. Commissioning success is also a plus with several hundred done over the past two decades.

A new build OA on a new unproven hull seems a big risk and gives you a one of a kind which can be problematic. Successful large yacht building over the years has a well known history, it would seem a course correction should be considered given the marked rocky waters on the horizon.

Admin Edit: the posts in this thread have been split from a thread on Cat gensets and retitled to better reflect the discussion.

Let's all make an effort to stay on topic.