Sunseeker News

I do not have details of the deal. But yes he uses the boats, and also puts his vessel for charter after the boat show run the vessel does in its first year or so.

Sunseeker announced a partnership with Icon yachts whereby they will build aluminum yachts at the Icon yard under the Sunseeker badge. The first 151’ Hull is under construction for a launch in 2021.

Not sure I am convinced about this. Yes Icon is very good Dutch super yacht builder, so the choice could have not been much better, and I know it has been done in the past.
First of my head comes the Riva collaboration with CRN in the seventies, which was done because they (Riva) did not have space to build larger.
But considering they have build a 155 of GRP why not build an alloy one in-house. Devonport a few doors away had the talent to build these kind of projects. Devonport yard if I am not mistaken was bought by Princess, who still build all in GRP.
So something is missing IMO.

Sunseeker makes the reasoning clear. The 155 was a space and capacity issue when they built it and that's the reason they dropped it.

Here is Sunseeker's release on the subject.

https://www.*************/en-GB/201...to-aluminium-in-partnership-with-icon-yachts/

The reasoning is just PR. IMO Sunseeker do not want itself to invest to arrive to the next level of super yacht building.

I also think that alloy or steel building in itself is less risky then GRP because of the tooling that goes on with it.

While in general that is true, if you're a GRP builder and everything else you're building is GRP, then building alloy in house involves a lot of changes, training, disruption, and interference with your primary business. Perhaps if the volume of sales justified it, they would decide to acquire the facilities or restructure their existing in such a way to accommodate alloy at a later date. However, using the expertise of Icon at this point makes a lot of sense.

I think only time will tell whether there will just be a single size or it will expand beyond that. It seems like a logical approach for the present time to me. Now, they need to actually sell one before it even matters.