What Yacht Owners are Looking For in a YachL

[Maddi56]

Another question to help me along with my thesis....
I am going through what someone would be looking for in a yacht, realistically or non-realistic I can use just about anything you can come up with!

[Scott Carter]

Maddi,
To be sure, you've opened up a can of worms here, so get your notepad ready. I'll offer a few here, and like most folks who will respond to this request my list is not exhaustive. A "big picture" idea to keep in mind when dealing with this subject is that every boat owner is different, and many don't know enough about boats to really know what they want.

In their price range
Suited to their level of "handiness" (read high or low maintenance)
Aesthetics - pleasing to their eye
Suitability for their intended use (cruise, daysail, race, liveaboard, etc.)
Hull material - some traditionalists out here wouldn't have a plastic boat, and the converse is equally true.
Range re. fuel capacity
Speed (power and/or sail)
On-board amenities (head, galley, number of berths)
Safety record for similar boats
Seakindliness
Updated electronics (many yachties are really into their gadgets).

I could keep going for days, but lets get others' input.

[masalai]

From the other side of the planet, my quest started from an understanding of my proposed cruising ground and interests... The rim of the Coral Sea has Australia on the Western side, NZ and cold waters to the south and to the North and East, the Melanesian islands, (mostly coralline uplift with lots of volcanoes and regular earthquakes), so a need to escape cyclones, (opposite rotation to Hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere), by hiding up shallow creeks & inside fringing reefs, a fair turn of speed to outrun such storms if caught making a cross "the ditch" - Coral Sea - passage... Most of the swell has about a 1000 km or less fetch so fairly steep... also required is an ability to ghost along in almost breeze-less days and to overnight in the many delightful small lagoons and small creeks that abound the region (deep water anchoring is out of the question as the drop-off is mostly quite steep and deep)...

I went looking for a comfortable, proven, light weight, robust construction, easily handled, solo capable, easily built composite construction, and the design board of Bob Oram ably met my needs with a sailing cat 39 ft x 21 ft... Seems a "tradition" that everyone does their own thing as to the shape of the bridge-deck-coach-house - I am still toying with ideas mainly, more vertical windows on sides and forward (a little after the style of the French "Lagoon" series - or not so "severe" with, when compared to other popular cat designs, a less sloped "suns-heat-catching-capacity", as I will remain in the tropics, and all major windows will be flat, fixed, "gold" or "silver" tinted-&-tempered-glass and there will be many smaller opening systems to catch and direct the prevailing breezes to cool the insides...

The vessel will be kept out of marinas and have about 2000w of solar panels, a large bank of batteries, (48v electric motors by Torqeedo), backed up with a 6000w diesel genset, carry no gas or petrol and have 240 v AC for a "domestic galley" make our own water using an RO "watermaker" and process black and white water for benign return to the oceans... sail area is around 80 sq Metres, using a "hitch-hiker dual genoa to each bow on roller-reefing with a 9 sq M hanked-on blade/storm self tacking jib midships" and have a ready to cruise weight of less than 4800KG... I have gone for "mini-keels" to facilitate grounding and remote "bum cleaning", draw around 800mm... Genset will happily use most "biodiesel" oils...

Seakeeping qualities, reliability of the components, double redundant installations. If it is a passagemaking liveaboard, as in my case, sufficient living space on the main deck is another priority. As described here:
Offer: true go anywhere Trawler to build "side by side"

Richard

[PAR]

The yacht is parked at a berth 99% of the time so the "getting laid" factor is usually fairly high on the list.

[welder/fitter]

Simple; They want a 100 foot yacht squeezed into a 40 foot hull, for less than a third of what it'll cost to build, operating full throttle at 1/2gallon per Nm.

[rwatson]

Originally Posted by Maddi56

Another question to help me along with my thesis....
I am going through what someone would be looking for in a yacht, realistically or non-realistic I can use just about anything you can come up with!

Thesis ? On what ?

You can see from just these replies how crazy the topic is. The only reason you wont see is "to make money"

The only person I know ( probably based on an urban myth) who designed and built boats based on a thesis is Roger MacGregor of Macgregor26 fame - designed the "family yacht" that would appeal to the new yacht masses, could sail and motor, could be towed by a smallish car, cost less than other similar boats (cheap mexican labour) , could be containered to dealers - largest selling production trailer sailer in the world.

read his feature list at www.macgregor26.com for a very comprehensive list.

[Maddi56]

It is my senior thesis project for college. I am an interior design major and am creating a yacht for my project.

How big and what kind of yacht?

[Maddi56]

I have decided I want it to be a power yacht, but have not completed my research on which brand. Which ever I choose I need to find existing floor plans for the boat. As for size I am thinking somewhere between 80ft-125ft

[masalai]

Maddie, your market is not there as the super-rich 125 ft plus have their own taste, and those below are building for themselves or in the 40ft range - money is tight, as if you don't know, so those with ambition & pretences for something greater are absent from the markets.... But for a dream-world - why not... Wise to make sure your examiner has interests or ambitions in that arena - else you will be marked down - as is human nature...

[rwatson]

Wise words Mas - at that range, people arnt stuck with the ordinary.

Just read something the other day that I wished I had know a long time ago "If you want to pass exams, just cater for the whims and prejudices of the examiner".

Find out what sort of yacht the teacher would buy :-)

[masalai]

"Ancient pieces of ****" (as someone who is dear to me, forever denies identifying me as such, hehehe), have some uses - Hopefully, acquired a bit of common sense along the way...

I have worked for these guys off and on for twenty-five years; http://www.deltamarine.com/ They are busier than a one-armed... anyway, check out some of their plans. For foofy yachts, I consider them some of the best. There is one called the Katya under construction, which tries to be "Eurostyle" and somebody needs a good beating for that, but some beauties, as well. In fact, most of the beauty was built decades ago, in the eye of this beholder (tho I did spend two winters on the Life of Riley project, nee Pizzaz of some skank and some rock star sex video fame, a total transformation from neon and stainless steel to custom raised-panel ultra-classy, and grew somewhat attached). These people will probably even talk to you about your project and take you on a tour, to get a feel. Plan a day for tour - the place is HUGE. There is nothing else in Seattle/Tacoma other than the Boeing flight museum. Do it on the second day and get out.

Originally Posted by mark775

I have worked for these guys off and on for twenty-five years;

Was´nt the name "P´ZAZZ" ? without the I? As far as I remember the boat, the interior was looking like a Persian Brothel and done by Susan Puleo!? The owner was the Pizza Hut guy?