The Perfect Yacht ?

Defining what is required is a heck of a lot more difficult when so many functions are involved. The marginal utility of the vessel or even some of it's systems isn't easy to nail down either. http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3190
It then goes in to that morass of subjectivity that is dictated by "personal taste".



RM Elegant is obviously someone's idea of "the perfect yacht". All I see is a vessel that I wouldn't want to be aboard when visiting Reykjavik for Christmas.

WOW....

What a fun and interesting thread!!!! Many excellent ideas!!!!

I will add my thoughts as well, as I will likely start planning a new build in early 2006.

First concern (and some of these things are needed as they are important features in my home)...

Crew space: my first visit to Trinity Yachts (Nov. 2003) saw me go aboard the then new 150' Mia Elise. I wandered down into one of the crew cabins and nearly died from a claustrophobic attack...shortness of breath, sweating, cold chills, nausea....the double bunk cabin was tiny...what made it worse were the two Trinity electricians doing some last minute wiring...and they could hardly move past each other So, my build will have plenty of room for the crew. My motto?? "A happy crew makes for a happy owner"..or, I will not make my future crew sleep in a place I would be uncomfortable in. I have seen some of the crew quarters in other boats....and owners wonder why they cannot keep crew!!!!

A serious theater: Quality gear, period. And a serious space to put it in...same goes for audio gear, as I do NOT mix my stereo with my home theater.

A nice sized and fully private owner's deck....enough said!!!

At least 5 guest staterooms (lots of family and friends), and a dive shop and Engineer's quarters in the lazarette.

Good size galley as I love to cook!!!

Full displacement hull for better stability and no worries about speed records. Lots of serious acoustical treatments for quite operation.

As much hydrogen power as possible for both propulsion and gen sets....the less diesel I need, the better!!!! What happens when diesel hits $4?? $5?? even worse?? Watch Paul Allen spend $2MM or more to fill Octopus????

Simple and comfortable interior design...no fancy artwork, carpets, heavy dark wood and millwork...

I think that this is enough to get started....I am sure there is more to add!!!

Cheers,

Mark

Surely venue is a factor? The perfect yacht for the Inside Passage would not be the same as the perfect yacht for the Med?

imperfect Kelly

We're still in search of the perfect yacht. Maybe it's at FLIBS? Maybe it's on someone's hard drive? Maybe someone has some suggestions besides "the perfect yacht belongs to someone else"?

Looking for Perfect Yacht 2008 ?

Ok I will try to hit the jackpot this week in Germany (13 million Euro) and after it I will realize my dream yacht. Sorry for my English (my German is better )

Reading this thread I found a lot of my ideas- but not all. Here you have other ideas and questions.

I want to see more places all over the world -> passagemaker
I do NOT want a crew but a lot of room for me -> 60 to 90' explorer trawler or a 50' cat (where is Winter Yachts .... no new "Pacific Harmonies"?)

With latest engine technology are 5000nm or more real?

Diesel-electric is nice, but Z-Drives are in my focus (like Volvo IPS),
can we use Schottel's SRP with electric motors? What is then the best place for the DE generators? To protect the blue planet should we go back to sails?

Can we reduce the draft to 5' for going in flat waters? (this is an argument for cats!) What about bows, axe bows etc...? I like to reduce the needed power for a cruise speed of 10 .. 12kn.

I want to have my state room on the best place in the ship ... is the 2/3 of length rule right? Could I have big windows at stern like the old sail ships? OK with a (double) door to the swimm platform ?

For a long range ship the electronic equipment should be doubled. for the bigger parts hot swap spares.
Central media / entertainment servers coupled with intercom etc..

Cams outside, so I can have my big stern window and a virtual front window
OK the ship network is connected with the Internet- not a question!

Going around the world a car aboard could be nice. I found this in other threads here. OK - can we reduce it to a bike or quad or ...?

What about security? How can I make my ship to a fortress in foreign waters?
Can I have sonars to detect big fish, swimmers and divers around the ship?

With big power generators (DE) can I have an electric tender?

I hope to start new discussions here.

IMHO, the "perfect yacht" would have to meet the following criteria:

1) It would cost less than 50% of what any major European or US builder would sell it for.
2) It would be built and finished to such a high standard that even a Feadship engineer or the very best UK or Italian designer, kidnapped à la CIA and transported to the secret shipyard location would be forced (suffering only jet-lag) to ask wonderingly: "Surely this is my work...no, it's even better than I could have imagined...?!"
3) The customer could order one like he'd order a new suit in Hong Kong...
4) The yacht would never ever keep fish awake by shining its' underwater lights.
5) The yacht would never operate sonar equipment or similar which might harm sea-dwelling creatures or whatever else (thinking here about the movie The Abyss) which might use the same frequencies for their own means.
6) The yacht would be equipped with a device to wake up whales etc. sleeping at the surface "in good time" to avoid a collision.
7) The crew would have sufficient room within their accommodations to be able "to swing a cat" if the stewardess is willing...

The Perfect yacht is: Somebody else's.

I'm kind of old fashioned and enjoy classic lines. My two current favorites are Feadships on YW. The first is a canoe stern of 95ft called ZaZu. The second is the 101FT Calypso. With a few subtle changes either would be near perfect for me.

I'm resurrecting an old thread, but my take is the perfect yacht is one that satisfies the owner's needs and desires. As mentioned earlier, a yacht that is suited for a trans-Atlantic voyage will be ill-suited for a cruise on the Erie Canal. I will say though my tastes run towards the more traditional looks. Assuming I won the lottery and wanted a yacht that would be crewed, a yacht like Sycara IV would be my choice. For a single-handed run up the ICW and the Erie Canal I would opt for a Palm Beach 50.

Venue's important, not only geographically but lifestyle-wise. What's perfect for the jet-setter is not what's for the family man, or the retired cruiser. I've had both sail and power, love 'em both, but I don't want to be dealing with sails if I'm skippering my retirement vessel. When the kids were young (e.g. not married with their own lives), a big schooner was the perfect getaway. In my youth, frankly anything was heaven. I have to say across all types of boats, classic proven designs are where I've always found contentment... if a yacht's been loved for 50+ years it will show, and will be worth the extra time and $$ required.

I've not had the bucks to have a paid crew, and have mixed feelings about it if I was to "have my ship come in". I like being the captain, including doing the cleaning, maintaining stuff, fixing the things that break, and so on... I'd get bored without all that (plus the navigating and skippering), not that I'm above paying to have yards do the stuff I'm not inclined toward! I guess the perfect yacht is one that matches one's lifestyle, wallet, and skills/inclinations...

Hi everyone. I'm looking for owners of Silverton 50' yachts who can tell me of thier experiences as to quality, sea worthiness, reliability etc.
I'm planning to buy a used 50' 2006 and would appreciate any comments.
Thanks,
Otto

After quite few years on the maritime front, I thought I heard a lot, but
"4) The yacht would never ever keep fish awake by shining its' underwater lights" takes the cake!

Make sure you flip the switch on the Full Moon, pull the curtain on the Cloud Cover and tuck all them fishies good night while yer at it

10 years have passed since Carl's comments on the acceptance of power cats which unfortunately still seems to be true. As an example is the stunning cat Zenith http://www.yachtforums.com/index.php?threads/completed-sabre-cat-40m-zenith-powercat.19021/ which has been on the market for over a year at a list price of $25M. At this point she could probably be had for considerably less as she is being sold by the original owners estate; yet still this perfectly magnificent yacht sits sleepless in Seattle.

So this begs the question has the market acceptance of power cats as luxury yachts changed at all since Pacific Harmony was launched over 10 years ago?

In small sizes, minimally. Marine Max has rented a lot of them and now selling and selling for charter and for those who have rented and using in the Caribbean it's got some attraction.

Horizon is making an effort with some success to mainstream cats.

In the 40 meter range I'd say just as strange to see interest as it was 10 years ago. They were always out there available from some designer but just not the interest or demand.

The vast majority of yacht builders only build 1 or 2 per year in that range. So to explore catamaran's not very logical for them. The few builders who build more mostly semi-custom where it isn't an option. In true custom boats we're back to one or two a year from them as well. However, they could potentially devote one to a cat. What you're likely to see I believe is still 1 every five years or so in that range.

In that size range, the advantages cats might have tend to not exist still and the disadvantages remain. I see it more a curiosity of naval architects than I do a consumer driven demand in that range.

A video of Zenith was just posted which will give you some idea of how the owner spent over $40M on the construction of this stunner.



She now has a bargain basement price of $20,500,000.00!