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THE ADVENTURE STARTS HERE!
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Author's Note: The following article describes how you can commission a yacht to be designed and built. It is a long article, and you may not want to read it at your computer in one sitting (or maybe you do!) Feel free to print this article so that you can read it anywhere at your leisure. For answers to any questions, or to discuss a new yacht design, you may write to me at: ewsponberg@sponbergyachtdesign.com, or call me at 904-460-9494. How to commission a yacht design and have it built. By Eric W. Sponberg, Naval Architect, PE (CT)
The Globetrotter 45, currently in design. Creating a brand new yacht design is a unique adventure and a very soul-satisfying experience. There is nothing quite like conceiving a yacht design, working out details and poring over the drawings with the naval architect, reviewing construction bids, making decisions, watching the boat materialize before your eyes, and finally seeing it slip into the water for the first time. After successful sea trials, you cast off the mooring lines and sail off into the sunset—or sunrise, if you prefer. The process is straightforward and passes through six elementary stages:
An adventure is always
easier and more enjoyable if you know where you are going.
As your guide for the moment, and hopefully someday, as your naval
architect, I can offer you the benefit of my 30+ years of experience on taking
this trip. Along the way, I will
point out common pitfalls so you can avoid the costly mistakes to which other
travelers, less prepared, have succumbed. Concept of the Yacht Most yacht designs begin
with a phone call to the naval architect: “My
name is ,
and I would like to build a boat.” You
know a few things about the boat already: whether
it’s power or sail, its overall length, and maybe the material in which it
will be built. You know what you
want to do with the boat, perhaps cruise around the world, or just live aboard.
You have probably looked over the entire production boat market and at
innumerable used boats, but you just haven’t found that certain je ne sais
quoi that defines your boat. Finally,
you have a realistic budget that measures up to your dreams. The Cost of Boats.
Let’s tackle the budget right off the bat, because it’s no good
talking details if you can’t afford the yacht in the first place.
Boats are expensive, plain and simple.
When people don’t have the money for a new custom yacht, they often
look for an angle: “I’ll build
it myself,” or, “We’ll build in Timbuktu where labor is cheap,” or,
“We’ll go to Asia where the exchange rate is so favorable.”
Stop right there. There is no free lunch.
Whatever you end up saving in one way you will only spend ten times over
another way. You need a realistic
budget with about a 25-30% buffer factor, and the closer you can build to home,
either to yourself or your naval architect, the better.
More on that later. How much do boats cost? In larger sizes, say, over 40’, custom boats are not that much more expensive than production boats. I have been tracking the prices of custom and production sailing yachts over the last five years as published in magazines like Ocean Navigator, Blue Water Sailing, Cruising World, and Sail, and have tabulated and plotted them in a spreadsheet. Interestingly, purchase price follows pretty simple exponential functions of length or displacement, with length being a better determinant. See the figures below.
Each graph shows a scatter
plot of the data (over 150 yachts) and three curves. On the first chart, Cost vs. Length, the blue curve goes
through the center of the data points, so it is the trend line of the data.
The equation for this line is shown in the upper right.
Knowing the length of the boat you want, enter it into the chart on the
baseline, for example let's say 60' LOA, go directly up to the blue trend line, and read off the cost on the
ordinate to the left, about $1.3 million. Or you can
use the equation. That’s how much
your boat should cost on average, according to new yacht prices over the last
five years. Of course, there is scatter
above and below the trend line. The
red line represents the upper boundary of Cost vs. Length, and the green line
represents the lower boundary. The
cost of your boat should fall somewhere between the red and green lines.
Again, the equations for the lines are shown.
As you might expect, as length increases, yachts become more complex and
cost can vary widely.
A similar trend is present
in Cost vs. Displacement, but the scatter is wider. The equation for the trend line is almost purely linear.
Because of the wide scatter, displacement is not as reliable a
determinant as length. This is
because it is oftentimes more expensive to build a lighter boat than a heavy
one—more engineering and higher quality construction are involved in building
lightweight boats. Quality, Time and Price.
These are three factors that govern the cost of any yacht. The general rule is: pick
any two. If you want a high-quality
boat at a low price, then it is going to take extra time—a fill-in job for the
builder who has a low priority for getting it finished.
If you want a high-quality yacht in a set time, then the price will be
higher—the better, higher-paid workers will be on the project, perhaps with
some overtime, and higher-quality materials and equipment will be used.
If you want the boat at a low price and on time, then quality decreases. The Phone Call.
OK, so you have a concept for your boat, and you have the money—what do
you do? You call me, of course, and
we’ll discuss the general size and layout of your boat, how and where it could
be built, and all the design details you want included.
You may have a list of required equipment, and perhaps photos or
advertisements of boats that come close to your ideal.
Anything you can provide by way of photographs, advertisements, articles,
notes, drawings, and sketches will be helpful. The Yacht Design
Contract. The naval architect will review all your information and get
back to you with a price for the yacht design.
In general, the cost for the design will be somewhere between 7% and 10%
of the cost to build the yacht, but that is not how you pay for the
design. At Sponberg Yacht Design
Inc., and at most yacht design offices, yacht designs are paid for in a series
of progress payments before construction of the boat begins.
Your contract with the naval architect is separate and independent of
your construction contract with the yacht builder. Your contractual
relationship with your naval architect and your yacht builder can be represented
by the Greek letter Lambda, “Λ”, as shown below:
You control the process
because it is your money. You
develop the yacht design first with the naval architect, and together you seek
bids from various builders. When
the builder is selected, you sign a separate contract with him; the naval
architect usually has no direct link in that contract.
But the naval architect has to confer regularly with the builder, so
there is an avenue of communication there—the builder obviously needs the
naval architect’s drawings and specifications, and the naval architect should
monitor the construction to ensure the boat is built according to the owner’s
intentions. The naval architect works
for the owner during the construction of the yacht. Usually, the cost for monitoring construction is in addition
to developing the design itself, and this service can be specified in the yacht
design contract. It can also be
handled by another party such as a project manager or marine surveyor of your
choosing. But the naval architect
should still be allowed, and be paid, to at least inspect the yacht at certain
milestones. Designing and building
a yacht is a complex and fluid process, and having the naval architect on site
to confer with the builder can resolve questions, generate improvements, and
catch mistakes that may have crept in. This
will more than pay for itself in eliminating headaches and extra costs in the
long run. At SYDI, our Yacht Design
Contract is a fairly short document, about 4 pages long.
It specifies the scope of the design, the cost, and payment schedule, and
the documents the naval architect will provide.
The owner pays the design fee as certain tasks and/or drawings are
completed. There is a clause that covers on-site inspections, as
mentioned above. There are also
boilerplate clauses that specify how the contract may be modified, the governing
law authority (the state in which the naval architect practices), and
enforceability—pretty straightforward stuff. There are also three very
important clauses that are worth describing individually:
Building and Marketing
Rights. As the owner of a custom yacht, you buy the rights to build
one boat to the naval architect’s design.
If you are a yacht builder client, you obtain the exclusive rights to
build and market more than one yacht to the design. Neither the owner of a custom yacht nor a yacht builder
client owns the design itself; it belongs to the naval architect.
That is covered in the next clause. Designer Design Rights.
The naval architect owns the design and its worldwide copyright.
This is the same as the author of a book owning the book’s manuscript
and copyright. The creator of the
art owns the art. If a client
wishes to produce more copies of the same yacht design, then a royalty is due to
the naval architect, usually 1.5% of the price of the yacht.
This is paid as each successive yacht is contracted for beginning with
the second yacht. If a client wants
to obtain ownership of the design, as has been done from time to time, then that
costs a little more money, either by fee up front or by a higher royalty rate. Liability of the
Designer. Any
new boat design, by its nature, is very much experimental, and its performance,
therefore, is impossible to guarantee. A
boat floats and moves at the interface between two mediums—air and water—a
very complicated place to be where a lot of things can happen that are beyond
human control. As sophisticated as
we are in our knowledge of boat design, we cannot guarantee a new boat’s exact
performance unless one of the same design has been built before. In addition, naval
architects do not have access to “Errors and Omissions” (E&O) insurance,
otherwise known as “Professional Liability” (PL) insurance; coverage simply
does not exist. This is because
when boats sink and disappear, there is no evidence an insurance company can use
to defend its clients. Finally, the construction
of the boat depends very much on the builder’s expertise and how well he
interprets the naval architect’s design.
Beyond blatant stupidity and obvious negligence, naval architects cannot
be held liable for most design deficiencies related to the boat’s quality,
strength, stiffness, durability, and seaworthiness. About the only thing you can hold the naval architect liable
for is if he does not create the design documents according to the
agreement—that is, if he does not do his job.
Naval architects may be able to refund the design fee, but we cannot
repay the cost of the yacht itself. There
is just no way that we can cover that. So you and the naval
architect come to terms of a yacht design agreement, and the process begins. Preliminary Design The purpose of the
preliminary design is to prove the viability of your concept of the
yacht—we’ll find out if it will actually work.
It is a fun and intense process and to my mind the most pleasurable part
of yacht design. All of the ideas
and the major construction details are wrapped up in the envelope of the boat,
and of course the design will be beautiful! I like to work with
2-dimensional drawings to lay out the concept.
It brings the appearance of the boat to light in the quickest way.
I advise you on the naval architectural and construction aspects, and you
offer your approval or comments and changes.
We talk in person or by phone, fax and email.
We solidify the construction and equipment specifications, and we may
begin a 3-dimensional model of the hull in order to get a first pass on
hydrostatics (still water properties) and stability.
We’ll also make a first estimate at speed and power requirements.
We have to know the size of the engine and propeller to allow sufficient
room for them. We also start the
weight estimate so we know if the boat, as conceived, will float at the intended
waterline. We take into account
other sizeable weights in the boat such as tankage, the rig, and ballast, as
they all affect flotation, center of gravity location, and stability. This is known as going
around the design spiral. At each
spoke in the spiral, a little bit of information is created, details drawn,
engineering calculations done. As
the details are filled in, areas already addressed get revised and the design is
updated. Work proceeds around the
design spiral until the design is finished.
The preliminary design will
most likely be composed of a few 2-D drawings and a written specification for
construction and outfit with some supporting documents like the weight estimate
and a stability curve. There might
be a speed-and-power prediction with supporting calculations.
We might include some of your original sketches, photos, or clipped ads
with comments: “Build the interior like this.”
The goal of the preliminary design is to create enough information for
builders to offer a preliminary quote. We
present our best estimates of weights, surface areas, major structural details,
items of equipment, and level of finish so that the builders can provide a
reasonably detailed quote for construction.
These will not be hard and fast prices, merely estimates.
A contractual price is determined when a builder receives and reviews the
final design documents. Which leads
us to the next step along the adventure: Building Quotes This is another fun part of
the yacht design process. The
preliminary design is done, and the yacht is already real in your mind.
What governs your choice of yacht builder?
In my experience, there are two primary considerations:
the quality of the workmanship and reputation of the builder in the style
and type of yacht at hand, and the builder’s proximity to either you or the
naval architect. Builder’s workmanship
and reputation.
You’re probably already aware of builders’ reputations.
You may have been attracted to the quality of their workmanship that
you’ve read about in the press and seen at the boat shows.
The naval architect will also have valuable input based on his
experiences. You should ask the
builder for references, past customers for whom they have built boats.
All builders will be happy to supply these, and you are encouraged to
call these owners and seek their advice. The fun part of the
Building Quotes process is that you and your naval architect should go visit
each yard from which you are requesting a bid.
You get to meet new and interesting people, wander through boatyards,
talk boats all day long, and have a nice meal with a bit of local wine at the
end of the day. This also gives you
an opportunity to visit first-hand with the people you will be “married” to
for a year or so. Boatbuilding is
all personalities, an indefinable element.
Something just has to click between you, the builder, and your naval
architect that says, “This is where I want to build my boat.” Builder’s proximity.
Assuming you live in the United States, there are perfectly good yacht
builders in Europe, South Africa, The Far East, Australia, New Zealand—all
around the world. If you happen to
travel to any particular region regularly for other reasons, and you know the
people there, then it might make sense to consider builders in those locations.
You can keep an eye on construction at a cost that is within your budget.
But if you have never been in the faraway place and don’t know the
language or the people, your yacht building project faces real obstacles. Why is this?
Yacht building requires constant attention to details.
Either you have to be there all the time, or your representative—the
naval architect or a project manager—has to be on site to watch the project
very closely. Thousands of
decisions have to be made, and without oversight, the simplest, tiniest things
can grow into big headaches. Remember,
it is your money. The logistics and
costs to monitor construction close to home are so much less that you mitigate
any extra costs by a tremendous amount. Your
chances of getting a superbly built yacht increase many times over.
That is the best advice that I can ever give—build close to home. The potential builders will
review the preliminary design package and come back to you with tentative
prices. You’ll review them with
the naval architect, consider all the pros and cons of each bid, and decide on
the best builder for your yacht. At
that point, the naval architect can tailor the design to that builder’s
preferred methods of construction. Anything
the naval architect can do to make the builder’s job simpler will result in
fewer surprises, fewer cost changes, fewer mistakes, and a lower, more reliable
price for you. Final Design Now the bulk of the design
work begins, and the naval architect simply cranks out the exact details the
builder needs. This will be in the
form of finished 2-D drawings that cover all the major aspects of the yacht.
The builder will fill in the rest from the written construction
specifications and your equipment list. You
will make further decisions about design and construction as we go along so that
the builder has your approved details when he produces his final contractual
quote. 3-D modeling and 2-D
Architectural Drawings.
The overall envelope of the yacht design is created in 3-D in what is
called a surface model. It is a 3-dimensional mathematical definition of all the
exterior surfaces of the yacht, and maybe some interior structures as well.
From this 3-D surface model we take “cuts” or slices through it to
obtain traces of the cut edges of the hull and deck.
These cuts are used to create architectural 2-D drawings with
construction notes and dimensions that the craftsmen use on the shop floor to
build your yacht. The level of detail created
depends on the builder. Some
builders want a minimal number of drawings, but most builders appreciate as much
information as you can give them. On
smaller yachts, plumbing and electrical drawings are left up to the builder, if
he needs them. On larger yachts, we
will likely do plumbing schematics here and hire a marine electrical engineer to
produce the basic electrical drawings. These
are usually limited to the primary AC and DC wiring and panels.
Electrical distribution details are usually worked out during
construction by the owner, naval architect, and builder. For composite and
wood-epoxy yachts, we do all the engineering and drawing detail here at Sponberg
Yacht Design. We are expert enough
in these materials to engineer and detail the laminate schedules and convey them
to the builder through the drawings. We refine the details on
the general arrangement plans and produce inboard profiles and joiner
cross-sections, all of which you review with care. They are laid out, taking into account the room needed behind
the scenes to fit all the structure, tankage, ballast, house services, etc.
We show architectural models of adult human figures (whom we call Jack
and Diane here in the office) on the drawings so that you can gauge the fit and
room within the yacht. Additional details are created for the keel, rudder, rig,
deck layout, and anything else that may require specialized drawings.
Meet Jack and Diane. 3-D Structural Modeling.
On larger yacht designs, say over 60’ long, and particularly for yachts
made of steel or aluminum, it’s advantageous to create all of the yacht’s
internal structure in 3-D. This is
a very large and complex computer model which includes every last piece of
structure in the yacht right down to the tiniest bracket.
This model is then “exploded” onto computer images of metal plates of
varying thicknesses, according to the requirements of the design, and the
individual parts are nested together for the highest utilization of each and
every plate. The nesting is
adjusted by hand by the draftsmen, each part is numbered and given reference
marks, and then the cutting path is defined for the plate cutting machine to cut
out the parts. All these data are then
transferred to a cutting tape that will ultimately be fed into the metal
supplier’s plate cutting machine. The
plates are inserted into the machine, the parts are cut out, and all the metal,
including the waste parts, are loaded onto a flatbed trailer and shipped to the
builder. An entire yacht can be cut
in just a few days. Also from this cutting file
are generated complete assembly and subassembly drawings and a complete
spreadsheet weight and center of gravity tabulation. The hull and deck structures become the most highly detailed
and accurate parts of the yacht design. It
is really quite remarkable. At Sponberg Yacht Design,
we don’t have the permanent staff to create the 3-D structural models, so when
necessary, we hire it out to another naval architectural firm.
The computer programs that are required for this service cost tens of
thousands of dollars and require specialized talent to operate them.
It is not cost-effective for us to maintain that kind of service for the
few large metal yacht designs that we do, and it is not in my interest to
specialize in that kind of work. The
cost for this service is passed through to the owner, and we will have an idea
of this cost in the Preliminary Design process. 3-D Architectural
Renderings.
I am sure you have seen many examples of 3-D architectural renderings in
yachting magazines. We can do some of that here, but more detailed renderings are
subcontracted to artists who specialize in that sort of work.
Some yacht design projects are big enough that the owner can absorb the
cost for such renderings. You can
expect a good 3-D model, from which you can derive a number of images, to cost
between $5,000 and $10,000 at a minimum, and more, of course, the larger the
yacht gets. Yacht Construction As the final design nears
completion, the owner and naval architect return to the builder of choice and
present the contract drawings and specifications on which a price can be made.
The builder presents the construction contract, which will detail the
responsibilities and rights of the owner and the builder to build the yacht
according to the drawings and specifications.
The total cost of the yacht is usually broken down into milestone
payments beginning with a deposit on signing the contract and ending with
successful completion of sea trials. During construction, you
are free to come and go, being courteous to notify the builder of every visit.
You should have the naval architect and/or a project manager or marine
surveyor visit the yacht at various stages to make sure the construction is
proceeding according to accepted boatbuilding standards and to answer questions
about details. This is another really fun
part of the process because now the boat is literally coming to life.
Each boat is unique and the process slightly different each time.
This is your moment, and it is meant to be enjoyed. Proof of Concept: Launching,
Sea Trials, and Delivery Finally, the day comes when
your yacht is launched. Most
builders have a big party for the entire work crew, and this is usually paid for
by the owner. It is a time of
celebration for a job well done. Speeches
are made, the bottle of champagne is broken against the bow, and the yacht is
lowered into the water for the first time.
The naval architect usually has sweaty palms because the boat should
float on the predicted waterline. If
he, the builder, and the owner have done their homework right, it will. A good yacht builder will
then take a week or two or maybe longer to finish minor details and make sure
all the systems on the yacht are operational.
He may take the yacht out for a trial run or two in what are called
Builder’s Trials. This gives him
a chance to correct any mistakes and follow up on details before presenting the
yacht to you. Finally, the yacht will be
ready for official sea trials. You,
the naval architect, and your project manager or marine surveyor should be
present to assess the quality of the yacht and its operational capabilities.
You’ll need a complete marine survey for insurance coverage.
On smaller yachts, the sea trials are fairly informal.
On a sailing yacht, we’ll put up all the sails and test her on
different tacks. The engine will be
run up to full speed, and maneuvers are done to assess the handling of the yacht
under power. For a motoryacht,
different cruising and full-speed maneuvers are done, including crash stops
ahead and astern. Safety systems
are addressed such as sounding alarms and emergency shut-downs, if provided.
You should drop and raise the anchors.
If a dinghy is provided on davits, the dinghy should be raised and
lowered. Computer and navigation
systems, if provided, should be fully operational. You should participate
directly in the sea trials handling the controls so that you can see how the
boat works. An attentive owner will
have studied the necessary equipment manuals ahead of time and maybe even have
received hands-on training from the technicians who provided or installed the
equipment. In the end, you will
likely take some weeks to get used to the new yacht before you feel totally
comfortable with it. This is only
natural, like buying a new house, a new car, or bringing home a new baby. When you are ready to
accept your new yacht, you will write the last check to the builder and he’ll
help you cast off your lines. From
here, the continuing adventure is of your own making…. Bon Voyage! Eric W. Sponberg Naval
Architect, PE (CT) P.S.
Send postcards! For answers to any questions, or to discuss a new yacht design, you may write to me at: ewsponberg@sponbergyachtdesign.com, or call me at 904-460-9494.
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