Just thinking about adding an upper section to the bar – suspended from the ceiling as I’m sure the stewardesses will want more storage space.  And of course another flat screen TV behind the bar stools.

You’ll also see 2 visuals of the guest bathrooms.  We wanted a stylish design that would be easy to keep impeccably clean and very accessible for maintainance.  I think we’re succeeding on all counts.  These units will be fabricated in the factory for ultimate quality control and be placed on board completely ready. Just connect.

If you click on the thumbnails and then click of full size, to get back to regular size, hit the ‘back’ button to get back to this post.

But things are moving behind the screens.  And here’s a quick  post with some visuals. Peter Sampson is working on the interior of the lounge area and crew spaces.  A first draft of the lounge below.

The dining table on port side lowers to a coffee table when not in use which maximises the lounge space.  Chairs with folding or lower backrests can be stowed under the coffee table.

We plan to put a motorized drop down projector screen in front of the aft cabinets – the lounge can then easily become a cinema or lecture/briefing room.

I’m happy to say we’re making good progress here.  While the first draft (see bottom of post) went to a second round as can be expected, we are now close to the final look and hope to post a quality render soon.

At the same time, we’ve been working on the distribution of the staterooms.  Based on our general arrangement and using his extensive experience with wallpanel systems used in the passengership and off-shore industry and a couple of – what? 20 e-mails? -   we basically nailed down this area of the vessel.

I’m particularly happy with the added storage space that Peter has been able to cramp into the rooms and the fact that all this can basically be made in a factory, ready to assemble on-site. There will be very little to ‘figure out’ once we have all the details. Compare with the original drawing below. Do you see improvements too?

Another very important point is that all bathrooms (“wet cells’ using he industry speak) will come totally ready to place in the  vessel (where possible; some may have to be (partly re-assembled).  But, they come with their own floor, drains, connections for water, etc.

There are many small changes. Our two ‘master suites’  now each have a queen bed and a 2-person sofa with a ceiling mounted pullman hidden above it.  Desk’s have been moved around and the bathrooms layout’s are now practically final.  Seeing it in 3D like below allows you to appreciate the space we have available.

No, the Kawasaki green won’t stay .  In fact, here’s an update in PDF.

What do you think?

But not only  that.  To separate it from the home interior or an ‘garage’ conversion, you also have to look at the materials used to create this interior.

To me, the ideal yacht interior meets the following criteria:

1. It looks good to more people than just the owner, designer &  yacht magazine editor
2. Even better, it continues to look good (even after intensive use)
3. It’s comfortable !
4. Of course it is safe (meets all MCA/class requirements)
5. and is easy to maintain and repair (happy crew)
6. It has “noise reduction design” written all over it
7. and it is environmentally friendly (that excludes using teak decks)
8. It is also cost effective to install and finally
9. it doesn’t depend on the workmanship only a handfull of yards can offer

Let’s see point by point how we’re trying to create  the perfect interior.

1. Looking good
   Well, I’ve already put on a few posts in the interior section on what we like. 
2. Continues to look good
   That means the materials have to be low-maintainance by design (unless you want crew to spend most of their time keeping the yacht look good), easy to repair. 
   
3. Comfortable
   I guess that speaks for itself but well, we all know examples of furniture that just doesn’t sit right.  We’re also trying to maximize the headroom and have at least 7.5 ft. of height in all areas.  The bedding has to be first class; the airconditioning silent without any unpleasant draft.
   
4. Be safe
   We will employ materials that have the appropriate fire ratings, meet all the structural fire protection required by Lloyds and MCA LY2, including a sprinkler system.  Very little real wood!   It’s amazing how some multi-million Dollar conversions use ‘Home Depot’ doors!
   
5. Easy to maintain and repair
   The meet item 4 and 5, we plan to use IMO/SOLAS-approved wall panel systems, doors, and ceilings wherever required or effective.  These very sophisticated building systems are used extensively in the off-shore industry and in passengerships and ferries where fire safety AND ease of maintainance are important issues.  By using  wall foils and coverings, they can be given any look you want and turnout as ‘yacht-like’ as you want.
   
6. Noise reduction
   Essential!  Floating floors, anti-vibration mountings of panels, it’s a whole science and industry in itself for which we’ll seek professional advice.  Luckily, there’s a lot of material available to keep noise under control but it all starts with the right design. 

7. Environmentally friendly
   A lot of these wall systems now use recycled materials, halon free foils, and there excellent alternatives to teak that are not only better for the forrest but also better on your wallet, have better isolation (sound and heat) capacity and are easier to install (see this post).
8. Cost effective installation
   That’s the beauty again of the wall systems described earlier like those of Inexa or Isolamin.
9. Workmanship factor
   Getting a yacht up to ‘Dutch yacht standards’ is an expensive proposition and not one of our goals. Finding good workmanship is hard everywhere with the yachting business booming and in part of the world is not known for building fine yacht interiors.  So we try to out-design this factor as much as possible by using professionally produced furniture like that of Maritime Mobler and their partners Ekornes.  

Peter’s unique and combination of skills in both interior design and project management of yacht interior installations and his intimate knowledge of the regulatory safety requirement made the choice easy.  It just took us some time to find him!  His experience covers both yachts and commercial projects such as ferries and passengerships.  This location in Tallinn, Estonia and his extensive knowledge of  the local maritime industry supplier will certainly make this part of our project more cost effective without compromising the final quality of this important facet of the final product.

We look forward to working with Peter to find the right balance for the interior of a rugged go-anywhere explorer yacht that will be look elegant and warm, is safe and easy to maintain and won’t require Dutch shipyards skills to install flawlessly.

We will keep you posted in this section.

There are some images of things I like. What do you say?

The above images are of the Moonen Nilo.

Below two images of Dixon Design (British)

This saloon is nice. Our ‘Almendro’ wood has a lighter color and the chairs on  the left are not quite my taste but I’ve seen a lot worse.

Finally, this below is Hakvoort stuff. Probably can’t afford that and the white carpet…. grrr. But it looks good and I like the storage compartments.

It’s not easy…  but we’re getting closer to knowing what we want.

Yes, there is.  The come from the passenger ship suppliers in Eastern Europe.  I found a Polish (Banco) and a Finnish (SBA) supplier. They come with light fittings and best of all, a gas strut to make putting it back up effortless.  OK.  They look a little utilitarian but with a nice foil like those of Gislaved, they can be turned into elegant pullman beds that will look good for years to come.

And not only that, I also found a real-world sample of how this can look on a yacht.  The Heesen Yalla no less.  Look at the ceiling of this stateroom below.  A very elegant way to turn a twin stateroom in a room that accommodates four guests without the train-cabin feeling.

Right now, I’ve written a few companies that do interior design for commercial ships.  I’m trying to find some kind of balance between a utilitarian but tasteful look,  practical but warm, easy to clean but looking like a off-shore platform crew cabin.   

Nor  do I want that ‘teak-everywhere’ look. At any case, we can’t use much solid wood because of safety regulations but at any case, there’s a lot of nice material out there that can be covered with a vineer.  Some samples can be found at this link where I put some pictures of what I like.   We are an expedition vessel so no white carpet or white leather, that’s for sure!

So right now, the strategy is to first define the design, then find a company to make the furniture and contract somebody to supervise the installation which will take place in Cartagena, Colombia where we plan to do most of the conversion work.   A yard there, NavTech, was recommended by Damen Shipyards and it looks we can get good quality and a lot of bang for the buck.