What are the benefits and pitfalls of having a yacht refresh, and where should you go? Miriam Cain talks to various experts, including the people behind Ravenger, winner of the refit category at this year’s World Superyacht Awards, to find out.
When it comes to updating a yacht, choosing a yard with experience of refitting similar vessels is vital – or, even better, using the one that built it in the first place. One example is the 53.9m (176.1ft) Ravenger, previously Pink Gin VI, which recently completed a 10-month overhaul at Baltic Yachts. Originally built at the Finnish shipyard and delivered in 2017, she was, and remains today, the largest carbon fibre sloop in the world. Despite these impressive credentials, her new owner was nonetheless looking to make some changes, and he chose to return to Baltic for upgrades to her performance and a new interior.
Having worked on her original and rather eclectic insides, Design Unlimited were brought in once again to reimagine her aesthetics, as well as to install new sailing systems, rigging and sailplan. “An extensive refit, such as Ravenger, can be no less involved than a new build project,” explains Henry Hawkins, Executive Vice President at Baltic. “But as we knew every element of the yacht from the initial build, we were able to convert Ravenger from a cruising sailing yacht into a combination of both cruising and racing yacht.”
This included the adoption of a square-headed main sail and associated aft rigging changes, the lowering of the jib tack and the extending of the bowsprit by 1.5-metres, all of which provided the opportunity for huge performance gains. “Although Ravenger’s new sail plan was very much driven by the owner and his sailing team, engaging the same in-house engineers who designed the systems and the same foreman and production teams with their inherent knowledge to undertake the associated deck upgrades was invaluable both in time and expense,” explains Hawkins.
The shipyard also worked closely with the designer Jakko Jämsén on the styling of the external areas, along with Design Unlimited on the interior design. “At the time of her build, Pink Gin VI had pushed the design boundaries in terms of her colourful and playful interior design,” says Design Unlimited’s founder, Mark Tucker. “Her new owner, however, was looking for a more serene Scandinavian style, with neutral tones and natural materials replacing the original’s more eclectic furnishings. We had all of the interior design and system drawings, so for us this was really straightforward – we were excited to reimagine and refresh one of our original designs.”
Having recently been awarded a World Superyacht Award precisely for her refit, it seems that returning to the original yard where she was built was the right decision for Ravenger’s owner. However, returning to a yacht’s original shipyard might not always be an option. “The main issue when it comes to selecting a shipyard is their availability,” says Hawkins. “It comes down to planning and organisation, and owners (or their management companies and Captains) need to plan well in advance.” Of course, other issues come into play, including location, pricing, reputation and reliability. “Baltic Yachts differ from many of the other northern European shipyards,” Hawkins continues. “We have every discipline under one roof which gives us complete control over every element, including those that might crop up during a refit.”
Fortunately, the majority of shipyards, serve both as a refit yard for their own builds as well as others. “The sailing Superyacht world is a small community and collaboration between shipyards in order to support our clients is perhaps more common than you would think,” says Hawkins. “We are currently refitting the 30m (100ft) Gaia. The vessel was in the Baltic and so our location suited the owner, along with our reputation for quality, of course.”
Huisfit by Royal Huisman is another refit yard with a great reputation. Based in Amsterdam with state-of-the-art facilities, the yard offers an attractive and perhaps more serene and project-based alternative to the busy Mediterranean options, without being too far off the usual yachting routes. In addition, Huisfit has access to Royal Huisman’s renowned standards of craftsmanship and technical expertise. “Every refit is tailored to the yacht’s unique needs, but they are all supported by the in-house design engineering and with access to specialist trade skills and equipment,” says Mark Boom, Sales Manager at Huisfit. “Many of our projects are undertaken for repeat clients, others from word-of-mouth recommendations, always based on the team’s understanding that today’s client is tomorrow’s ambassador.” Renowned for taking on complex, transformational projects, the team was responsible for the makeover of the record-braking racing yacht Mari-Cha IV into the sleek performance cruiser Samurai.
The 42-metre carbon fibre Mari Cha IV was originally designed to be the world’s fastest offshore racing monohull. First built with a lightweight racing interior, the new owner wanted to preserve her powerful performance but make her into a genuine Superyacht capable of comfortably cruising the world. As a result she now boasts a suite of Superyacht features, including restyled deckhouse and cockpit areas, a myriad of electronics and entertainment upgrades and a completely restyled and a fully fitted-out luxury interior designed by Rhoades Young Design. A project like this is where shipyards such as Huisfit excel, creating a bespoke yacht from a donated vessel so that it is as if the owner had built it from scratch, but at a far lower cost, and more rapidly.
Indeed, Huisfit has refitted a range of yachts from leading shipyards including Lürssen, Feadship, Abeking & Rasmussen and Heesen and Vitters, to name just a few. The past six months alone have seen a cross-section of refits delivered by the yard, including the 33m (106ft) sailing yacht Uriel, formerly Nyima. Originally built by the Dutch shipyard Holland Jachtbouw in 2003, this was the first major refit for the yacht, whose owner wanted to restore her both aesthetically and technically to her original glory.
Another boat that has recently completed a refit at the facility in Holland is the hybrid sailing yacht Ethereal. As the world’s first yacht to feature a hybrid propulsion system, she was, and remains, a fantastic example of the yard’s capabilities in working with hybrid conversions and green technology upgrades. Having successfully delivered the groundbreaking 58m sailing yacht in 2009, the owner then chose to return to the same facility in 2020, when they replaced her main systems – in essence the nerve system of the yacht – and at the end of 2024 for a further technical and cosmetic refit. The hybrid sailer was recently relaunched with all the latest technology updates to future-proof her systems, with advanced, efficient propulsion.
Location, facilities, quality, reliability, availability and costs can all influence the decision over which yard is chosen for a particular refit. Ultimately, however, it is, quite simply, the owner’s personal preference.
