There are three main reasons why owners carry out a total refit for their yacht or superyacht. Firstly, owners who love their yachts may simply want to refurbish and renew the interior décor and exterior paint-work and/or replace worn or outdated systems and naval architecture with more modern alternatives. Secondly, owners who recently acquired a yacht at a discount price can refurbish their purchase with the total cost being considerably less than buying a new yacht. And thirdly, owners who would like to buy a new yacht, but realise that a total refit will save them money compared to selling their yacht in its current condition and then buying a new yacht. Plus these owners can make any bespoke modifications during this refit to fulfil their yachting needs.

Every yacht refit project, large or small needs to be well managed. Here are the main points to consider.

• Planning
• Setting a realistic budget
• Assembling an experienced & high-quality team
• Regular meetings & project updates
• Managing all changes to the plan that affect the budget or the schedule

Creating an agreed upon well-defined scope of works before the project commences is of paramount importance in order to eliminate any ambiguity about the works to be carried out. Every detail is of importance, including the small details. These are very important.

Our quotation and detailed contract for a total yacht refit include descriptive, well-defined scopes of works. These details are of great benefit to our company also as they allow our project management team to calculate timescales, labour requirements and costs.

It is worthy of mention that a total yacht refit will cost considerably less in Thailand and South East Asia than it will cost in the US and Europe.

Every yacht refit is a unique project with many individual tasks to be completed. We split the project details in several categories which will have their own scope of works to be completed. For a total refit these are;

Structural Alterations & Modifications

• Hull extension
• Hull shape alteration
• Superstructure shape alteration
• Flybridge extension
• Swim platform extension
• Helipad construction
• Interior cabin and en-suite layout alteration
• Other interior areas layout alteration (such as saloon area)

Fairing & Painting

• Topsides/Hull
• Superstructure
• Anti-skid areas
• Interior (All guest rooms and guest areas)
• Engine Room
• Crew cabins & areas
• Antifoul (Bottom painting)

Fit-Out

• Interior panels
• Interior and exterior woodwork (teak decking)
• Interior and exterior furniture
• Engines – replacement/service
• Electrical systems including navigation systems, radio systems, stabilization systems, lighting and any other electrically operated systems
• Naval architecture

Questions for clients

• Do you have the General Assembly drawings of your yacht that you can share with us?
• When was your yacht last refitted?
• Does your yacht require a total or partial refit? (A total refit would include interior fit-out as well as an exterior refit).
• If a new interior is to be fitted by our company, do you have the designs, materials specifications and drawings already made or do you require us to make these?
• Are there any structural modifications or alterations required?
• Do you have drawings for any required modifications or alterations?
• Does your yacht require fairing repairs or a full re-fair?
• When was your yacht last painted?
• What are your brand and paint products would you like us to use?
• What colours of paint would you like to be applied?
• Are there any new style lines or designs to be applied?
• What paints were previously applied? (Please include details of all areas to be painted by our company).
• Do your yachts engines need replacing or servicing?
• Does your engine room need to be refitted and painted?
• Do you require a new antifoul paint system to be applied and sacrificial Zinc Anodes to be replaced?
• Do the prop shafts need to be replaced and refurbished?

As every refit project is different, there will be requirements in addition to those raised in our questions list, but these will set us on the right path for a successful yacht refit.