Types of Yachts
Motor Yachts
Motor yachts are designed for volume, luxury and for living aboard in comfort. They come in many styles and designs to appeal to market tastes for aesthetic appeal , usage and space requirements, the need-for-speed, and territorial concerns (ie. Draft, weather conditions, sea conditions, etc.) For instance, some boat owners prefer to cruise in the Florida/Bahamas only with an extended family, access to watersports (fishing, diving, jetskis, kayaking, etc).Ideal yachts would include pilothouse yachts with walkaround decks, cockpit, as many staterooms as possible, shallow draft (<6’ (2m) big salon and galley, large flybridge and good crew quarters. In more temperate, protected cruising areas, such as British Columbia, buyers value enclosed living area and flybridge and extended range with slower speeds. Most motoryachts have a higher center of gravity and benefit by stabilizers (fins beneath which help reduce roll)
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Owner/operators working as a 2 person team can typically handle up and maintain up to around 70’ (21 m) without crew; although with experience and good access to day help it is possible to extend this.
In Florida, most yachts strive for a draft of less than 6’ (2m) so as to navigate more easily in shallower waters common to South Florida and the Bahamas. With the Bahamas located only 50 nautical miles from Florida, over 800 islands are considered to have some of the most fabulous cruising grounds in the world.
Many yachts offer cockpits or “euro-transoms”. Cockpits offer great access to the swim platform (fishing and diving). Euro-transom (twin stairways to a large swim platform) are also very popular, often giving more space to the interior and aft deck area.
Walkaround decks are desirable for docking procedures and general access to the sides of the yacht, especially when operating with
only a few people. Wide-body designs maximize the interior salon space and typically offer a narrow walking ledge for use when docked or anchored. Larger yachts employing the use of crew typically have separate living arrangements either aft (accessible via the transom
or aft deck) or forward and accessible via a separate stairwell from the guests. Owner and guest staterooms often have the owner cabin going across the full beam of the boat commonly in the middle (amidships) with a pair of guest cabins either side of a hallway and/or a VIP cabin forward. Mid-ship or aft master cabins are desirable as the motion of the yacht at anchor and underway are minimized further
aft of the bow. Keeping crew for extended living aboard should ensure adequate living conditions with spaces for down-time and access to the galley without interrupting guests.
Hull designs should be considered as well. Faster, lighter yachts tend to operate well only in calmer, protected conditions. Semi-displacement hulls offer a compromise with speeds up to 20 or so knots, but can be operated comfortably at displacement speeds (around 10-12 knots). With the cost of fuel going up, many yacht owners are taking more time for travel in order to conserve fuel costs,
yet have the ability to get somewhere in a hurry, say to beat a weather system. Primary hull construction is typically laminated FRP (fiber reinforced plastic). Most Oriental designs and Hatteras yachts have a solid FRP hull with foam coring above the waterline. Decks and superstructure follow the same construction methods, all designed to keep the boat as light as possible (lower weight equals more speed and efficiency). Metal construction includes aluminum and steel.
Motoryacht manufacturers include:
Light motoryachts – Azimut, Altima, Bayliner, Canados, Carver, Cheoy Lee, Chris Craft, Cranchi, Cruisers, Fairline , Grand Alaskan, Hampton,Hatteras, Hi-Star, Horizon, Jefferson, Johnson, Ferretti, Lazzara, Legacy, Offshore,, Marlow, Marquis, Maxum, Meridian, Mikelson, Navigator, Ocean Alexander, Pacemaker, Pearson, President, PT, Regal, Sealine, Tollycraft, Viking, Sea Ray, Queenship, McQueen, Aicon, Lyman Morse, Gulfstar, Atlantic, Marquis, Novatec, Princess, Uniesse, Antago, Anacasta,
Megayacht – Broward, Trinity, Intermarine, Palmer Johnson, Westport, Westbay, Paragon, Burger, CRN, Benetti, Heesen, Feadship, Amels, Kuipers, Haakvort, Lurrsen, CMN, CBI Navi, Codecasa, Christensen, Crescent Beach, Sovereign, Richmond, Northstar, Northcoast, Poole Chaffee,
Express Boats
Express styles are typically fast boats without a flybridge, ( with one deck) with a large cockpit (or seating area) with some of it exposed
to the sun, some under cover. Beneath this area, is the engine room and possibly crew. The accommodations are forward with a common design having the salon in the middle with either a stateroom aft and two forward or all forward (1-3 depending on size). Because these boats lack a high center of gravity, they tend not to roll much, however because of interior volume, are mostly considered day or weekend boats. A dandy piece of equipment used for holding the tender (whether it be a jet ski or RIB (rigid inflatable boat) is a tender lift, which hydraulically raises and lowers this as well as allowing for a nice submersible area to relax (dogs love it as well for getting out of the water). Some express models offer a “garage” with a hinging transom for storing the tender within the yacht.
Almost all express style boats are DeepV , planing hulls constructed of FRP sandwich for light and strong qualities and are equipped
with larger engines designed for speed.
Express Boat manufacturers include:
Sunseeker, Sea Ray, Baglietto, Mangusta, Overmarine, Rodriquez, Cruisers, Tempest, Cigarette, Magnum, Hinckley, Sabre, Eastbay, Soluna, Vicem,
Trawlers are slow, fuel efficient yet rugged, seaworthy displacement hull designs. They are built of FRP up to around 80’ (24 m), larger ones are usually made of aluminum or steel (with aluminum superstructures). Engines are small because they are designed to only achieve a certain speed, thus more horsepower doesn’t help or conserve fuel. Full displacement hulls are for the yachters who value distance and comfort over speed – but typically have deeper drafts (with a skeg usually deeper than the propellers so that props aren’t damaged if the hull touches the bottom). Larger luxury yachts in the 120’ (40m) plus range are considered motoryachts, yet typically
share the same displacement characteristics as trawlers.
More retirees and baby boomers are drawn to the idea of crossing oceans and exploring the far reaches of our wonderful globe – thus
the expedition style of trawler. Of note however, most ice-bound regions require a yacht with special reinforcement, especially around
the bow waterline area.
Trawler manufacturers include:
Nordhavn, DeFever, Selene, Kuipers, Nordic Tugs, Grand Banks, Aleutian, Kingship.
The name tells us what these boats do – catch fish. Most are designed to be fast and have a flybridge that is laid out with seating and
an enclosure. Some have aluminum-framed towers for spotting fish and outriggers for trolling extra baits. Typical accommodations are
3-4 staterooms located forward of the salon and galley area. Most are built using FRP cored construction techniques, however the truly “fish-possessed” order custom boats that are commonly made of wood using a technique called “cold-molding”. Speed is desirable (even essential) for covering vast amounts of ocean while on the hunt, thus large engines and light hulls are the norm.
Sportfishers manufacturers include:
Viking, Bertram, Hatteras, Egg Harbor, Riviera, Ocean, Black Watch, Blackfin, Cabo, Donzi, Luhrs, Monterey, Post, Pursuit, Rampage, Tiara, Topaz, Mikelson.
Most sailboats can be categorized as belonging to the racing, fast cruising, motorsailer, luxury motorsailer. Draft is a concern, as a deep keel helps with performance and pointing into the wind – however hinders shoal operation, thus many cruising sailboats have a ¾ keel or daggerboard (raises and lowers within the existing keel). Popular sail designs include the sloop (one mast with a mainsail and genoa or jib), cutter (same as a sloop but with a staysail – another small sail behind the genoa), ketch (two masts with the smaller mizzen being aft – a yawl is another variation of this with even a smaller mizzen mast even further aft) and schooner (the mizzen or shorter mast is forward of the main mast). Most cruising sailors prefer roller-furling (including the main and mizzen sails) and electric winches.
Hull designs are sleek and try to offer as least resistance as possible to the ocean and wind. Typical construction is FRP sandwich, although some are still built in wood, aluminum, steel and even concrete.
Layouts below typically offer a main cabin aft with a centralized salon and galley and then 2-3 cabins forward.
One or two diesel engines are the norm with folding propellers to reduce drag.
Sailboats manufacturers include
Pereni Navi, Farr, Irwin, Gulfstar, CT, Tayana, Morgan, C&C, Little Harbor, Mason, Abeking Rasmussen,