Built to order: Feature

Production boat builders offer more customisations

Customers are king these days and luxury boat builders will do almost anything to attract and maintain their business. Whereas they used to resist stopping the production line, fewer orders mean they are now much more flexible. This is one of the benefits of the GFC. The new class of custom production boat.

Coomera-based boat builder Riviera maintained its business, selling an impressive 289 boats during almost three years of receivership (which it has now exited) by accommodating its brand-loyal owners' wishes.

For one Perth-based owner of a 5800 Sport Yacht this meant building a gym into the boat. Are the days of sitting in a deck chair, feet on the gunwale, exercising little more than the right forearm with drink in hand numbered? Hardly.

Another Riviera customer had the yard build in a Kegerator, which consisted of three kegs of home-brew in a fridge linked to twin taps at a solid counter near the saloon doors. A new kind of schooner.

Of course, electronics have made even bigger inroads into boating and everyone has their favourites. With the price of satellite communications coming back down to earth, the on-board media room has become more common.

Change the third cabin into a dedicated office and keep pace of your portfolio while swinging on the anchor on the Barrier Reef. Riviera produced just that for Peter Teakle and partner Nina Mattingley (pictured) on their 70-footer, Born to Battle, with custom black hull (opening photo). But for my money I’d want a window with a view, too.

One owner/engineer had Riviera create a dedicated custom work centre with lots of storage for tools, vices, and so on in the engine room of his 5800 Sport Yacht . This way he can effect repairs and perform maintenance while in the field and miles from care.

Add satellite communications and a 24-hour customer care number, as engine makers Cummins do, and you can dial up free advice and be talked through the instructions over the phone. Remote engine diagnostics are bound to become more popular, as indeed are online manuals, apps and more.

As for the finishes, boat builders now cater to wider tastes. The days of having the choice of teak or, well, teak joinery are long gone. At one owner’s behest, Riviera fitted out a boat with de rigueur dark Wenge timber joinery for a more austere ambience.

It’s no secret that if you can appeal to the fairer sex then you're more than half way to selling a boat. Some of the big European boat builders do this extraordinarily well.

Take the Italian yard Azimut/Benetti, which created special Configurator CAD software to allow the prospective buyer to view their (virtual) boat after their furnishing, fit-out and instrumentation changes.

Buy an Azimut Grande Motoryacht -- a 100-130 footer -- and you can choose your preferred Italian interior designer. The design department will then fly out to meet you and work through your needs. Check out the interior on the 120SL that was recently sold into China.

At the Miami Boat Show earlier this year, Azimut had an Atlantis 58 on display. The sport yacht’s third cabin was turned into a fully-fledged gym, with glass wall so you can be seen while working out.

Closer to home, a local owner of an Azimut 68S had his engines painted to match his hull colour.

Custom hull colours are also in vogue. The big white boat is increasingly becoming blue or black or, moreover, some exclusive colour.

Jed Elderkin from E Marine, who sells Back Cove and Sabre boats, says Wasabe green looks wonderful. Ice blue and fighting-lady yellow are popular with game fishers, while sport-yacht grey looks the part for go-fast boats.

Back at Riviera, there’s new levels of inquiry thanks to their willingness to oblige, customise and build personalised production boats rather than those built down to a price.

"One really neat custom thing we did was for the 51 Enclosed based at Lizard Island called Fascination," says Stephen Milne, Riviera’s Director of Brand and Communications. "The boat had a silver hull, but the big change is the absence of traditional cabinetry in the master stateroom.

"The entire stateroom is given over to a walk-in tackle locker, with all of the valuable and gleaming gear displayed beautifully on the three bulkheads," Milne explains. Pick your weapon and go catch a giant black marlin.

Back on the Gold Coast, our other big cruiser maker, Maritimo, has changed tack and is now offering all kinds of customisations on its luxury cruisers. It engaged industrial designer Dave Stewart to zhoosh up its interiors.

The Dave Stewart soft furnishing package on the Mustang 43 we recently tested was a $7900 option. But owners want the 'wow' factor nowadays.

Maritimo Gold Coast dealer Ormonde Britton says there has been a "distinct shift in thinking" by prospective boat purchasers.

"For the first time in a number of years we are seeing a return to the situation where a prospective buyer is sitting down with us and going through a checklist to virtually customise a vessel before getting a bottom-line price," Britton said.

"This is a really positive sign and makes for a change from the last few years where it has been all about price and getting a boat at a certain figure rather than looking at exactly what the boat comprises," Britton adds.

Maritimo has now followed the market trend and is offering more scope for customisations and upgraded fitouts. Boat builder and proprietor Bill Barry-Cotter told us he’s even considering building fully-custom boats under contract at his Coomera facility.

Watch this space for news about the direction of Maritimo and Mustang following key announcements at next week’s Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show.

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Built to order: Feature

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