Damen Yachting lays the keel on first SeaXplorer 60

Damen Yachting has celebrated a major construction milestone as the shipyard lays the keel on its in-build SeaXplorer 60.

The yard unveiled the 60 metre addition to its SeaXplorer luxury expedition range in September 2021 and is the fourth SeaXplorer built by Damen Yachting. The laying of the keel marks the vessel's first major milestone and she is due for delivery in 2024.

SeaXplorer design manager Enrique Tintore said that the 60 metre expedition vessel is a "yacht for all seasons". "It's very exciting to be here, after all the months of detailed engineering, to see the SeaXplorer 60 beginning to take shape. It's a fantastic layout with a lot of flexibility."

British design studio H2 Yacht Design was enlisted to create the yacht's interiors. Design director Jonny Horsfield revealed that the studio drew on its experience of designing the interiors of high-profile expedition superyachts such as Andromeda, Victorious and REV to design the SeaXplorer 60.

“The functionality of an explorer yacht is quite different from a yacht used in the Mediterranean,” Horsfield explained. “It’s less about entertaining and sitting around – it’s about being on the move and living on the boat.” The result, he said, is an interior that is “more homely, more practical and more maintenance-free”.

In fact, H2 focused on drawing the client’s attention to the outside view, rather than the interior decoration.  “It’s more about what you’re looking at outside so we wanted the interior to be as simple and calming as possible.” Materials are therefore “neutral”, he said, and include the likes of satin matt wood finishing and leather for a “simple and clean” effect.

The H2 team focused on the functionality of the yacht, making sure that each space on board could be used for multiple purposes.

The observation lounge, which features “a warm, cosier and darker wood on the walls”, is a key example. This room can be used as an observation lounge in the day and turned into a snug, multimedia room or cinema at night. The 150sqm helideck too doubles up as a party deck while the covered outdoor space aft of the main deck can be used as a luxury cabana lounge and bar, dive deck, fitness and wellness zone, or even a ski lodge depending on the owner’s wishes.

Another key feature is an abundance of shelving throughout the boat to allow owners to display tokens from their travels. “The idea is that when you’re travelling, you’re collecting things so we’ve purposefully allowed for a lot of shelving so that owners can display their travels," Horsfield said. 

Elsewhere, the interior is defined by a balance of crisp, straight lines and more forgiving curves. H2 design director Gianluca Sist explained: “The straight lines are more masculine and more modern but then you have the curved lines which soften the interior.”

The 1,160GT interior features accommodation for a total of 12 guests in six cabins while the hybrid propulsion package and extensive storage will allow guests to spend up to 30 days of uninterrupted, autonomous cruising on board.

An ice-class hull, IMO Polar Code compliant engineering and exterior design penned by Azure Yacht Design rounds up the SeaXplorer 60.

The 60 metre model follows in the footsteps of the first SeaXplorer, the 62 metre Anawa, and SeaXplorer 77 La Datcha. An in-build custom 58 metre SeaXplorer is due for delivery in 2022.