IF CREW COULD DESIGN THEIR PERFECT
BOAT...

“Sometimes the client may give you a different answer than the crew,” notes designer Tim Heywood. “There’s a great story where the chef wanted a grill installed on board, but the client said, ‘[why do we need it?] I get grilled fish all the time.’ But what the chef had been doing was heating up a welding rod and going down the fish with it!”

Getting crew input early can save money and headaches down the road, as it’s easier to make changes during the design stage

Experienced owners will often have a build team that includes the captain and crew in place early on, but that’s not always the case, especially when it’s the owner’s (or designer’s) first new-build project. Captain Gordon Percy recounts a story about a yacht interior that was created by a residential designer who was new to yachting. In the main lobby on the yacht’s starboard side, the designer chose narrow drains, which were aesthetically pleasing but functionally pretty useless. “When waves would come in, which inevitably they would, the water had nowhere to go,” Percy recalls. “Crew would have to stand guard in the corridors with mops to stop the water from going down the hallways.”

Clashes can also often arise between aesthetically obsessed designers and logistically devoted yacht crew. On another boat that Captain Percy worked on, the designers specced furniture that had 90-degree angle edges everywhere. “It was a sailing yacht, so the stews were forever hurting themselves, bumping into the sharp corners of the furniture and getting bruised while we were under way,” he says. 

Christian Stacey, captain of a 65-metre-plus motor yacht who has worked in yachting for 16 years, says getting input early can save money and headaches down the road, as it’s easier to make changes during the design stage than once the yacht is in build. “The tweaks would be quite cheap compared to fixing as a retrofit later,” he says.

Elise Ciappara is a former purser and chief stew who has worked on a range of 40- to 90-metre yachts. She now works for Pelorus as an expedition specialist, consulting with owners and captains on new-builds and refits. She says getting input from the chief stew as well as the chef is vital. Otherwise, “Speaking to specialists [like myself] would be a good start,” she says.

One of the most important rooms to get right is the owner’s suite, says Ciappara. Even the most minor design flaws can have a real impact here. “Some things that I always want to know is how long does the bath take to fill? Does it need preheating?” she says. “If you have fold-down balconies in the cabin, how are they operated? Can the owner operate it themselves? Where are we storing the railings and furniture? How are we ensuring the balcony doesn’t break the air conditioning when opened?” 

An owner might like to sit out on their balcony first thing in the morning, but if crew need to come in to open it up, it limits owner privacy. A massage room in the owner’s suite is also a bad idea for the same reason, says Kayleigh Westgarth, who has 12 years’ industry experience, most recently as the spa manager on the 136-metre Lürssen Flying Fox. She now has her own business, Coral Spa Consultants, which offers spa consulting services for new-build yachts. “It can be tricky if you have to sneak through their private stateroom to get it prepared for a treatment they may be having before bed.”  

It’s not just what’s in the master cabin, but what surrounds it, adds Ciappara. “You need to look at the full general arrangement, not just the deck plan. Consider things like is the room directly below the bridge? Do we need more soundproofing to muffle footfalls on passages?” 

Placement of the owners’ cabin matters, agrees Captain Stacey. He has worked on two vessels where the master cabin is set aft and, “it generally gives more space and more comfort in any slight weather”, he says. “This layout can also result in the cabin having an attached exterior deck space.” 

Proper planning is required to ensure that the gym, spa and beach club are places where guests can truly relax and recharge. “I’ve worked on various boats where the massage room has felt like an afterthought, tucked away in a small space,” says Westgarth. “In an ideal world, you want at least two feet of room around the whole massage table for the therapist to be able to move. Lana and Amaryllis both have beautiful spas where they have taken into consideration the size needed,” she adds.

While it’s en vogue to have a spa adjacent to a beach club or a side deck, it’s worth questioning if being next to somewhere noisy with a lot of foot traffic is the most bliss-inducing choice. Beach club spas, of course, are great if this is taken into account. “Lady S had a lovely massage space in the beach club that had a heavy sliding door that allowed you to cut out all outside noise,” Westgarth notes. “It also had a platform that would open up so you could hear the sea while the client was having a treatment.”

Skipping fashionable for functional, and thereby most enjoyable for guests, is key. “Fold-down shell doors commonly used for beach clubs may seem cool on the drawing board, but in reality, these doors are more of a liability than an attractive design feature,” says James Stockdale, 19-year industry veteran and captain of 66-metre Lürssen Elysian. 

“Most of the time, the slightest sea state or passing wake will interact with the underside of these doors and send shudders through the entire vessel while flooding the beach club. This is why in the majority of anchorages, you will see the doors closed or set at a 45-degree angle. Also, sitting on anything protruding out of the side of the vessel means exposing the guest to head wind (and sometimes exhaust smells) that are normally funnelling down the side of the yacht.” 

While the bridge is the purview of captain and crew, it should also be a welcoming space for owners and guests. In addition to two comfortable helm chairs for the crew to keep watch, it should have a seating area for guests that’s positioned at the right height for them to enjoy the view.

In terms of decor choices for the bridge, Captain Stacey says dark matt finishes are always preferred by crew. In order to keep the bridge a place of calm concentration, even things like light switches should be chosen with care. “The most common crew complaint is lights that can’t be dimmed at night, which are hugely distracting for the bridge team on duty,” he says. “These days, even light switches themselves have status lights.”

You might’ve heard the saying, “happy crew, happy boat”. Of course, crew cabins should be of adequate size, and there are regulations to ensure that on modern builds. But to make certain the crew is happy, turnover rates are low and, as such, service to clients is excellent, owners and designers should also consider crew spaces beyond the cabins. 

The crew mess, for instance, should have a table big enough to fit the entire crew in one sitting. And is there adequate storage? “I heard of one vessel that had two power sockets and no drawers at all in a crew mess designed for 16 crew!” says Captain Stacey. 

“Enclosed foredecks are commonplace, which I feel is a real shame,” observes Captain Stockdale. “An open foredeck provides the perfect area for crew to relax and get some sun during their breaks. Considering that stewards and engineers may not see sunlight during their working shift, I think it is essential that the crew have somewhere to access vitamin D and fresh air during their downtime.” 

Westgarth recently temped on the motor yacht Nebula, which had, in addition to an indoor crew gym, a fantastic outdoor space for the crew to use when guests weren’t around. “It truly made all the difference to my time on board.” 

Perfecting the technical spaces is vital for keeping the yacht running smoothly. This isn’t just about giving the engine room enough space to access, maintain and repair machinery quickly and easily. This is also about creating well-designed tender garages, boarding areas, toy storage and helidecks, which will also make life on board more seamless – and safer.

The amount of glass on superyachts has increased considerably – lots of glass takes lots of time to keep looking clean

Too often, yards and designers spec too-small tender garages. “Only having 15 millimetres above and below a tender when launching out of a garage is not enough,” says Captain Stacey. “Yes, it mathematically fits, but there is risk of damage, making for slower launching and recovery of tenders.” Also, tender garages should be located at the waterline, which affords safer launching conditions rather than a forward, elevated garage.

When it comes to boarding tenders, the aft platform design is “absolutely critical”, says Captain Stockdale. “It’s one of the busiest parts of the yacht while at anchor and an area where guests and crew are regularly transferring from the moving vessel to and from tenders and toys,” he says. “If not designed and operated correctly, this area can be a real safety hazard. I am lucky enough to work on Elysian, where the design (in my opinion) is near perfect, which results in extremely safe tender and watersports operations.” 

He says the recipe to getting this right calls for a deck that is 60 centimetres above the waterline, meaning it rarely takes on water; a transom profile that’s simple, vertical and has no moving parts, affording flexibility in arranging fenders; locating the toy store near the swim platform so the crew has quick access to dive gear and toys; and the aft section should be designed to provide good shelter, even in windy conditions.

Designers love to dispense with side decks – which they argue guests hardly use – so they can maximise the living quarters, but this is one of crew’s biggest bugbears. “Dispensing with side decks is a pet hate of mine for several reasons,” says Captain Stacey. “Firstly, it can result in a cleaning and access nightmare. Secondly, fendering the yacht’s sides without side decks is obviously very difficult. Crew also use the side decks as a place to keep the fenders out of sight in the minutes before they go over the side.”

Exterior design should also consider more than creating a stunning profile. “From a cleaning perspective, the more large, flat surfaces the better,” says Pete Townsend, who served as a bosun and yacht carpenter for 10 years, most recently on a 115-metre yacht. “The quicker the boat can be washed and dried the more time that can be spent on guest-focused jobs, such as launching tenders and toys.” Though he hasn’t worked on board 140-metre Solaris, he thinks its large, flat sections of paint and glass would make for a quick, easy wash and block dry with minimal hassle.

Some design features that look good in renderings can be hard to maintain in real life. Townsend says the faux vents on the outboard section of the aft decks on the 68-metre Abeking & Rasmussen Starlust (formerly Soaring) were a pain to clean and impossible to dry completely, resulting in a dribble and watermarks on the blue paint, in constant view of guests. 

Another area that Captain Stacey sees being overlooked is the design of the mast. “Designers don’t seem to recognise the need to be able to walk around the various large domes to be able to clean or maintain them,” he says. 

In the last decade or so, the amount of glass on superyachts has increased considerably – and as Captain Stacey observes, lots of glass takes lots of time to keep looking clean. “Windows are definitely less forgiving than paintwork! If the deck crew skips some paintwork no one will know initially, but you can’t skip glass so easily! 

“Again, there’s an issue of access and safety,” he continues. “The more glass makes up the actual design of the vessel, the more likely it is to be in an awkward position which needs safe access to be considered for maintenance. I’m sure the crew of DAR and Motor Yacht A can attest to that.”

He says that every crew dreams of “technical water” – essentially an onboard system that super-softens and filters the deck water so that – in theory at least – less chamois work is required, massively speeding up the process. “For a large vessel covered in glass, I would try to prioritise such a system at build, although they are expensive to run.”

The challenges  of cleaning also extend to the inside. Yacht interiors are often opportunities for designers to let loose with special metal finishes, leather and marbles, but keeping them looking tip-top can be time consuming. “I’ve seen a few copper sinks recently,” says Ciappara. “They look great, but for them to not turn green you need to have a stew stationed there 24/7 armed with polish!” She says that if the designer takes aftercare into consideration, the crew will do amazing jobs at maintaining things. “We’ve often been given touch up kits from the builder, which were awesome.”

If crew are meant to provide exemplary service, they also need the back of the house to be designed with it in mind. To this end, a little attention to detail with regard to storage can go a long way. “Setting ample space aside for dry stores and refrigeration will save the owner so much money, and crew will spend less time provisioning on remote islands,” says Ciappara. 

Think about where the galley is situated. If the primary dining area the owner enjoys using is three or more decks away, it will greatly slow the flow of service. Captain Stockdale also says a welcome addition to a galley is an area where the chef can use a computer. “They spend a lot of time writing menus and ordering supplies,” he says. 

And don’t forgo the automatic sliding doors between crew and guest areas, says Captain Stacey. “While this might seem like a luxury, it has a huge impact on the speed and efficiency of service by the interior crew if they have to keep one hand free, or worse keep the door open every time they take out food and drinks to guests,” he says.

Another common mistake Ciappara sees is deducting space from the pantries to provide more guest seating zones. “The service is impacted when you have to wait 10 minutes for a new bottle of wine to come up from below deck.”

In an ideal world, yachts will have pantries on every level and a self-serve pantry for guests on the accommodation deck, so they can have coffee, water or snacks at any time of day. The 163-metre Blohm+Voss Eclipse has a pantry to serve the beach club, 98-metre Abeking & Rasmussen Aviva has strategically placed pantries, and even the 38-metre Baglietto Enterprise has a handy upper deck pantry. 

Missing movie dialogue because a nearby ice machine is noisy isn’t ideal, so think about where your ice machines will be located. “One of the best vessels I worked on had a bar on each deck and an ice machine in each pantry (on each deck), plus a huge one in the crew area as back-up. It was the only boat I was ever on where we never had to go to a shop or restaurant in the middle of summer to try to buy ice!” says Ciappara.

And finally, something that an owner might never think of is what sort of cabinet fittings are used in crew areas. Townsend, who now runs the land-based Anvil Carpentry, recommends that the galley cabinets have the same fittings as the rest of the crew interior so you don’t need to stock two sets of spare parts.

 Little things like this can add up and really make a difference in the owner’s experience. “From my point of view, anything that makes the behind-the-scenes jobs run faster and smoother, freeing up people, time and energy to be focused on the owner’s demands, the happier the owners and guests will be,” says Townsend.  

First published in the May edition of BOAT International.