The article
The greenest yacht is the one already built — but only if the refit is planned like surgery, not decoration. Here's the playbook we used on Halcyon, our 36-metre heritage refit, and now use on every classic that comes through the studio.
1 · Scan first, dream second
Before a single mood board, we 3D-scan the vessel stem to stern. Sixty-year-old hulls are never symmetric and drawings — if they exist — lie. The scan becomes the single source of truth every designer, engineer and contractor works against.
2 · Structure before soft furnishings
Stabilisers, insulation, wiring routes, tankage: the unglamorous systems get designed first, in 3D, against the scan. Only when every pipe has a route do we start choosing fabrics. Owners who begin with cushions end up moving them twice.
3 · Restore, don't replace
Original joinery, hardware and glass carry the yacht's value — financial and emotional. We catalogue everything worth keeping, restore it off-site while steelwork proceeds, and reinstall it into better-lit, better-ventilated rooms. New elements stay quietly contemporary so the eras converse instead of competing.
4 · Budget for discovery
Every old yacht hides something: Halcyon hid corroded frames behind a beautiful pantry. Hold 15% of the budget for what the scan can't see, spend it transparently with weekly reports, and the project finishes on speaking terms with everyone.
Considering a refit? Read our Halcyon project story for the full before-and-after.
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