Should You Refit Your Interior?
Careful!
These audio interviews are candid conversations with highly experienced staff from our shop—people who have worked on boats for years. However, the content of these interviews does not imply any particular result on your boat nor extend our warranty in any way. Please contact us directly for specific project questions or bring your boat to the yard for a consultation.
An interior refit can transform a yacht into something as good as—or better than—new. In this article, David King and David Pratt discuss how to update the look and feel of your interior.
In the newest audio conversation, Part 5 of the Townsend Bay Audio Interview Series, “Should You Refit Your Interior?” (11.06MB Streaming MP3 12:04), David King and David Pratt discuss a wide range of topics:
- Is there a difference for metal boats rather than fiberglass?
- Tear-out syndrome.
- The effect of the complexity of boats.
- Understanding the scope of a refit.
- The value of original drawings during the refit process.
- Refitting the ends of your boat versus the middle of your boat.
- Exteriors and styling issues.
- Costing refits.
- How refits affect resell value and owner satisfaction.
Why Upgrade?
An interior refit is typically aimed at updating the styling of a boat, improving the layout, or both. An older yacht might have the galley isolated from the saloon, and the owners would like food preparation to be part of the social experience. Older yachts can have interior finishes—both on soft and hard surfaces—that look dated today. By updating the look and feel of upholstery, fabrics, and cabinetry,an older yacht can be made to look like a new one.
What Can You Refit?
Anything from a single space (like a saloon) to the entire interior can be redone. Just like on a house, big projects are easiest when the interior is gutted and rebuilt from scratch, moving plumbing, equipment, and wiring as necessary. The ends of the boat are harder to work on than the middle, and costs scale accordingly. Owners need to be careful to avoid “mission creep” and match their desires to the planned budget carefully.
Economics of an Interior Refit
The real value of a refit is in owner satisfaction, not resale value. A perfectly sound boat that an owner knows and is comfortable with can be refreshed and updated to look and feel like new. The overall costs of such a project might be less than starting with a new yacht and modifying and outfitting. And the end result—a yacht you know and love, looking and feeling new again—can give perhaps more pleasure than buying new.