Concept plan for 25M BONEFISH. Stephens Waring has embarked on a top-to-bottom renovation and reimagination of this classic power cat.
It’s not every day you get to put your full imagination, creativity, and problem solving skills into a single project. The renovation of 25M the Powercat BONEFISH requires all three in spades.
HISTORY OF THE YACHT
Original early 90’s plans from New Zealand designer Derek Kelsall show a vision for a blue water, sloop-style, sailing catamaran.
The yacht was originally designed by notable New Zealand designer named Derek Kelsall who made a name for himself with multihull designs in the 90’s
The original design called for an around the world, blue-water sailing catamaran, sloop-style rig. The drawings show a design for a sailing cat with the mast stepped forward of a superstructure and the headstay was made to a centerline nacelle where the anchoring and ground tackle are currently located. Staying rigging was to be attached at the sheer of each hull on the port and starboard side. In the current configuration you can see a centerline shaping of the flybridge coaming area that is heavily raked and sits low to accommodate a boom on the rig.
During an arduous, challenging, and long original build, the owner decided to abandon the sailing rig and moved toward powerboat design. For the past decade Bonefish has served her owner as a cruising power cat primarily used for private and charter fishing and leisure.
GOING FROM SAIL TO STEAM
While unusual, it’s not necessarily a bad idea to take a lightweight configuration of a sailing cat and convert it to a power boat. The primary challenge when starting with a sleek low volume hull design is avoiding overburdening the structure with the typical overladen themes found in most power yachts. There are limitations set forth by how slender and sleek the design was originally meant to be. Most equipment and specs for powerboats don’t fit that well into such a sleek package.
THE REDESIGN
The renovation on this project is extensive. We’re essentially blue-skying the entire yacht from the inside out. The flying bridge, pilothouse, and bridge deck level will all be scrapped and redesigned.
The existing wing deck cabin trunk will be left intact, but heavily restyled. A whole new plan view shape will be established. The new design offers all new aesthetic style differences and a much more sophisticated level of construction and finish detail throughout.
During the original construction of Bonefish in the 90’s, decisions were made to convert her from a blue water sailing catamaran to a high-functional powerboat.
THE CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITY
There are many challenges, but the construction choreography, nuances of design solutions, and the various problem-solving on the renovation of an existing boat are much harder than whendesigning something new from a blank slate.
When you start from scratch you have all the freedom to strike your own line and to balance the various spaces the way you want. Even if you’re going down one route, if you don’t like where it’s going, you can change direction and go another way. When you’re working with an established space the realm of possibilities is much more confined. You need to work with what’s there and what’s in front of you. That challenge is also the opportunity as it forces a greater level of discipline and creativity, which is something that gets us excited. It also makes for an exciting journey for the owners, builders, and fans of the boat.
STEPHENS WARING DESIGN RENDERINGS FOR BONEFISH
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