The world's your Oyster...
Oyster's CEO, David Tydeman says a contract for the construction of the first Oyster 115 could be signed by Christmas. If and when the contract is signed, construction would begin at the Southampton Yacht Services site.…
UK-headquartered Oyster Yachts is close to securing a contract for the construction of the first Oyster 115, says CEO, David Tydeman. The 115, developed in collaboration with Humphreys Yacht Design, will be built in the UK if and when the contract is signed.
In an exclusive conversation with SuperyachtNews.com, Tydeman said the project was the product of a conversation with an existing Oyster owner who wanted something distinct from the existing Oyster 100 and Oyster 125 models. “It’s a boat that I’ve wanted to build for a year but I wanted to finish the superyachts we were building through our partnership in Turkey first”, he explained.
Introducing a new model to market had deterred Tydeman from building on-spec, so after a year of in-house development, the hunt for a viable client was on. As it stands this hunt is still on, but Tydeman is confident a contract will be signed before Christmas. “If we can do that we will be building it in Southampton, hopefully making female moulding to make more than one, and the first one will be on the water in late Summer 2017.”
Oyster heads to the Monaco Yacht Show following a “wonderful” 2013 edition, which included the exhibition of the 885, 100 and 125 models, and Tydeman believes this made Oyster the first British builder to exhibit three yacht models at the show. The emphasis then was on the 24m+ range and this is something he intends to carry through to this year. But, as with any builder, “it depends on availability”. As it stands the company will exhibit hull one from the 825 range and host a design booth promoting the group’s new build and refit capabilities.
“The market is still fairly cautious”, Tydeman says by way of evaluation. “We don’t try and compete with the likes of Pendennis; we do select [refit] projects occasionally to complement the 80-footers we like to build in Southampton, and hopefully, the 115-footer we will be building in Southampton!”
In an exclusive conversation with SuperyachtNews.com, Tydeman said the project was the product of a conversation with an existing Oyster owner who wanted something distinct from the existing Oyster 100 and Oyster 125 models. “It’s a boat that I’ve wanted to build for a year but I wanted to finish the superyachts we were building through our partnership in Turkey first”, he explained.
Introducing a new model to market had deterred Tydeman from building on-spec, so after a year of in-house development, the hunt for a viable client was on. As it stands this hunt is still on, but Tydeman is confident a contract will be signed before Christmas. “If we can do that we will be building it in Southampton, hopefully making female moulding to make more than one, and the first one will be on the water in late Summer 2017.”
The Oyster 115.
The site for this new project, if it goes ahead, will be Southampton Yacht Services, which is part of the Oyster group. Currently this could only accommodate one Oyster 115 project at a time. But Tydeman says that, if the company commits to the project it would require the expansion of the Southampton site, “and I have a number of ideas in mind.”Oyster heads to the Monaco Yacht Show following a “wonderful” 2013 edition, which included the exhibition of the 885, 100 and 125 models, and Tydeman believes this made Oyster the first British builder to exhibit three yacht models at the show. The emphasis then was on the 24m+ range and this is something he intends to carry through to this year. But, as with any builder, “it depends on availability”. As it stands the company will exhibit hull one from the 825 range and host a design booth promoting the group’s new build and refit capabilities.
“The market is still fairly cautious”, Tydeman says by way of evaluation. “We don’t try and compete with the likes of Pendennis; we do select [refit] projects occasionally to complement the 80-footers we like to build in Southampton, and hopefully, the 115-footer we will be building in Southampton!”
David Tydeman (centre) with parent company, HTP Investments' Anthony Landamore and Klaas Meertens.
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