PassageMaker - July 2018

12 passagemaker.com July/August 2018

Shop Talk BY JONATHAN COOPER

S

eattle Yachts recently announced

their purchase of Alaskan Yachts

and released to the public brand-

new designs for what will be the first

Alaskan model in years. The return of the

Alaskan will bring back a classic raised-

pilothouse motoryacht with modern

features and design considerations. We

reached out to Phil Friedman, Seattle

Yachts’ New-Build Manager, to find out

more about the launch and what the

future may hold for the iconic brand.

Can you talk about the decision to

bring back the Alaskan line?

Our decision to acquire and reintroduce

the Alaskan brand was based on our

strong belief in the durability and resilience of market demand

for sensible, seaworthy long-range cruising yachts in sizes and

configurations that allow for owner-operation.

Recognizing this requires [just looking at] the number of

yacht brands that currently style themselves as “trawlers,” even

though they bear virtually no resemblance to the genre.

In contrast, Alaskan Yachts was truly an icon in the trawler-

yacht niche. We consequently felt the right way to go was

to build on that existing tradition rather than seek to create

a new brand from scratch. Not to mention that those of us

involved in the Alaskan redux happen to have always really

liked Alaskan Yachts.

What is the relationship between the reintroduced Alaskan

and the Grand Alaskans of yore?

The reintroduced Alaskan line of yachts shares with previous

Alaskans a dedication to the same set of core characteristics—

primarily, [it uses] a seaworthy and sea-kindly semidisplacement

hull form that, with appropriate powering, can operate at higher

speeds for convenient coastal cruising and island hopping while

retaining the ability to run fuel-efficiently at lower displacement

speeds for long-range passagemaking.

The important characteristics involved include a relatively

low profile that keeps the yacht’s vertical center of gravity

low for both improved stability and a better range of positive

stability—[it’s a] rugged construction that takes whatever the

sea has to mete out.

Just as important are features such as a solid laminate bottom

with doubled reinforcing all along the yacht’s keel, forefoot, and

stem; a fully watertight anti-collision partition forward; doubled

areas of reinforcing for installation of rudders and prop shaft

supports; and ultra-durable hull-to-maindeck and house-to-deck

joints that employ both high-strength adhesive and mechanical

bonding for failproof durability even under extreme use.

These aren’t just bullet points created by a marketing

copywriter but key elements [of ] a philosophy that defines

Alaskan Yachts, both past and present.

Can you talk about Steve Seaton’s approach to

modernizing the original Art DeFever design?

Look, we can’t speak for Steve Seaton—although we can say

unreservedly that he is the best designer available to take the

legacy Alaskan designs to a new, contemporary level.

It’s important to note that Art DeFever was one of the

designers Seaton followed closely through the years, right

from the time he was 15 years old and living in Seattle. Seaton

studied every DeFever design he could find, and thus DeFever

became a major influence in his development. Indeed, Seaton

and DeFever became friends over the years.

What’s also important to understand is that a “first principle”

of good yacht design is that it is, in most cases, evolutionary.

Designs are tried and tested. Lessons are learned and put to

work in new designs.

The navigational beam (on deck) of the new Alaskan family

of hull forms is on average about 12% greater than in the older

designs. For example, the older 66 had a nominal max beam of

approximately 17' 4'', whereas the new 66 Mk. II is designed with

a beam of 19' 6''. Her waterline beam is pinched in just a bit to

help with her efficiency numbers underway. The effect of this

increase in beam is significant, especially in semidisplacement

hulls, which depend on generating hydrodynamic lift in order

to achieve operating speeds significantly beyond those of pure

displacement hull forms.

The prop tunnels that are a feature of the currently designed

Q&A with Phil Friedman,

Alaskan Yachts