http://www.boatinternational.com | April 2018Hodgson, having overseen the refit and sale
of the old Endless Summer, took up residence at
the yard to oversee the construction of the new
one. The yard bore all the hallmarks of a busy,
solid operation, with multiple projects under
way, but then Christensen began spiralling
towards receivership and restructuring. Just over
a year into the build, and only 30 per cent
completed, the owners took the decision to go
elsewhere and made arrangements with Delta
Marine to complete the project.
“No machinery had been installed apart from
some lower-deck HVAC units,” says Hodgson.
“The boat was basically a shell at that point. The
hull and superstructure were complete, except
for the sundeck bimini hardtop and mast. There
was a long way to go still, but it was at a point
where, if you had to pull a boat out of the yard and
start again somewhere else, it was probably the
best possible time to do it.
“We shrink-wrapped the whole structure,
made the hull openings watertight, put it on a
dolly and wheeled it down to the water’s edge,
loaded it on a barge and towed it to Seattle, where
it went straight into Delta’s shed. It was a pretty
seamless, easy move. From the time we decided
to leave to when we loaded it on to the barge was
about two weeks.”
Delta’s chief naval
architect Jay Miner says
the overall approach was
to make the transition as
smooth as possible. To
that end, the yard
undertook to continue
working with the same
sub-contractors that had
already been selected by
the clients, including the
ABS classification society.
“We received a
collection of drawings
when the boat arrived,
which provided a fairly
comprehensive basis for
carrying forward,” Miner
recalls. “We had the
knowledge and expertise
of the captain, who came
with the project, bringing
with him a key person from Christensen familiar
with the project.
“Naturally, there are logistical challenges
when situations like this come to pass, but in this
case a lot of things were working in our favour to
make it successful.”All the major features,
including the customisation
aspects, were already designed
into the project and Delta
made no significant changes to
any of them. “Our approach,”
Miner emphasises, “was
definitely that we were not
there to reinvent the wheel, but
to execute what had already
been designed.”
Delta’s long-standing
composite expertise, along
with its in-house design
capabilities, ensured a result
that “is a great collaboration
between two Washington
shipyards and the owners”.
With news of Endless
Summer’s safe arrival in New
Zealand, Miner notes the
mileage the boat has already
covered in the short time since
its launching.
“All the reports we have received indicate that
the owners are very satisfied with the outcome,”
he says. “When you get a situation like this, it is a
question of working to achieve a win-win
situation for all parties. I think the success speaks
for itself.”BStellar
cellarEndless Summer
racks up the bottlesEntertaining friends and
family is a high priority aboard
Endless Summer and,
accordingly, considerable
attention has been devoted to
food and wine. As would be
expected, the galley is spacious
and well equipped but the
extensive wine collection has
been aforded special status.
Ascending the stairs to the
upper deck, you immediately
come across the collection
housed behind a glass wall in a
climate-controlled cellar.
Softly lit, the dark wood tones
of the wine racks and the
symmetry of the bottles in
serried floor-to-ceiling ranks
create a striking impression.
Along with the paintings and
sculptures that appear
throughout the boat, the wine
collection strikes the eye as a
handsome art piece.
“This was a custom feature
introduced by the owner,” the
captain says. “Typically, this is
a hidden room, often used as a
butler’s pantry. The owner felt
he had a better use for it to
store his wine. It fits the space
and purpose well and creates a
very attractive feature in its
own right.”