Established solely for refit, maintenance, and repair purposes, KRM Yacht has been in operation since 2010. In its fifth year, it has made a strong start to the season by beginning the refit of four vessels with a total length exceeding 80 meters. Having completed the refit of five vessels and the maintenance and repair of two vessels during the 2013-2014 season, the company is capable of servicing seven vessels simultaneously. KRM Yacht inspires confidence in its customers by working with detailed expertise, 24/7 project monitoring, regular visual and written reports on the work performed, a two-year labor warranty, service delivery, and transparency. It increases the number of boats it launches each year. We visited the refit projects at Atabay Shipyard and obtained detailed information from Kerem Başer, Founder and Naval Architect of KRM Yacht.
Stating that negotiations are ongoing for new projects and that customer satisfaction is the most important factor in increasing business volume, Başer shared the following comments with our magazine regarding business principles and the refit projects that are underway:
We are constantly improving ourselves. We deliver all our work flawlessly. We have a great team. When we all work hard together like this, we achieve great results. Of course, we see the positive effects of this. Our workload looks set to increase slightly this year. Our biggest advertisement is the work we do. Our biggest references are our work and the customers we work with. We carried out maintenance and repairs on April last year. This year, it came in for refit. The Alize yacht we took in for refit belongs to the same family as the Seau Beauty yacht we worked on last year. Generally, the people and companies who work with us want to continue these projects. This is a source of great pride for us. This year, our work area has been made more organized. A complete electrical line has been installed on site. We are striving to improve ourselves further. Each year, we aim to serve more boats with the same team by improving our system a little more.
April, currently 31 meters long, is the largest boat we will refit this season. It is a 2006 Bilgin Yacht build. Last year, we performed maintenance on the boat, including local paintwork, varnish, and heavy maintenance. This year, we are completely refurbishing the wooden boat. All deck teak has been removed, and the deck has been renewed with plywood. All equipment and windows on the boat have been removed. Water had entered through the windows. We will renew the window edges, replace the windows according to the new system, and reinstall them. The old window system was framed. We will also prevent water ingress by installing press-fit windows. Since the boat took on serious water from the front, all chain plates and the deck have been renewed with new posts. The entire electrical infrastructure will be overhauled. The boat's paint will be completely changed and will be white. We will make some changes to the interior. We will also change the boat's kitchen and flybridge seating arrangement. The front sunbathing area on the boat's deck will be broken up and redesigned to create a seating area.
The wooden boat named Freedom is 21 meters long and was built in 2005 by Bilgin Yacht Shipyard. Some work had been done on the hull at some point. Normally, the plywood should be cut into strips and laid in a staggered pattern, but those who did the previous work joined the plywood sheets together whole and wrapped them. Because they were joined together, even the slightest movement caused the plywood to separate, and the entire hull paint cracked. Therefore, we are removing the plywood and laminating it. We will lay the laminated plywood, then wrap it with fiberglass and paint it.
Approximately 70-80% of the upper structure of the boat was rotten. The rot occurred due to flybridge drains and poorly constructed fiberglass turns. Since the flybridge was flooded, we rebuilt nearly 80% of the upper structure of the boat. Since the side walls and flybridge were completely ruined, we replaced the entire flybridge deck. We reinforced the posts and added pressure to the posts. It was already constantly flexing. The fastening systems, the head posts were not properly attached to the side walls and were not supported, so over time they gave way. There was a collapse in the salon ceiling and on the flybridge deck. We completely replaced them. Currently, a hardtop will be built on top according to the new design. It was originally built based on the Grand Banks model, but it wasn't a perfect replica. We are refurbishing the boat to resemble the original Grand Banks model. The teak is being replaced, and the entire boat is being repainted. The entire boat's electrical and lighting systems, galley, bathrooms, saloon, master cabin, plumbing, and tanks are being replaced. A new air conditioning system is being installed. The main engines and generator are being reconditioned. Since the entire interior is being changed, there is a significant renovation including the upholstery. The boat's windows have also been removed and are being renewed to match the new design. The rear windows have been removed, and those areas will become cabinets. The Freedom is the owner's first boat. We will renovate the boat in a way that will make him happy and give him confidence in the industry.
The 17-meter Alize, which we will refit, is an old boat built in 1994. It belongs to the mother of the owner of the Seau Beauty boat, which we refitted last year. It was custom-built in Tuzla using laminated wood. However, due to years of neglect and being entrusted to unskilled hands for a period, it underwent a refit four years ago but was launched without much being done. A company in Tuzla launched the boat after applying a superficial makeover without doing any solid work. Of course, because they were temporary solutions, the boat didn't look too bad at first, but it subsequently took on water from all sides. We had to remove the entire hull and deck. We also had to remove all the new teak they had installed. They had installed the teak without sufficiently repairing the underside, without cutting off the boat's contact with water, and without insulating any part of it. Because the deck took on water and rotted, all the teak became useless. We will strip the boat down to the keel, about a meter down. We will laminate it again. Flybridge, roll bar The seating groups have all become mushy because they absorbed water. We are currently in the sorting and drying phase. We are sorting out all the plywood that has lost its properties. The entire deck will be rebuilt. The gunwales will be laminated wood. Then the deck planks will be replaced. A new seating group will be built upstairs. The roll bar will be renewed and the entire boat will be repainted. Inside, the rotten areas will also be replaced. There are closed compartments that we consider faulty and cause problems on the boat. Since they don't get any air, the humidity and moisture here damage everything. Normally, these types of closed spaces always cause problems on boats. That's why they need ventilation. The boat's paneling will be replaced and varnished. There will be no changes to the interior compartments. Only some coatings, the flybridge exit, roll bar, seating group, flybridge deck, and 70-80% of the main deck will be replaced. All the railings are being replaced.
LIGHT OF THE SEA
This year, we acquired the smallest boat in our shipyard, the 12.60-meter Nuru Derya. It is one of the first fiberglass boats built by Proteksan Turkuaz Shipyard in 1986. The owners also have a twin of this boat. The boat was originally built for the Sabancı family. After the Sabancı family, it passed to its current owner, Mr. Max. The boat has been with Mr. Max for sixteen years. He is incredibly attached to his boat and loves it very much. Everyone in Büyükada knows this boat; it is a much-loved vessel.
Since it is an old manufacture, there is no gel coat on the boat. We stripped the boat's paint, putty, everything, down to the fiber. We are wrapping the boat with fiberglass again on the final layer. After that, we will carry out the project with fiberglass primer, putty, final primer, and paint. We have re-primed the entire boat. The main engines have been removed. The rudders have been replaced, and we are rebuilding everything. We will launch the boat in the same way it was built on the first day. The boat's main engines, interior, teak, paint; everything has been removed. Only the hull remains on the boat. Now we will rebuild the boat from the hull. A hardtop will be built. There are minor changes to the exterior design. We started the renovation work in December. We will rebuild the boat and have it back in the water within six months.
English