Turkish yard Dunya Yachts is to complete the construction of the 55 metre explorer Ulucitcan, which first began 10 years ago.
The project, which is now due for completion in 2023, will feature an interior penned by Winch Design and will be the yard’s biggest project since the construction of Axioma.
Ulucitcan’s construction first began 10 years ago at Newcastle Marine in Florida but was put on hold after the yard ran into financial difficulties.
The yacht was transported to Genoa in late 2017 but failed to find a yard to complete construction. The yacht was then towed to Tunisia and first inspected by Dunya Yachts in August 2019.
Dunya sales and marketing director Jeremy Roche recalls: “The yacht was at the entrance to the marina, with no passarelle and only accessible by climbing a rope ladder from a tender. All the windows were boarded up and the outside temperature was about 40 °C.”
With no air conditioning, yacht inspections took place late at night and early in the morning.
“It was quite an experience,” Roche says. “From the outside, she looked in a bit of a mess, but we quickly realised this was superficial. Inside, it was obvious that she had been built to a good standard, with premium brands used for all of the main equipment, much of which had been well preserved.”
First conceived and designed by Vripack, Ulucitcan is described as a “classically styled, rugged explorer yacht” with a projected range of 6000 nautical miles. When complete, the yacht will boast a 1200GT “contemporary beach-club-themed interior”.
Accommodation will be for a total of 12 guests across seven cabins, while the crew quarters will allow for a staff of 12.
The tenders and toys will be stored on the foredeck, while a large workshop for servicing and maintenance will also be found on board.
Roche estimates the yacht to be “about a third finished”.
“While in Italy, various yards supplied tenders but all were suggesting removal of partially completed items to start again from scratch,” he says. “Dunya was happy to be more flexible and to work with the owner’s team to find a more sensible solution to complete this yacht.”