US-based Front Street Shipyard is collaborating with Setzer Yacht Architects to develop designs for a new motor yacht series.
Ranging from 28 to 40 metres length overall, the series is a descendant of Setzer's new 2014 New American Motoryachts portfolio, which included 18 new concepts that Ward Setzer conceived while on winter sabbatical in the Caribbean.
JB Turner, president of Front Street Shipyard, was able to handpick a few of Setzer's concepts that he deemed the best match for Front Street Shipyard's customers. 'My design team and I finished developing the concepts with additional feedback and research,' says Ward Setzer.
Now Front Street Shipyard, of Belfast, Maine, will be actively marketing four Setzer-designed yachts for future construction. These include a 28m Modern Commuter motor yacht, 34m Flushdeck RPH yacht, a 38m Modern Explorer superyacht, and a 40m Vintage Tri-deck yacht. The new designs are based on the idea of taking traditional yacht categories – raised pilothouses, commuters, explorers, and tri-decks – and re-imagining them with modern styling cues and amenities. Each will offer expansive transom areas, panoramic windows allowing in abundant natural light, and the possibility of pod propulsion in the smaller yachts.
'Setzer's New American Motoryacht series represents the direction we at Front Street Shipyard see the US superyacht industry moving,' says Turner. 'Based on our conversations with existing clients, yacht brokers and industry representatives, we believe Setzer's concepts capture the desires of owners, captains and charter clients.