MILESTONE: MOONEN MARTINIQUE HULL TURNED

We’ve just celebrated the hull turning of project YN203, the 37.8 metre Moonen Martinique (124 ft) now under construction here in the Netherlands.

The Moonen Martinique hull flip marks another successful construction milestone before the start of outfitting at the Moonen Yachts facilities. Following the sale of the yacht in February 2022, the entire Moonen Yachts team is dedicated to delivering a truly exceptional yacht to her owners in 2024.

The milestone took place at our hull builder Talsma Shipyards in the north of the Netherlands. Four heavy duty cranes carefully turned over the steel hull, witnessed by representatives from Moonen Yachts and naval architects Diana Yacht Design.

Ian Vermoen, Moonen’s Project Manager of YN203 says: “It is an exciting moment to see the hull of YN203 in its sailing position, as this is the first Martinique built at Talsma Shipyards. I’m proud of what we have achieved again with the Moonen Team together with Talsma Shipyards and Diana Yacht Design, and I’m looking forward to having the hull over at our facilities in Den Bosch to start the outfitting, and build the perfect yacht for the owners.”

Talsma Shipyards explains how the hull flipping process works: “Turning the hull is one of the bigger milestones in the hull production. At Talsma Shipyards we always build our hulls upside down. This makes building easier, since the building floor and deck are both flat and it reduces the time spent working overhead.

The building process is typically about 60% finished when the turning takes place. Most of the section work has finished and after turning we enter the final phase of the hull build. Small ironwork, like placing foundations, hull penetrations, bollards, piping, placing the bulwark etc. will now take place.”

Nick Tot, Naval Architect at Diana Yacht Design, states:
“Compared to the original Moonen Martinique, this version has an extended swimming platform of 1.5 metres with an integrated folding platform and an enlarged tender bay in the lazarette. The engineering for these changes was carried out by our experienced team at DIANA. Some things stayed the same however, just as the original. The build quality is exceptional with the shell being completely constructed of high tensile steel resulting in a strong, relatively lightweight hull. Although it is the fifth Moonen Martinique hull built so far, it is the first one built at Talsma Shipyard. It is always a special moment in the building process and we are proud to be part of the team.”

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