16m | S/Y Trinity

While the Amsterdam Yacht Service team brings a wealth of experience and expertise across a broad range of disciplines, they will still freely admit that every day is a learning day. In the case of the 16m Amel Super Maramu sailing yacht Trinity, the learning came from the yacht’s owner who, in the course of outlining how she wanted the yacht’s interior refreshed, showed the potential of AI as a quick visualisation tool.

The yacht had arrived for a technical refresh of the generator, main engine, shaft and rudder, plus a cosmetic refresh of paintwork and antifouling, a new fixed sprayhood-cum-deckhouse in aluminium, and an extensive interior refit. The first part was straightforward – standard fare for the AYS team, even with the owner wanting to switch to a more environmentally friendly, silicon-based antifoul coating, and with the sprayhood demanding a full 3D scan of the top of the yacht and some inhouse design work – but it was with the interior that things got interesting.

The Super Maramu was a centre-cockpit, bluewater-cruising ketch built by Amel in the 1990s, and as a well built and highly capable world-girdling yacht had proven very popular. That meant, however, that her interior looked a little dated by today’s standards – beautifully put together, but a sea of mahogany and oak. “The owner wanted a more modern, fresh look,” says Robert Binnekade, Managing Director of AYS. “So first of all, because the yacht is really well built, it has been a case of mixing and matching the interior to bring it up-to-date while retaining the good elements of design and craftsmanship of the original.”

The works have included changing out some of the 1990s-style rounded couches and squaring off some of the rounded edges, brightening the interior with a light paint palette, revamping the galley and its equipment to get rid of the top-loading dishwasher and top-accessed storage bins, and replacing the countertops. For the look, the team was trying to understand the owner’s wishes until she came up with a brilliant idea, and presented a rough visualisation put together by AI. “It really opened our eyes – not just in terms of being able to see exactly what she wanted, but in terms of how AI can be used as a really quick visualisation tool,” Binnekade enthuses. “We’ve used it that way multiple times now with other customers and other projects – it’s not suitable as an engineering tool, and probably not for marketing-quality images, but as a tool to quickly show and discuss options with a client it’s really useful. I have to give credit to Trinity’s owner,” he adds, “for opening our eyes to that!”

The refit project is still ongoing, with the aim to relaunch the yacht before the summer season. “It’s been such a great project,” Binnekade concludes. “It’s a perfect demonstration of how AYS can work across a whole concept – visualising it, engineering it and executing it with the best available tools and the best team of people.”