35-metre classic motor yacht

The experienced team at Amsterdam Yacht Service is no stranger to adapting on the fly to the changing demands of projects. This flexibility and expertise was highlighted by the team’s work on a 24-metre commercial vessel in 2024, which came in for a leak to be fixed and left with an extensively rebuilt aft section following the AYS team’s discovery of widespread corrosion.

It’s not just with commercial projects that AYS can draw on its inhouse talents, however, particularly as AYS is being used increasingly for superyacht projects. Indeed, the team has recently completed work on a classic motor yacht whose scope was unexpectedly extended when an internal inspection by AYS brought to light some concerning areas of corrosion.

“The owners’ had the vessel surveyed and externally inspected and they found some deterioration, but she is 50 years old so that wasn’t unexpected,” says Robert Binnekade, managing director of Amsterdam Yacht Service. “However, after discovering a couple of corroded pipes, I crawled into the bilge, did some focused measurements and uncovered some patches that were far worse than originally suspected.”

The areas worst affected were at either end of the vessel, with corrosion in the bow area underneath the chain lockers, and in the stern area particularly underneath the ai-conditioning handlers. “It meant we had to extend the scope of works to include replating the hull around the engine room area as well as replacing a cofferdam, while in the bow we had to replace both frames and plating,” says Binnekade. “It was one of those situations where it really proved the AYS method – we go into all corners of a vessel inside and out to make sure we’re getting the full picture and to uncover any underlying problems before we effect a repair.”

For the bow, the team used a combination of 3D scanning and original drawings of the vessel supplied by the original builder to reconstruct the affected section. “Even though she was an old vessel, the engineering department of the build yard did a lot of the heavy lifting,” Binnekade enthuses. “They presented us with the original technical drawings and their opinion on what needed to be done, and we did the nip-and-tuck work!”

With the new hull sections successfully completed, attention then turned to the shafts for which new shaft seals were added, and for which AYS also recommended realigning the engines and engine mounts. While this aspect of the project was contracted out to a third party, AYS was called in to support the works which, per AYS recommendation, also extended to encompass realignment. “We are used to working with contractors and supporting external shipyards who bring their projects to our facilities, so of course we were able to help that team achieve an excellent result,” says Binnekade. “The project is a perfect example of our adaptability, and the capability of the AYS team to take on additional, often complicated engineering and rebuilding works when more serious problems are uncovered.”