Specification, yard selection, supervision and contingency — how a refit is controlled.
Types of refit
A maintenance refit deals with wear, class survey items and machinery overhaul. A cosmetic refit renews paint, soft furnishings and finishes. A major refit changes the yacht — extensions, new machinery, structural work, a reconfigured interior — and is a shipbuilding project with a design phase, approvals and class involvement.
Start with the specification
Cost control begins before any yard is approached. A detailed written specification — scope, standards, materials, equipment, class requirements, exclusions — allows quotations to be compared and limits variation orders, which are where refit budgets go wrong.
- A written specification and drawings before tender
- Class and flag requirements identified up front
- Clear exclusions and owner-supplied items
- A defined variation-order process
- A contingency, held separately from the budget
Choosing the yard
Yards specialise: paint, aluminium, steel, interior, machinery, large-capacity docks. Selection should reflect the actual scope, the dock or shed capacity required, the season, labour rates and the yard's record on yachts of your type. Cheapest quoted price on an incomplete specification is not a comparison.
Supervision
A refit needs an owner-side team: the captain and chief engineer, the management company's technical department, and often an independent project manager or surveyor. Supervision is the difference between a specification delivered and a specification approximated.
Timing and contingency
Refits overrun. Steelwork and paint reveal more than surveys show, long-lead equipment slips, and class findings appear once things are opened up. Plan the yard period against the cruising programme with real margin, and hold a contingency that is not already committed.
Questions
- How often does a yacht need a refit?
- Maintenance yard periods are annual or seasonal; larger cycles align with class special surveys and paint condition. It depends on the yacht and her use.
- Does a refit add value at sale?
- Properly specified and documented work that removes buyer objections often helps. Highly personal changes rarely return their cost.
This guide is general information about how the yacht market conventionally works. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and it does not describe the terms of any specific yacht. Rates, prices, availability and access are confirmed in writing before anything is committed.