[JohnS]

I have heard much about the quality of Moonen Shipyards, however, little seems to appear within the forums about Moonen.

My suspicion is that this is due to the fact that Moonen (up until now) have only built up to about 120ft (White Heaven III) and most people seem more interested in talking about the yachts above 150ft!!

The 84' range (Mimi, Gogar Lass, Moon Bels, YN180 etc..) are beautiful yachts, and so are those in the previous range of 80-83ft yachts (Dolce Vita, Blue Symphony VI etc...)

So why do Moonen not have the same sort of following as Feadship, Amels and other Dutch yards??

Also, who else makes (steel hull, displacement) yachts of similar quality within this size bracket??


I hope this stimulates some discussion and look forward to reading some responses!

Regards

John C S

[AMG]

Hi John,
there was another member asking about Moonen last week and I have given him some general advice since I have spent more than three years living on a Moonen 85, the classic canoe stern yacht. I also followed the construction.

I think the reason we don´t have any discussions on Moonen is the fact they have not built so many yachts yet, some are also built for other brands.

But today they have little competition, the other dutch builders have moved to bigger yachts or closed, such as Lowlands who were building similar yachts.

I have made a couple of designs that I would like to be built by Moonen, you can see them in the "Perfect Yacht" thread, one is 85´ and one is 100´. This size is what they can build without any problems, bigger than 120-130 have restrictions to get out to the sea, which I think is just as good! Better to see them be the best in it´s class than in worst case fail among the big guys...
/Lars

[JohnS]

Thanks for your rapid response!

Interesting to note the reason that Moonen is limited is by the sea passage! I wonder if they will ever be able to overcome this. Although i agree wholeheartedly with your statement about remaining "best in class".

With much experience of these yachts, how do you percieve the quality of construction? Being a dutch yard, i guess the quality is impeccable, but how does it compare to, for example, feadship?

Just out of interest, do you have an opinion on the direction you see Moonen going in in the next 10 years or so??


Regards

John

P.S - the Moonen 85 (Jumbo, Mayflower...) range is also a beautiful design - i didn't mean to leave it out of my previous post!

[AMG]

I am not sure, but I think they will never be able to get higher yachts under a fixed bridge, but certain things, masts and arches can be fitted outside.

On quality, they should be equal to Feadship if the buyer are willing to pay for it, since as you probably know, they have access to the same subcontractors.

The two sisterships of Moonen Princess and Moonshadow where I was involved, were almost over-engineered. The quality was on top, but the yachts were a little too small to have all of this equipment and also we were very early with that amount of electronic stuff that have since become more easy to install. So the kind of technical problems we had were mainly because of too high ambitions from both the buyer and the shipyard

With new owners you can´t tell how it will look in ten years time, but most of the old staff is still there and their after sales service has always been good.

There is no reason why they should not stay on top as a unique mini-superyacht builder.

[JohnS]

That looks like the bridge on the Canoe Stern Moonen 85 - Mayflower!

I have some pictures of the Moonen 84 YN180 - and the interior quality appears to be top drawer. In fact, the whole interior design is as good as i have seen on yachts in a much higher price bracket and size.

To me, it seems as though Moonen should be the choice for those wanting the best of the best, but limited to 25 - 30m. (The Feadship - La Masquerade also springs to mind however!)

Is there anywhere we can find a list of all the Moonen yachts ever built?... i have tried to compile one but am finding it difficult to know where i stand with regards to number of yachts in each series etc...


John

[AMG]

Yes, I think it is Mayflower. Our boats had even more electronics...
Mayflower had a less classic interior and you can see the mirrorlike support under the handrail going down, this was otherwise in burmese teak.

Best if you like to know all the boats built must be to contact the shipyard? I only kept track on the 85´:s where Cassiopeia was the first.

On the teak joinery which was made inhouse, I once had Carlo Riva as a guest and he was really impressed and added; As I have built 2.000 wooden boats, I should know!

[JohnS]

Well, that certainly is some praise for moonen craftsmanship!


Also, Cassiopeia:
do you know if this is anything to do with the 32m Holland Jachtbouw yacht delivered last year with the same name? same owners maybe?...

Can't seem to find any info about Cassiopeia the Moonen 85 either.

[YachtForums]

Now we're talking about Cassiopia? OK... you've got my attention. I love this boat! As best I remember, the new Cassiopia was built for an American owner based out of... I think, Chicago. Was the original Cassiopia (Moonen) owner from the states?

[AMG]

I am not really a ************ and not very interested in the owners either but from what I remember, Cassiopeia S was built by Moonen in 1986 for a German owner, later sold to a Norwegian and renamed Midnight Saga II. This owner also ran the 188´ Cammenga (ex Feadship-yard) Midnight Saga, as a charter yacht through a company in the Bahamas. This big and beautiful yacht is a W. de Vries Lentsch design built in 1978 which later got a decoration by no less than Jon Bannenberg. She was built as Majestic M, and is today under the name of S Cape.
I believe that Midnight Saga II is also sold as the owner built a new Willem de Vries/Ken Freivokh design at Hakvoort in 2002. She got her build name of Midnight Saga replaced by just Saga and has a norwegian flag.

I don´t know if there is any connection between this new Cassiopeia and the Moonen 85´, which btw had MAN diesels of 450 hp while the following boats of this class had MTU 409/420 hp.

Here is a picture of the 2002, 111´ Saga from Hakvoort, another classic beauty:

[JohnS]

How do Lowland yachts compare?? They have built some nice yachts in the 24-30m bracket in the past, and:

"All of the Lowland yachts exhibit Dutch quality in their construction"
(www.yachts.com)

Any ideas??

John

[Sorry if this slightly off the topic - couldnt find a "Lowland" section]

[AMG]

I have inspected a number of the smaller Lowlands for a buyer and they are nice little ships, I think they were all W. de Vries designs. Somewhere I have the specs, but anyway the quality was diffferent in between them, some seemed to be built on low budgets and a few were top. The last I remember to have seen is the 32 m Evnike which was of the same quality as Moonen. I think she was built after an old Feadship more or less. The faster boats that was built under the Netship brand I never saw in detail.

Hi All: I'm a Johnny-Come-Lately (actually Jackie) to your Forum, but I happen to know a bit about Moonen, as I'm writing a book about their 25-year history for publication end of 2006.

The Moonen 85 Cassiopeia S (launched 1985) was the first of six built to DIANA design, and yes for a German client. The others were Lady M (1987), Moonen Princess (1989, Marly Queen (1990), Moon Shadow (1991), and Mayflower (1992). They were the big break for Moonen's entry into that size market, and really put the yard on the map. I personally love the DIANA design as an example of the ideal Mediterranean style, truly timeless, and in talking to some of Moonen's odlest employees I get full agreement, although below you'll see how things are looking up at the shipyard.

Since they moved over to building designs by Rene van der Velden, they have had a resurgency (after some tough times in the 1990s under some, well, weak management). But they are building the seventh Moonen 84 in just four years, and have recently delivered the first Moonen 96, and will this year deliver the first Explorer 114, an ice-class vessel for an owner who really plans to get into the ice. They also have just signed orders for two new all-aluminum 25-knot 94-foot models.

Yes, they still have the problem of getting big boats out through the bridge, but worse they can't get anything big back in for the lucrative refit business.

As to the other Cassiopeia she was built by HJB for an American, who lives not far from me in Connecticut. You can check my review in ShowBoats International last year, but I can't recall what month. Check their website.

More later.

Jack

[KCook]

Moonen is one that we don't hear a lot about. Thanks Jack!

Kelly Cook

[AMG]

Originally Posted by KCook

Moonen is one that we don't hear a lot about. Thanks Jack!

Kelly Cook

Maybe not a lot, but a little...

http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/17228-post1.html

I promise, guys, therr will be more. Right now I have a book to write. But Happy Hew Year all around. Jack