Decisions: Final Interoir and Exterior Design

Seven years ago, Diana and I visited Skipper Buds in Northpoint Illinois to look at a new 2006 48 Sundancer, which was sitting on the "showroom" floor.  We were considering buying one on the used market but wanted to see if we liked it before "shopping."    Diana fell in love with the interior design of 48 on the floor and we bought the boat. 

At that time Sea Ray was offering the 48 with four interior choices.  The one on the floor had their "C" interior. 

Fast forward to 2012 and the building of our 63 Outer Reef LRMY (Long Range Motor Yacht).  There are no interior choices.  Every boat is customized for each owner and there in lies the challenge.  The buyer has to make all of the decisions.

There is actually some logic to this.  Sea Ray builds around two hundred 48 Sundancers each year.  Therefore, their decorators can design a group of interiors and buy the necessary fabrics in bulk.  Outer Reef since 2007 has build a total of 57 boats starting with hull 7.  Our boat is hull number 63 and one of around eight 63s built to date.

This "volume" does not lend itself to designing a choice of interiors.  For one thing, buyers in this market are more likely to do it their way.  For another, Outer Reef would have to buy the fabrics and store them, sometimes for years.  None of these boats are built for a dealer's inventory as there are no dealers.

Diana, Colleen and Mike discussing interior design in December 2012

We've been working on the interior decisions for a year.  The process started last year on our trip down to Sarasota where we detoured to Outer Reef's headquarters in Fort Lauderdale for a two day design session.  That was followed by several additional cross state visits during the winter of 2012-2013.   The decisions made during this period were ones that, in part, involved installation during the build in Taiwan and are shown in the photos below.



Main deck and flybridge color board - All applicable to Taiwan build
Moving clockwise from the lower left:
Distressed fabric for salon barrel chairs with a piece of wenge
Empradore light marble for the galley
Beige ultra leather salon settee fabric
Flybridge Sunbrella Maxim Heather Beige settee fabric
Aft deck Sunbrella Renatta Hemp settee fabric
 

Below deck accommodations color board
Moving counter clockwise from the lower right
Carpet - Installation in Fort Lauderdale & no longer applicable
Bed spread fabric - Installation in Fort Lauderdale & no longer applicable
Purple pillow fabric - Installation in Fort Lauderdale & no longer applicable
Wenge trim
Head board fabric - Installed in Taiwan

More work followed during the summer of 2013 but that work was made more difficult due to the 1,400 mile distance between Chicago and Fort Lauderdale.  I would categorize this as the UPS period.  Not very productive and very slow.  The decisions at this stage revolve around bedding and pillows.

Progress continued throughout the early fall as Diana and I made numerous trips (around 10) to the Merchandize Mart in Chicago.  This effort produced the fabric choices below for the staterooms.



From left to right
Master Stateroom
Guest Stateroom and carpet for the staterooms
VIP Stateroom

Explanatory Note: The large fabric sample is for the bed spread.  The samples on each are fabrics selected for shams. 

Final decisions were made in the last week.  Three days after driving 1,223 miles from Chicago to Sarasota we crossed the state for a two day design session with Debra Manzi, Outer Reef's interior designer.  This was followed by a session this Friday where we made another day trip across the state.

One of the frustrations with the process involves the fabric manufacturers.  Many times we picked something only to find that our choice had been discontinued or was not available or would take 8 weeks or so to manufacture.

So much for the story of how we got to where we are.  Now to the decisions.

Well start with the Pilot House.  The photos below show the port settee and the helm station.



Pilothouse settee just forward of the galley

Pilot house table

Pilothouse control station

The key structural design elements involve the use of teak, wenge bullnose, stainless steel (helm wheel, handholds, ceiling handholds, settee table post and helm chair base), black leather helm chair (not shown), black console face and leather like Formica work surfaces and the beige fabric on the settee.


Pilothouse pillows shown with the beige fabric, wenge and teak
Kravet patterned fabric will be used for three 20" x 20" pillows
Small dark brown NovaSuede above the teak square will make two 20" by 20" pillows

Moving aft to the galley you can see the Empradore light marble counters and backsplash.  There will also be a removable cutting board over the sink.



Empradore counters and backsplash

Now to the Salon.  The structural design elements include the wenge bullnose and cabinet surfaces, teak flooring, beige Ultra Leather settee fabric and the recessed ceiling with stainless steel grab bars.


Salon looking forward

Salon pillow fabrics shown with structural design elements
Clockwise from the lower left:
Saddle Brisa Distressed fabric for the barrel chairs with teak square
Textured Kravet fabric for three 20" x 20" pillows with wenge design element
Patterned100% Kravet fabric for two 18" x 18" pillows
Settee Buff Ultra Leather fabric
Note shown: A solid brown silk fabric in the same color way for one 22" x 16" pillow 

We chose a Sunbrella fabric called Renatta Hemp for the aft deck settee and for fore deck seating just forward of the Portuguese bridge.  The structural design elements on the aft deck involve the natural teak floor, varnished teak table with compass rose and stainless steel posts.  We have ordered three unfinished teak deck chairs with arms for the aft deck for additional seating.

Aft deck of a 63 sister ship

Fabrics for the aft deck
Renatta Hemp
Swoop, by perennial, fabric for the three deck chairs
Solid black fabric for pillows
Solid Heather Beigec canvas for accents on the pillows (small swatch)

Aft deck table

Teak deck chairs and teak deck

The flybridge is, as of the moment, the most complete part of the boat's design elements. Here we see the Sunbrella Maxim Heather Beige settee fabric in context with the beige non-skid and fiberglass table.  What's missing is the Stidd helm chair with its white powder coat base and beige seat.  You can see the helm chair base in the lower right corner of the photo.

 Now to the below deck accommodations.

VIP Stateroom
Euro shams will be used here as there is no headboard

Fabrics for Master, VIP and Guest Staterooms
VIP fabrics are to the right and include from bottom to top the spread, pillow shams and Euro shams
Guest Stateroom bunk and pillow sham fabrics are in the center
Above the guest pillow sham are the teak, wenge and beige wall covering structural design features

Guest Stateroom

Master Stateroom

Master Stateroom fabrics with wenge and teak structural design elements
From the bottom up:
Kravet Chevron Bed Spread
Cranberry neck roll
Kravet Sham fabric
Headboard fabric
Note: The cording shown in the photo is not being used

The installation of the bed spreads, shams and pillows will take place during commissioning, which will start of the arrival of the boat in Fort Lauderdale.

Written by Les.