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Top 8 Best Boat Design Software in 2024 (Free & Paid)

Written by: 3DSourced

January 16, 2024

Whether you’re a student, a hobbyist, or a professional, finding the right software is the key first step to designing a boat. However, with such a wide range of programs available, you need to make sure you choose the best boat design software for you.

We usually talk about 3D software in relation to 3D printing, but 3D modeling techniques are used across many applications and industries, including boat design. In fact, 3D printing is becoming increasingly prevalent in the boat design industry, with one example being Tanaruz’s 3D printed boats .

Quick Overview

• Free!ship : Best Free Boat Design Software for Linux
• Sailcut CAD : Free Sailboat Design Software
• Bearboat SP : Free Boat Designer for Small Boats & Kayaks
• DELFTship : Intuitive Free Boat Design Tool with Professional Option
• Fusion 360 : Best Free Boat Design Software for Beginners & Mac
• SketchUp : Best Boat Design App for iPad
• Autoship : Best for Naval & Marine Architecture, Best for Windows
• Solidworks : Best for Aluminum Boat Design Software & Best for Yachts

In this guide, we review several 3D ship design software to help you do just that. We’ll take a close look at both free and professional options, so that you’ll be able to find a suitable program regardless of your budget and experience.

Read more: our feature story on 3D printed boats

Best Free Boat Design Software

1. freeship – best free boat design software for linux.

Completely free and open source 

Subdivision modeling to design any hull shape

Can export designs in a range of file formats

Can submit support and feature requests 

Positive reviews from users 

Can be tricky for novices to get used to 

Not available on Mac 

Unlike most of the boat building software on our list, Free!ship isn’t developed by a company, but rather by an individual called Marven with a desire to make boat design accessible to anyone.

Free!ship is a surface modeling program for designing ships and yachts, using subdivision surfaces modeling rather than NURBs, providing the freedom to design hulls of any shape. 

Available on Windows and Linux, you can get started with this free CAD software by automatically generating a basic boat structure to use as a template. You can then easily use the nodes on the structure, as well as a variety of tools like curve, split, collapse, and insert plane, to reshape the design to your liking.

You need to fill in certain parameters, such as:

• Boat length
• Beam length
• Longitudinal and vertical direction

Once you’ve done that, you can view your boat design in four different perspectives and every angle to help you finalize your structure.

Free!ship offers the option to fill out support requests, feature requests, and report bugs. However, bear in mind that design beginners may be better off with a professional free ship design software that has more support options and tutorials available, as you don’t get any training with Free!ship.

2. Sailcut CAD – Free Sailboat Design Software

Specialist sailboat design software 

Easy to use node editing

Supports a variety of sail designs

Export designs in different file types including DXF files

Not suitable for designing other boat types

If you’re looking for a free small boat design software specifically geared towards designing sails and sailboats, you can’t go wrong with Sailcut CAD .

This design and plotting software can be used to design the sail, hull, and rail of a boat, in addition to precisely computing panel development in flat sheets.

You can use it for a variety of different sail types, including wing sails, cross cut, twist foot cut, vertical cut, mitre cut, and radicul cut, so it’s a versatile tool that will suit virtually any sailboat designer.

The software provides a base design template that you can then edit and view in a variety of formats, including shaded, wireframe, and development. It provides control over all the key dimensions of your sailboat, such as boat length, gaff round, and seam width.

Sailcut provides documentation that explains how to use it for CAD as well as community mailing lists and a bug tracker where you can report issues.

3. Bearboat SP – Free Boat Designer for Small Boats & Kayaks 

Specialist kayak design software 

Simple to use 

Control all aspects of your design

Multiple view options

Advanced tools like wetting

Not suitable for larger boat designs

Dated interface 

Bearboat SP is a specialist kayak design software that can also be used to design other similar types of small boats.

People have been using Bearboat to design kayaks since 1998 – and it’s the most popular program for this specific type of boat design. 

It’s a fairly simple, no-frills software that makes it easy to get stuck straight in. You begin by filling in the core boat hull parameters, such as length, stability, and design deplacement, and then just click the ‘create’ button to generate your base kayak template. 

From there, you can go about making structural changes to aspects like shape seam, bow and stern seam height, and rockers parameters. You can also easily change dimensions using the nodes on the 2D wireframe design.

There are three viewing options – bird view, side view, and cross-section view – for inspecting your design from different perspectives, as well as options such as changing the color of the wireframe design for easier analysis. 

Advanced features include the ability to view the wetted surface and underwater area, and a drag spreadsheet that contains all the parameters of your boat design, making Bearboat SP a well-rounded boat design tool overall.

4. DELFTship – Intuitive Free Boat Design Tool with Professional Option

More up-to-date and intuitive than other free boat design software tools

Impressive model rendering

Professional license and extension options

Perform basic calculations to check buoyancy and other factors

Free version has limited features compared to paid version

DELFTship is another great free boat design software, and offers a somewhat more professional and up-to-date solution versus Sailcut and Free!ship, with more impressive renderings than other free programs.

This 3D hull form modeling program is very intuitive with a range of easy-to-use design features, including lots of nodes that make it simple to edit your base model just by dragging and dropping.

You can inspect your models from five different viewpoints and convert them to wireframes and other formats to better analyze structure. Features like the keel and rudder wizard make it simple to design additional components of your boat.

DELFTship provides an unlimited free version alongside a professional license that costs $160. You can also add on extensions and board stability analysis calculations upon request for additional fees.

Even without the paid license you can still use DELFTship free to perform basic hydrostatic calculations and resistance calculations to help improve the precision of your designs, making this one of the most impressive free boat design tools. 

5. Fusion 360 – Best Free Boat Design Software for Beginners & Mac

More beginner-friendly than other boat design software 

Lots of learning resources & tutorials

High quality, flexible 3D modeling tool

Impressive renderings

Available on Mac

Not a specialist boat hull design software

Unlike the other programs we’ve covered so far Fusion 360 is a general purpose 3D modeling software that’s not specifically made for boat designing. However, it’s still widely used in boat designing, and its more general nature has some advantages.

For starters, designing a boat is a fairly large and complex task, and the more specialist software like Free!ship and Bearboat SP are complex if you’re new to computer aided design. 

While Fusion 360 still has a learning curve, it’s one of the best designed, intuitive, and beginner-friendly 3D modeling software out there. On top of that, it has a huge range of learning resources and tutorials, great support, and a large user community, so it’s very popular among new designers.

In fact, there are a variety of YouTube videos and written tutorials showing how to use Fusion 360 for boat design and for different types of vessels, including yachts and canoes. These include videos showing how to design wooden boats , so it’s a good choice if you’re looking for a plywood boat design software.

Another benefit of Fusion 360 is that, unlike most naval architecture boat design software, it’s available on Mac. It even has iOS and Android apps that allow you to view designs and collaborate via your smartphone or tablet. 

Fusion 360 is also free for three years as long as you’re using it non-commercially.

Best Paid Boat Design Software 

6. sketchup – best boat design app for ipad.

• Price : $119 a year for the app (free online version available)

3D modeling iPad app

High quality renderings

Intuitive and beginner-friendly

Free online version available

Not specialized for boat design

SketchUp is another general purpose 3D software used for boat design. While it’s not one of the most widely used boat design programs, the reason it’s on our list is that it’s one of the few premier 3D CAD tools that has a fully-fledged mobile app for iPad.

While some programs like Fusion 360 have viewer apps, these don’t have the modeling tools of their desktop counterparts. However, with the SketchUp iPad app, you can enjoy advanced modeling on a tablet, and you can even get creative using an Apple Pencil stylus.

There are a variety of tutorials and videos showing how to design boats with SketchUp, and as a user-friendly software it’s a good option for beginners. SketchUp also boasts high quality renderings for producing 3D boat designs that you can easily share with anyone. 

While the SketchUp boat design app has a yearly fee, you can also use the software for free using the online-only version, or choose from a variety of desktop licenses that vary in terms of features and storage.

SketchUp also offers iPhone and Android apps, although these are more stripped back versions more suited to viewing and sharing designs on your mobile.

7. Autoship – Best for Naval & Marine Architecture, Best for Windows

• Price : upon quote 

Large software suite that covers the entire boat design pipeline

Used by professional boat manufacturers

Highly intuitive NURBs modeling

Comprehensive testing features and data management

Extensive training and support

Can be used to create load plans

Not available on Mac

Steep learning curve 

Autoship is a software suite designed for professional naval and marine architects that provides solutions for every aspect in the boat design process, from modeling to construction and load planning modules for more optimal loading.

In terms of design, Autoship software offers five different CAD/CAM solutions:

• Autoship Pro – a hull design and surface modeling program.
• Modelmaker – for creating 3D models of vessels and components.
• Autohydro Pro – for analyzing hydrostatics and stability of your models.
• Autoplate – a plate design, expansion, and management system.
• Autopower – for resistance and powering predictions.

So, you can create a package with any number of these programs based on your needs. The great thing about Autoship software is all the programs are fully integrated, so any changes made to your model integrate into each solution.

Autoship Pro is the primary design solution in this suite, with a vast array of advanced features for designing vessels. Based on NURBs modeling, the intuitive interface allows you to work in up to four views simultaneously with ten levels of zoom and unzoom for top precision.

Some of the impressive features of this vessel design software include extensive context menus to help speed up operations, the ability to color surfaces so it’s easy to pick out parts in complex designs, curvature displays for curves and surfaces, hydrostatic and resistance calculations, and strength assessment tools.

Overall, with its mix of powerful design, testing, and engineering features, Autoship is one of the most complete boat design software on the market.

8. Solidworks – Best for Aluminum Boat Design Software & Best for Yachts

• Price : upon quote

Solidworks is one of the most advanced 3D CAD/CAM software out there and is widely used across design and engineering industries, from automotive to aerospace as well as boat design. 

In fact, this software is used by a number of leading boat manufacturers. One such example is Kvichak Marine Industries, a Seattle-based maker of high quality aluminum vessels, including both passenger and industrial boats.

In this v i deo , the assistant chief engineer explains how Solidworks’ highly precise 3D modeling tools allow them to improve processes by spotting issues quicker and therefore improve efficiency, with the ability to inspect every element from the individual pipes within hulls to the connections within engines.

Solidworks’ extremely advanced and flexible modeling allows you to create any type of boat you like. There’s even an eBook that explains each step in designing a superyacht using Solidworks.

While this software is mostly used by professional companies, there are also numerous YouTube videos showing you how to design a boat with it, so it’s accessible to amateurs.

What is Boat Design Software?

A boat design software is a program used to sketch, plan, and model a boat in 3D. Popular boat design programs include Free!ship, Solidworks, Fusion 360, and Autoship.

What is naval architecture?

Naval architecture is the processing of designing and engineering marine vessels like ships and boats, as well as their parts. Naval architects also work in boat and ship repair. 

Do I need special software for designing boats?

You don’t need a special boat design software to design boats and ships. While there are a number of specialist boat design software tools out there, general 3D modeling CAD programs like Fusion 360 and AutoCAD are also used for this purpose. 

What Can You Do With Boat Software? 

All boat software have different features that determine what you can do with them. For example, certain programs are designed for creating certain types of boats, such as kayaks and sailboats, so this is the first consideration you need to make to find a suitable program.

More expensive programs typically offer a much wider range of features than paid versions. At the top end are industrial solutions like Autoship and Solidworks, which offer extremely high quality and flexible modeling tools and provide support for testing, manufacturing, and engineering processes, so they’re complete solutions. 

There are also software like DELFTship and Fusion 360 that provide both free and paid versions, so you can try out the free versions and then upgrade if you want the extra features available on the paid licenses.

Buying Guide – Things to consider when choosing boat software

Type of Boat

Boats come in all different shapes and sizes, and some software are specially built for designing certain types of boats. For example, Bearboat SP is primarily geared towards kayak designing, while Sailcut is for sailboats. 

On the other hand, general 3D modeling software like Fusion 360 and Solidworks are more flexible, so you could use it as a Yacht design software and for other types of boats. The benefits of this are the increased flexibility and beginner-friendliness, but these general programs can lack some of the more specialist features that the likes of Bearboat SP and Sailcut have.

Compatibility

The device you’re using is going to have an impact on what naval architecture software you use, as most programs only work on certain operating systems.

In fact, the majority of boat design software are only compatible with Windows. If you’re looking for a boat design software for Mac, Linux, or iPad, you may be best off using a more general purpose 3D modeling software like Fusion 360 or SketchUp.

3D Rendering & Graphic Quality

Free programs like Free!ship, Sailcut, and Bearboat SP are all great for creating precise boat designs at no expense, but in terms of graphics and 3D model rendering, they’re all very basic. 

This isn’t unusual when it comes to free programs, and if you’re not bothered about graphics then it’s no issue. However, if you do want to create higher quality models and renderings – which is especially important if you’re a student or aspiring professional boat designer – then you’ll need a program that provides this, such as Solidworks or Autoship.

Usability & Training

Boat design isn’t exactly a simple process, so if you’re a complete beginner, you’ll want a software that’s easier to get to grips with. 

The free boat design software we’ve covered are all fairly simple to use, but the level of intuitiveness and support varies. If you’re a complete newbie to computer design, you may want to go for a widely used modeling software like SketchUp or Fusion 360, both of which boast great support, large communities, and more tutorials than specialist boat structural design software.

Budget & Free Trial 

The price of boat design software can vary a lot, from free programs to expensive professional solutions like Solidworks and Autoship that can cost thousands, so bear this in mind. Many paid boat design software offer free trials, so you should definitely take advantage of this to try a program out.

What software is best for basic boat design?

Free!ship, Delftship, and Sailcut are all popular free software that allow you to create basic boat designs. 

How do you design a yacht?

If you want to design yachts, the first step is to find a high quality yacht designing software such as Solidworks or Autoship.

How do you become a boat architect / ship designer?

To be a boat architect or ship designer you need to first obtain a relevant degree, such as a BEng or MEng in naval architecture.

How much do yacht architects make?

Yacht and naval architects can make anywhere from $60,000 to $150,000 depending on their experience and position, with the average salary around $75,000.

Autoship, Solidworks, Maxsurf, and OrcaFlex are all popular marine design software that are used in professional ship design.

To become a boat designer you first need a degree in a relevant subject, such as naval architecture, ship science, or marine technology. 

The best way to learn how to make a boat hull in Solidworks is by watching one the boast hull design tutorial provided by Solidworks Product Manager Mark Biasotti.

The first step to designing a yacht is finding a suitable CAD software, such as Solidworks or Fusion 360.

Lightning CAD Dock Designer is one of the most popular boat dock design software.

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Discussion in ' Software ' started by Joerg Furrer , Sep 29, 2021 .

Joerg Furrer New Member

Hello, everyone I am planning to build a solar catamaran. I am very used to solidworks. But since I am a mechanical engineer, I am looking for a professional example of a yacht construction on Solidworks. It's about how the basic structure is done by a professional in Solidworks. So I'm looking for a professional Solidworks file of a ship. Size and type do not matter. Can someone help me? Joerg  

Alexander Peter Bromley Student Naval Architect

Solidworks is not the best for modelling the hull form, we model in a specialized ship design software and then finish in Rhino or Solidworks with the detail.  

The catamaran is to be built in aluminum. It's mostly about the part above water. The demanding part of the underwater is constructed by a boat builder.  

Joerg Furrer said: ↑ The catamaran is to be built in aluminum. It's mostly about the part above water. The demanding part of the underwater is constructed by a boat builder. Click to expand...

Yes, exactly! Do you know some examples in Solidworks?  

TANSL Senior Member

It is not possible to calculate the scantlings with Solidworks. You need suitable software for this purpose. Yes, you could use Solidworks, although it is not the most suitable tool, to draw the scantlings planes, but nothing else. I can show you drawings and calculations of scantlings but created with other more suitable software.  

bajansailor Marine Surveyor

Welcome to the Forum @Joerg Furrer Can you tell us a bit more about your solar catamaran please? It sounds like an interesting project. Joerg Furrer said: ↑ The catamaran is to be built in aluminum. It's mostly about the part above water. The demanding part of the underwater is constructed by a boat builder. Click to expand...

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Tedd McHenry Junior Member

I'm in a similar situation. I've been using it for decades and own a copy, so it seems silly not to make use of the tool and my experience with it. But SW isn't a lot of help with the parametric aspects of your boat design. You'll still need hand methods or other software. This might not be important for your design, but I've also found SW a little awkward for creating developable surfaces. I'm currently working on a stich-and-glue kayak design. It's easy enough in theory to say that the hull shape needs to be limited to cylinders and cones, but it can be quite tricky in practice to do that in SW and get the shape you want. It's especially tricky where two or more surfaces merge into a common line, such as at the bow.  

Hydrostatic trim using Solidworks?

DelftSHIP model to Solidworks

Hydrostatics Calculator for Solidworks

Workstation for rhino,solidworks and catia

Is SOLIDWORKS a good CAD package for a boatyard's Design Office?

Maxsurf IGES converted & edited in Solidworks

Modelling Stringers - Solidworks

engineering CAD (solidworks / pro E) vs. boat software

SolidWorks Surface Models

Export a complex Solidworks model into any hydrostatic analysis package?

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Architects and Fashion Designers Are Penning Yachts, and It’s Changing How They’re Made

Vessels by names like benetti and foster + partners look great, but can they handle the seas experts share insights., by lucy alexander.

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Taking a Bow: How Yacht Makers Are Rethinking the Rear End

That design rulebook has now been thrown out, thanks to shifting priorities, new technologies, and the pandemic-fueled boom in yacht ownership. A rising generation of younger owners prefers watersports toys and wellness suites over cigar lounges and book-matched mahogany. Seductive superyacht concepts on social media promise a life in which families waft unbounded through fluid, open-plan, indoor-outdoor spaces devoid of clutter and supporting walls. 

Suffice to say, such experimentation is not typically dictated by dyed-in-the-wool naval architects but comes from a fresh influx of creative outsiders from the land-bound worlds of hotels, private homes, furniture, and even fashion. The designers serving the yacht-owning class of 2024 may be disparate, but they have one thing in common: Boats are not their area of expertise. 

For decades, a group of former apprentices of Jon Bannenberg, the godfather of yacht design, dominated the field with their trademark lavish style. Bannenberg, part of London’s “swinging ’60s” creative wave, designed celebrated vessels for the great and the not-so-great, including Malcolm Forbes, Adnan Khashoggi, and Robert Maxwell. Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, his protégés—Andrew Winch, Terence Disdale, and Tim Heywood—catered to the tastes of their plutocrat clientele (think fussy moldings, high-gloss hardwoods, tinkling crystal, and veiny marble), with their brand names adding pedigree to ships and their style seen as the hallmark of opulence. 

An embrace of the outdoors was a crucial focus for Norman Foster , one of the world’s most famous architects, whose designs for the 2008 YachtPlus fractional-ownership fleet, though controversial, prefigured some of today’s trends. Foster was perhaps the first outsider to disrupt the industry—“a conservative world” at the time, according to Angus Campbell, a senior partner at Foster’s practice who worked on the project: “You spend all this money, and then you have to look through these tiny little porthole windows; you’re on the sea, but you can’t see out. Why is that? So we looked at creating windows and external space that you can walk around.” 

In 2010, Vitelli found herself asking similar questions and decided to hold design competitions specifically for creatives from outside the industry. A successful initial collaboration with architect Achille Salvagni that same year led to a series of partnerships with other architects known for their global portfolios of luxury retail, hotel, residential, and product design, including Lazzarini Pickering in Rome, which did two interiors in the Benetti Motopanfilo line; Matteo Thun and Antonio Rodriguez in Milan, who are producing sustainable designs for the Azimut Seadeck series (the first of which will launch at Salone del Mobile this month); and Bonetti/Kozerski in New York, responsible for the interiors of Benetti’s 40M and 34M Oasis series. 

The results upended yachting convention. The traditional, strict divisions between interior and exterior were eroded, with “huge glass, huge doors” and a drop-down stern, recalls Vitelli, referring to Benetti’s pioneering “Oasis deck”—a lowered rear section with wings that fold down to create an expanded beach-club zone. 

Oceanco , a full-custom builder that counts Jeff Bezos and Steven Spielberg among its clients, now works with non-yachting designers under its NXT program, while Amer, a smaller semi-custom brand from the Permare Group , recently partnered with Milan-based architectural studio Palomba Serafini to create the award-winning F100 Glass Cabin. And in 2020, Giovanni Costantino, founder and CEO of the Italian Sea Group (TISG), reeled in the Moby Dick of designers: Giorgio Armani . The fashion maestro, who has owned his own yachts for two decades, not only signed up to create two Armani-branded 236-foot Admiral megayachts, including one launching at the Monaco Yacht Show this year, but also bought a 4.99 percent stake in TISG. 

The brand-name appeal of famous designers targets a new type of buyer, one who shops for a yacht as they would a luxury car, says Philippe Briand, a naval architect and creator of racing vessels as well as Vitruvius superyachts. The previous generation “came with sailing experience,” he says, “so they were more aware of functionality and constraints. Today, this generation are newcomers, and they’re consumers. That’s fine, but they need to be a bit educated about how complex it is to create a boat.” 

Ownership is expanding and changing. There were 1,203 superyacht projects under construction in 2023, according to the Global Order Book, an annual industry survey. That’s nearly twice as many as a decade prior, and demand looks likely to grow in line with the boom in multimillionaires: The most recent UBS Global Wealth Report predicts that the number of people with over $50 million in assets will rise to 372,000 by 2027, up from 243,060 in 2022. 

Gregory C. Marshall, a veteran naval architect based in Victoria, British Columbia, says his millennial clients (some are in their 20s) “just don’t seem to be interested in traditional superyacht thinking, ” adding that “they travel with a backpack and surfboards.” They want ships that are “less polished on the outside and a little more ‘How many toys can I pile on?’ ” 

But yachts are still status symbols: No one buys a superyacht solely from a love of sailing. “If people like the sea, in general they buy a sailboat,” Rodriguez notes. For grander vessels, clients see no reason not to bring in a famous name with no knowledge of the category “like they use a designer for a house in the city or in the countryside,” he says. “It’s a floating house.” 

Roberto Palomba’s vessel for Amer was commissioned by a client for whom he had designed projects on terra firma. “He knew me and he loves my style, so he wanted my style in his yacht,” says Palomba, who had no previous marine experience. 

The older generation of owners believed that conventional layouts by established industry professionals locked in resale value; today’s clients are much more comfortable with risk. Concepts aimed at this market include vessels shaped like sharks, the Star Trek Enterprise, and bird skeletons. Oceanco’s NXT offerings include Aeolus, a 430-foot gigayacht with a huge, sculpted primary suite and panoramic windows, and Kairos, which has the cosmic, asymmetric feel of a Tokyo shopping mall. 

Much of the work of external designers involves removing clutter. Giorgio Armani tells Robb Report that his blueprints were inspired by the clean lines of military vessels “and the optimization of space characteristic of old ships—away with all the infrastructures that can normally be seen, such as the tenders.” 

Inside his Admiral yacht for TISG, windows feature sliding panels to help create “spacious interiors flooded with natural light,” he says. “The sensation is wide-ranging and of total immersion in the surrounding environment.” The effect, enhanced by the stealth-wealth decor, recalls his relaxed yet deceptively decadent suits. 

Touring yachts as part of his research for the Oasis series, Enrico Bonetti, of Bonetti/Kozerski, found the interiors “very stiff, rigid, with furniture where nobody would sit” while also prioritizing “something flashy here, something else flashy over there. So what we tried to do is to link all the spaces together and have a continuation of materials and textures and colors.” The aim, he says, is nonchalance: “sophisticated but without showing it too much.” 

The main difference between the old and the new is a shift away from ostentation and toward a discreetly refined simplicity. Rodriguez’s mantra is “Always remove.” Instead of a bunch of gold and marble, he says, “we try to do the opposite, to keep only the materials you need, and never, never to show off.” He calls this approach the new luxury. 

Sustainability is another driver of change. For the interiors of Azimut’s Seadeck, Rodriguez says he selected exclusively recycled or recyclable materials, including a carpet made from discarded fishing nets, which Vitelli describes as “pleasant to touch.” She adds, “You don’t have that cold plastic effect—it’s like silk.” 

Change isn’t always welcomed by the technical teams who have to turn outsiders’ nautical fantasies into seaworthy vessels. “I’ve seen a lot of examples of yachts which have been controlled by the interior designer, and in the end [it] does not hang together,” says Philippe Briand, the naval architect, who prefers to work only with marine-specific interior designers. 

We were trying to push the boundaries and create a better experience for the guests, rather than make it easy to tie up when you’re trying to bring it into shore. – Angus Campbell

He particularly abhors the proliferation of unrealistic concepts on social media: “They’re all fake, to be honest, because they’re not representing any existing boat—they’re only the dream or the marketing of a young designer.” Moreover, these renderings are “polluting the market,” he says, because they give clients improbable expectations. “The client says, ‘You’re creative, you’re inventive, so I’m going to order a boat from you [only] if you’re able to do the same design I saw.’ Which puts us in a very difficult situation.”

Briand cites the trend for ultralow beach clubs, which he calls unfeasible in even slightly choppy water. “To make an attractive image in a magazine,” he says, the rendering needs to be “flat, all open, two feet above the water—and, of course, on the rendering, the water is [also] flat. It’s not corresponding to any real functionality. I mean, it’s basically fashion.” 

Marshall, the Artefact ’s architect, agrees that clients often bring concepts that are impractical but usually finds that, with “some minor adjustments,” the designs are “buildable without losing the aesthetic inspiration.” He says it largely depends on the purpose of the yacht, with an oceangoing vessel requiring more serious engineering than a Monaco posing platform—not every model needs to be able to “survive a hurricane in the middle of the Atlantic.” 

Marshall likewise welcomes the creative tension inherent in a meeting between external creatives and in-house engineers. “We look at it like a war,” he says, cheerfully. “Because the reality is each discipline is in conflict with the other disciplines. You may love the styling, but the structural people go, ‘Thanks, how do I build that?’ ” The way he manages the mediation process is to “start with the concept, go to a certain point and stop, then do a structural pass, then do a mechanical pass, [then] go back to styling—and the stylists of course look at it and go, ‘Oh, my gosh, all these engineers just slaughtered my brilliant design.’ And we go round and round.” The conflict is the point, he says. “When you get the balance right, then it’s a good design.” 

Palomba and Bonetti both encountered resistance to their initial ideas for Amer and Benetti, respectively. According to the former, he had to “force the producer to create big windows,” while Bonetti recalls continually clashing with what he refers to as “the rules,” such as having an elaborately set but unused dining table in the main salon. “For us, not knowing the rules [made it] easier to do things a little bit differently.” 

That often fruitful tension between outsiders and insiders can tip out of balance in the presence of what Marshall calls a forceful stylist. He’s happy to incorporate “round windows, triangular windows, giant staircases,” as long as the vessel operates as more than a stage set. 

One veteran yacht designer, asking not to be named, points to Foster’s YachtPlus as an example of form outweighing function. “It just didn’t function as a boat that well, in terms of the normal day-to-day things, like simply tying it up. A lot of the aesthetic inspiration that non-boat people come up with is very clever, but if it doesn’t meet the core usage, it doesn’t last very well.” 

Maritime regulations often curtail the ambitions of owners and designers. A client’s desire for double-height ceilings is hard to square with fire regulations, which limit the number of open spaces. “A boat is not a bag, it’s not a dress,” says Vitelli. “There’s a lot of substance—you’re buying a floating object full of technology, so [safety] has to remain the priority.” 

In terms of interiors, most still agree that the nautical nature of a yacht should be reflected in its fixtures and fittings. “A boat should remain a boat and should remain marine,” says Vitelli, adding that she rejected some architect proposals that were too close to “a New York loft.” Bonetti also cautions against mimicking residential styles too closely. “We’re seeing some boats that if you [replaced] the view from the windows with a street, it could be an apartment in the center of Berlin,” he says, adding that vessels can reflect their authentic purpose “without going back to the old mahogany interiors.” 

But exactly how should a yacht’s design convey its marine essence? It’s partly a matter of safety, says Vitelli: It must have “rounded shapes,” because no one wants to encounter a sharp corner in a storm; handrails and non-slip floors are also crucial. But for a superyacht, it’s also a matter of luxury aesthetics—which means bespoke built-in furniture. Anything off-the-peg “is not perceived as top luxury by certain customers, it’s luxury that we can more or less all afford to buy—Poltrona Frau or Minotti.” In other words: mass luxury. 

If the glass is actually stronger than my aluminum structure, why would I make it out of aluminum and not glass? – Gregory C. Marshall

When is a boat not a boat? When it is, in Armani’s words, “a moving house, with particular characteristics.” Today’s owners employ residential architects precisely in order to create the feel of a floating home. Such personal designs will inevitably conflict with the mathematical certainties of naval engineering. But the best shipyards welcome outsiders who bring the friction that sparks creativity—such open-mindedness is especially necessary as technology continues to expand what’s possible. Yacht design is not “an ever-fixed mark / That looks on tempests and is never shaken,” as Shakespeare might have it, but instead it must trim its sails to the prevailing wind. 

Lucy Alexander

Lucy joins Robb Report from Tokyo, where she spent six years reporting on people and places in Japan for The Wall Street Journal, The Times of London, The Financial Times and the BBC. She was…

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