Building a new yacht, setting up your own shipyard - not an unusual approach for formats over 24 metres in length. There are many reasons for this: Sometimes there are special requirements, sometimes clients want to have everything in their own hands and usually it is the hope that they will end up with their own ship more cheaply. These are all valid reasons for the client of the 27.50 metre long sloop "Joal", which is based on the tried and tested Truly Classic platform by the Dutch designer Andre Hoek.
Proven Truly Classic platform as the basis
After many cost estimates, the enthusiastic shipyard founder ordered an aluminium hull from Bloemsma at the end of January 2017 and set up the Shipborn pop-up shipyard on the southern outskirts of Utrecht. The fourth unit of the Truly Classic 90 small series, which "Kealoha" founded in 2008, was built here. Special requests included a larger engine compartment for the hybrid drive and fewer but larger cabins. In July 2017, a young team of mostly students, some of whom were using the "Joal" build for their final theses, started outfitting and fitting it out - a fully painted hull with aluminium deck and superstructure was delivered. Two building blocks of the Shipborn manifesto were: "bureaucracy is spelled bureaucrazy" and "age is just a number".
A Truly Classic with many special requests
"Joal" leaves the harbour with hybrid propulsion - the Volvo main engine is supported by an e-backup with lithium batteries. Despite the classically constricted hull shape with long overhangs, the client wanted easy access on and off board. The comfort package therefore also includes a hydraulic stern passarelle and a side-folding boarding and swimming platform, from which the bathing ladder automatically extends for the first time in the TC-90 series. Hall Spars from Breskens in the Netherlands supplies the rig components, which are designed to support an upwind sail area of 450 square metres.
Truly Classic 90 "Joal"
