The biggest-ever owner-operated Doggersbank—a 77-foot Offshore—is being built at the Altena shipyard in the Netherlands for an American owner who plans to cruise in the Pacific Northwest.
“It’s a very experienced owner. He’s comfortable with the size,” says Joost Mertens, sales manager at the Dutch design firm Vripack. “With today’s technology at the bridge, it makes life much easier. There are bow thrusters, stern thrusters, remote control units to steer and maneuver from literally everywhere. The bulwarks all have capstans, so if the wind is picking up, at every mooring point you have assistance, which is obviously pleasant. Everywhere you have to be, you have assistance from technology.”
Inside Vripack, Mertens is known as “Mr. Doggersbank.” He’s been working for the past couple years on reviving the brand that came to life back in 1968, when Vripack founder Dick Boon drew the first Doggersbank boat: a 35-footer. Hundreds of the rugged, offshore boats have been built since then—nobody knows exactly how many, maybe 500, maybe more—and they’ve been constructed in all different sizes and in a variety of places. Owners have them today in homeports around the world, including on the U.S. Great Lakes, in Southeast Florida and in the Northeast.
“We supplied building kits, CNC-cutting packages. These were sent to people who bought those packages for 10,000 or 20,000 euros back in the day,” Mertens says. “It started to grow in the 1970s and early ’80s. If you look in our archive, there are hundreds of them. They were built from GAs. People put a carpenter on board and said, ‘This is how it should look.’ So they’re all different in terms of finishing and motorization.”
What stayed the same on all the builds was the Doggersbank design philosophy, which included a steel hull, aluminum superstructure, round belly, round bilge and what came to be known as transom immersion. It’s a Dick Boon invention that sees the transom stopping a little below the waterline, affecting the flow of water in a way that improves fuel consumption. The result is a boat that can handle serious long-distance cruising. Doggersbanks have explored everywhere from the Northwest Passage and Galapagos Islands to Antarctica and the upper edge of Norway.
In the early 2000s, the Doggersbank brand fell out of favor as new builds. Vripack tried to revive the brand around 10 years ago, but the effort fizzled. The current attempt to bring back Doggersbank is focused on the Offshore versions that were popular in the 1980s, Mertens says. They include the 77-foot model that the Pacific Northwest owner just commissioned.
This owner has been deeply involved with the project, particularly in creating the engine room. “He likes to be there and do the daily maintenance, for fun,” Mertens says. “He’s very keen on space, being able to walk around the single engine, having a workbench near there, a sink. He wants to keep it spacious, place the equipment in the right location.”
He also wanted an eco-friendly boat, which is why this 77-footer will be the first Doggersbank with a single-engine PTO/PTI hybrid propulsion system. At 6 knots, it reportedly lets the boat cruise silently for up to two hours on batteries alone and burn just 13 gallons per hour thereafter.
“It’s super cool,” Mertens says. “You create electricity that you can store in your battery bank. If you don’t use the main engine, say at the lower speeds going in and out of port, you can use the power takeout and run the shaft.”
The boat will have at least one generator, Mertens says, but the batteries can power hotel loads at anchor, including air conditioning. Vripack is bringing all of its superyacht design experience to bear in building out the system on the Doggersbank.
“We’re one of the studios with significant knowledge of electrifying boats,” Mertens says. “We’re now developing a 70-meter [230-foot] sailing yacht with zero fuel on board. The knowledge that we have, we’ve cracked the code.”
It’s the kind of new build that excites John Clayman of Seaton Yachts, which is Vripack’s Doggersbank partner for the Americas. “This boat will have no hydraulics. Everything’s electric,” Clayman says. “It’s so much simpler. If you had asked me 10 years ago, I would have said no way, but the technology has advanced now.”
Going forward, Mertens says, the intent is to continue developing the Doggersbank brand with eco-friendly systems. They can’t yet power a boat for long-range exploring (“that’s utopia,” he says), but they can make a big difference in the types of locations where Doggersbank owners typically like to roam.
“In fjords, in places like Alaska, you don’t want to go there with diesel engines anymore,” Mertens says. “You don’t want to be the guy with the diesels spewing all that stuff. Your grandchildren will have to pay the bill for that.”
This article was originally published in the November 2023 issue.
