As you can see from the images, the superbly-lined hull made for an imposing sight as she was hoisted out of the water. Having suitably impressed the onlookers, she was then carefully moved into one of our construction halls for the next stage of this bespoke build.

One of the key factors in Van der Valk’s ongoing journey to serve clients with very specific requirements has been to partner with leading experts in their field. A full-custom Van der Valk requires the very best designers and naval architects, and the new Jangada is certainly no exception. Designers Nick Top and Guido de Groot have worked tirelessly with the owner for many months to translate his innovative vision into practice.

At the same time, another crucial partner was creating the hull. While Van der Valk usually builds aluminium hulls in-house, the owner had this time requested a steel hull in order to have the highest possible levels of noise and vibration attenuation.  This led us to team up with the experts at Buijs Brothers Shipbuilders, a family firm with more than 150 years of experience in manufacturing complete hulls for yachts, navy ships and coastal vessels.

The company shares the same ethos and understanding as Van der Valk with regards to what it takes to offer a truly custom-built proposition to clients, offering the quality, flexibility and reliability needed. Buijs Brothers also has all the certifications required to weld steel, stainless steel and aluminium. If you understand Dutch, there’s a cool short movie here that captures the essence of this yard well.

Now it is the turn of the Van der Valk techies, engineers, electricians, painters, joiners, interior builders and other disciplines who have just a year and half to complete Jangada. You can read more about this challenge and the exceptional yacht that will eventually emerge here.