Free Playbook · Eight Phases, One Sequence

The Expedition Yacht Conversion Playbook

A commercial hull becomes an expedition yacht in a fixed order — take the steps out of order and it costs you. Twenty pages laying out the working sequence we run for owners: what happens in each phase, what gets decided, what gets spent, and what goes wrong when a phase is skipped or taken early. Companion to the three-part Ocean Xplorer video series.

The Eight Phases

One sequence. No shortcuts.

  1. Mission & budget — what is this vessel actually for? Two numbers govern everything.
  2. Search & shortlist — narrowing the world's commercial tonnage to three or four candidates.
  3. Tie up the vessel — an LOI before you spend a euro on design. A commercial vessel can be gone in 48 hours.
  4. Deep survey & costs — trusted surveyors fire up every system, then the work gets priced.
  5. Purchase & engineering — yard bids first, then own the vessel. Everything aligns, or nothing moves.
  6. Contract & parallel tracks — the engineering takes months; use that time to get the shipyard contract right.
  7. The yard period — old systems out, new systems in, every gate observed and approved.
  8. Delivery & handover — you look at everything you paid for before you accept the boat.

Each phase links to the part of the video series where it is walked through on camera.

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The Author

Written by the principal who does this work.

Paul M. Madden has spent 25 years inside the world's premier shipyards — Blohm+Voss, CRN, Camper & Nicholsons — and now advises a select group of owners on commercial-to-yacht Restomods, acquisitions, and new builds. The sequence in this playbook is the one running on his current engagements.