CRN Yacht Project Thunderball to Support Diving, Sailing, and Fishing

A first-time match-up involving Dutch and Italian yachting professionals is seeing the code-named yacht Project Thunderball begin construction at CRN. Her classically appealing profile hints at some of her further design enhancements, as well as some of the activities she’ll pursue.

The 230-footer (70-meter) CRN superyacht, standing five decks high, actually saw her contract signing one year ago. The shipyard and design studios involved, namely Vripack and Nauta Design, have been fine-tuning the features for at least two years, too. Vripack is responsible for naval architecture, while Nauta Design is working on the interior design, plus the alfresco furnishings. Notably, Marnix Hoekstra, Vripack’s co-creative director, says, “Our comprehensive approach gave the owner insight into the layouts, functions, and performances at every design meeting, enabling quick, thoughtful, and deliberate decision-making.”

Among those decisions, the owner envisioned spending long periods onboard cruising. Specifically, she’ll spend most of her time in the Med and venturing back and forth between Florida and the Bahamas. Especially for the latter, Project Thunderball will carry pretty special tenders. Why? She’ll support diving, sailing, and fishing. In fact, one of the tenders is a sailboat. Not coincidentally, the owner is quite a sailing enthusiast. In looking at the project’s profile, you can even see some sailing-yacht influence in the bow.

Nauta Design is working with the owner for an interior where the ambience reflects traditional and contemporary styles. It further embraces elements of the sea. These may come as no surprise, considering the yacht Project Thunderball has a classically nautical navy-blue hull. Ultimately, the megayacht will accommodate 12 passengers and 15 crewmembers, with a capacious 1,100-gross-ton volume.

CRN 145 a.k.a. the yacht Project Thunderball

Although details on the propulsion package aren’t available, CRN does say that a peak-shaving system will ensure more efficient usage of the gensets and other machinery.

Also going by her hull number, CRN 145, the yacht Project Thunderball is for a client of Y.CO. He’s owned a number of yachts over the years, though this custom yacht will be the biggest yet. Y.CO is serving as his project manager while she is in build, visiting the shipyard to keep tabs on progress and coordinate the subcontractors, too.

More information should become available as the project progresses. In the meantime, the shipyard is putting the finishing touches aboard the CRN 139 superyacht, whose real name remains confidential. She celebrated her christening earlier this year. CRN 144 is among the custom projects in build, too, one of the largest deliveries expected from the builder at 279 feet (85 meters).

CRN crn-yacht.com

Nauta Design nautadesign.com

Vripack vripack.com

Y.CO y.co