After the launch of Outremer 5X nearly ten years ago, Grand Large Yachting, the group that owns the Outremer brand, is once again placing its trust in VPLP to design the new 55 footer it unveiled at the last Dusseldorf Boat Show.
A novel aspect of the project was the method employed to achieve the design, which involved starting from scratch without betraying the brand’s DNA of building accessible cruising boats capable of high performance. “To get where we wanted to be, we had to do I don’t know how many workshops and meetings with copious toings and froings on approaches and parameters between the builder, exterior designer Patrick le Quément, and interior designer Darnet Design,” says Marc Van Peteghem.
Our remit was to undertake a comprehensive review of possible usages. In other words, we had to find answers to questions such as “Who are we designing this boat for?” and “What do people do aboard?” The study involved all the stakeholders in open-minded discussions where we unpacked all the problems. Everyone at VPLP was seduced by this innovative approach. “We work on other projects with Grand Large Yachting, such as the Gunboats, and every time they amaze us with their mental agility and receptiveness,” says Marc Van Peteghem.
As a result, the new Outremer 55 features a plethora of innovations without reneging on the brand’s signature characteristic, the daggerboard. What’s new? A fully opening door between the saloon and the cockpit without a step in the deck, an adjustable stern bench seat, a kitchen island and, above all, a foldaway steering wheel which can also be set in one of three helm positions. The design goal is simple says Marc: “Adaptability to the user, of course.”
The first Outremer 55 should be in the water by the end of the year, before its official unveiling in the spring of 2021 at the International Multihull Boat Show in La Grande Motte on the south coast of France.
It was an ambitious project: design a cruising boat for the next ten years which integrates recent developments in structural design and leverages Grand Large Yachting Group’s expertise in composite engineering.
Ten years after the Outremer 5X and two years after the Gunboat 68, the goal was to be able to combine performance and accessibility in an innovative catamaran without straying from the brand’s DNA. “To get where we wanted to be, we had to do I don’t know how many workshops and meetings with copious toings and froings on approaches and parameters, including feedback from the owners, the builder, the exterior designer Patrick le Quément, and the interior designer Darnet Design,” says Marc Van Peteghem.
Our remit was to undertake a comprehensive review of possible usages. In other words, we had to find answers to questions such as “Who are we designing this boat for?” and “What do people do aboard?” The study involved all the stakeholders in open-minded discussions where we unpacked all the problems. Everyone at VPLP was seduced by this innovative approach. “We work on other projects with Grand Large Yachting, such as the Gunboats, and every time they amaze us with their mental agility and receptiveness,” says Marc Van Peteghem.
As a result, the new Outremer 55 features a plethora of innovations without reneging on the brand’s signature characteristic, the daggerboard. What’s new? The passageways and watch stations couldn’t be more ergonomic, there’s a fully opening door between the saloon and the cockpit without a step in the deck, the stern bench seat is adjustable, there’s a kitchen island and, above all, a foldaway steering wheel which can also be set in one of three helm positions. The design goal is simple, says Marc: “Adaptability to the user, of course.”
The first Outremer 55 will be in the water by the end of the year, before its official unveiling in the spring of 2021 at the International Multihull Boat Show in La Grande Motte on the south coast of France.
