XPM78 is going to be painted!

The XPM78 Vanguard, the second version of the XPM78, the first of which we launched in 2021, will be orange!

Our American Customer, who has a 45-year history in the maritime industry, which started with the UK merchant navy, explained to us the reason why they preferred their boats in orange.

"Taking our family to sea for a year or more was always about compromise. Compromise in every aspect of designing our yacht. One significant area of that compromise was between me, an ex-seagoing engineer with simple, practical leanings, and my wife Sebrina, with her bent for aesthetics and the elegance of design. Put another way, I'd happily moor next to a Hull trawlerman, and my spouse is more likely comfortable in an up-market Meddeteranian marina.

Our latest and mostly good-natured discussion focussed on the hull of Vanguard, a 78-foot aluminum explorer yacht being the second of three constructed by Naval Yachts in Antalya. This design genre of extreme range, good hull speed, and robust construction. Typically the hulls are left unpainted marine grade aluminum. Pick any similar example, be it FPBs from the pen of Steve Dashew to Pelegous from Skip Novak or the LRC Range from Artnautica; they are all kept in the raw state, slowly weathering to a dull grey. Low maintenance, damage resistant, and low-cost choice.

Not so my wife. And try as I might, quoting knowledgeable members of the marine forum and advertising materials from other manufacturers, the lady was not for turning. Vanguard was to be her home; if she was to be happy, then looks mattered. Luckily for me, Naval Yachts are very accommodating to clients' wishes.

So our first foray was to develop a plan using US or UK Naval marine colors. Shades of grey or black with perhaps a hull number on the bow. The graphic sketches did look mean, but it dawned upon us that Warships are painted that way in the hope that they are not easily spotted. Maybe not the best strategy for a ship venturing to the middle of nowhere. So our next iteration was to be less shy and go for something more visible. We were taking a cue from about every rescue craft and pilot boat on this planet. We will paint Vanguard's hull a bright "rescue orange." Luckily for us, that mixes well with black and gray in the same pallet, so adding those produced what others have deemed to be a mean yet modern color scheme. A scheme that's visible with an untrained eye from the maximum distance possible, in any weather condition, and with any background rock, ice, or foliage.

Understand that this is not a low-cost exercise, but what is on a yacht? Naval Yachts provided a competitive change order, and we will fair the hull and paint her newly sleek exterior.

Hide, we cannot. Stand out; we will. My wife will now feel comfortable warmth at that mediteranian marine in the knowledge or the visuals, and I can still merge into the background next to the local coast guard cutter or pilot boat. Another compromise and marital harmony endure."