In the past two years, I’ve gotten to see quite a few shipyards where megayachts get built, but most have been in Europe. (I’d name them but fear I’d leave one off.) In the process, I’ve learned a lot about construction methods and how projects reach completion.
But I can most clearly see the impact of a yard’s success in Northeastern Wisconsin for no other reason than I used to live there and I have family that still does. My grandpa knows people who have worked in local yards, the builders and welders and other skilled craftsmen.
And soon more of these skilled workers will be needed at Sturgeon Bay-based Palmer Johnson, which just signed two contracts for 64-meter (210-foot) Project Hermes and 65-meter (215-foot) Project Stimulus.
The Door County Advocate reports that the Nuvolari-Lenard-designed vessels will bring between 150 and 200 jobs to the yard and an estimated 500 jobs to the surrounding area.
The well-named Project Stimulus will have twin MTU 16B4000s, sleep 12 in six guest rooms, and launch in 2013.
Project Hermes shares the sleeping arrangements, engines, and similar lines of Stimulus but doesn’t have that forward pool.
To get a sense of how these yachts will look once they launch in a couple years, check out this video of the 170-foot DB9 cruising at 32 knots.
