Coolest things happening in the Pacific Northwest is composite construction

“One of the coolest things happening in the Pacific Northwest is composite construction and where it’s going technically is just crazy.”

Just down the highway, you’ll find one of the key collaborators Purdy was referring to. Under the shadow of Boeing’s vast R&D facility, Delta Marine was putting the finishing touches to the recently launched 53.3m MLR. This family-run shipyard is the American custom superyacht market. While others have left the market reluctantly, Delta continues to enjoy success, supplementing its activity with a strong refit and repair program. 

“I think we [as an industry] need to co-mingle more and Seattle is the perfect place to do that,” says Michelle Jones, Delta’s director of marketing. “One of the coolest things happening in the Pacific Northwest is composite construction and where it’s going technically is just crazy. All of a sudden, there are a couple of schools in the area teaching composite construction and they’re overloaded. America’s Cup boats … a lot of the technology came from the Pacific Northwest, so there’s a community. It’s a quiet place and nobody is really boastful; they just keep doing what they’re doing.” 

This couldn’t be more of true of Delta Marine; its fleet of 38 superyachts has largely been delivered to their owners without fanfare or publicity. In fact, as Jones explains, “About 30 percent of our business is now refit”, although, again, this operates on a need-to-know basis with refit operations ticking over since the yard first started doing them in 1990. 

In essence, this operation encapsulates the local culture; it’s a site that has remained under the same ownership for several generations, has its labor either stationed on-site or sourced locally and has a loyal client base that understands its products despite the lack of overt marketing visibility. 

This covert commercialism practiced by Delta is summarised by the fact that in all my time in the industry, my visit to a near-completed MLR is my first aboard a Delta. And I can honestly say I’m very impressed – by the space, the design details and the finishing. As we walked through the vessel, we come across Jeff Homchick, a local stone artist whose marble work is among the most sought after in the world and is present on more than 250 yachts. 

“I love taking people on tours of Deltas,” says Jones as we reach the main deck, “because it’s right about now that they say, ‘What did you say the length of this boat was?’.” It’s a typically modest assertion and one that captures the essence of this brand.