Growing from less than 10 to more than 80 employees, our yard isn’t same yard it was 25 years ago. Times change and we’re changing with it. What hasn’t changed is our location, the small Frisian village of Makkum. It has been our home from the very start and its down to earth mentality keeps us healthy and focussed.
Heritage
Rooted in the fishing village of Makkum, engineering freedom has always been part of our DNA. For generations, living with the sea meant understanding it, respecting it, and engineering solutions that simply work. That mindset shaped a culture of clarity, cooperation and responsibility, the foundation on which KM Yachtbuilders was built in 1998.
By designing and building every yacht entirely in-house, we give owners true freedom: freedom in design, freedom in engineering, and freedom to sail without compromise. When the margin between sink or swim is measured in millimetres, there is no room for shortcuts — only for absolute precision, proven engineering and timeless craftsmanship.
At KM Yachtbuilders, engineering freedom is not a slogan. It is a way of working, refined over decades and applied to every yacht we build.
KMY is born when Eeuwe Kooi moves from yacht repair and storage to yacht building by aquiring their bankrupt neighbour’s yard.
KMY starts working with DNA, Dykstra Naval Architects and the build of Bestevaer 2, Gerard Dijkstra’s personal aluminium yacht really gets things going.
Build of Bestevaer 76S ‘Annagine’ (now ‘Aurelius’), the biggest Bestevaer to date.
Celebrating 10 years of KMY. A year for reflection as well as looking ahead.
As the business grows, the office starts to feel a bit cramped. Time to build a brand spanking new office space.
Delivery of our biggest boat yet, the ‘Tulip 88’, a German Frers design.
Introduction of the Bestevaer 45 Pure. Our semi-custom yacht build concept.
Delivered at the end of 2018, OCD 66 Qilak is a custom sailing yacht where engineering freedom defined the brief. Designed by Owen Clarke Yacht Design, she was built with safety and robustness as key criteria, featuring ice-reinforced hull plating, a collision bulkhead, an ice girder and five watertight doors. Engineered for high-latitude sailing, pole to pole, as the owner puts it.
Build of NanuQ. With her 24 meter, NanuQ (Inuït for polar bear) isn’t our longest, but in volume still our biggest build to date. And as her name suggests she was built for the arctic.
2020 sees another Bestevaer introduction. This time one without sails: the Bestevaer Motoryacht.
Delivery of Pelagic 77, Skip Novak’s latest expedition ship, ready to explore the seven seas and beyond.
Translating the customer’s demands and wishes into a comfortable, reliable and safe yacht is basically what the design process entails. It all starts with listening to the customer, what do they want, what do they need and how can we make that happen.
Aluminium is our material of choice when it comes to yacht building. It is lightweight, strong, stiff, low maintenance and customisable. Moreover, it can be recycled indefinitely.
A yacht isn’t built in a day. For the future owner it starts when after years of dreaming they decide that the time to have their own yacht built, is now.
Between the first contact with a customer and the moment that champagne bottle hits the hull around 50 people have put in their share to create the customers dream yacht. The way we work differs from other companies in the way that we realise every chain in this link is equally vital to have every boat meet our standards. Every part between bow and stern has been thought over, discussed, designed, constructed and assembled by self-managing teams. All of our people, from the yard floor to the design studio, to the administration office, work for the same goal are all equally responsible for getting there.
Our team is always ready to assist our yacht owners with advice and assistance in the event of contingencies.
Every yacht we built is unique, and built specifically for its owner. No two yachts are the same, as each owner has his own wishes and demands.