“Cheoy Lee has been building large yachts capable of long-range voyaging for more than 70 years, combining fine artisanship and luxury amenities with cutting-edge technology and commercial maritime practicality. We are proud to have the opportunity at FLIBS to introduce plans for the Discovery Series. This robust new explorer yacht line and the new Cheoy Lee 130 truly showcase the modern yacht building capability of our family shipyard,” said Cheoy Lee Shipyards Executive Director B.Y. Lo.

 

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“The best part of the boat is on the bridge deck where you have the view of everything passing by. So, we put the owner’s stateroom up there on this model, and gave it a private exterior deck,” Boksa said. (He added that it will be no problem to provide owners who prefer a main-deck master with an alternate layout.)

 

Designed to be a true “pocket superyacht”, the Discovery 115 tri-deck explorer boasts many other features and amenities more commonly found in a yacht in the 130-foot range. These include a sun deck with bar and jacuzzi on the flybridge, captain’s stateroom aft of the pilothouse on the bridge deck, unique forward dining salon served by a huge galley on the main deck, and four spacious guest suites on the lower deck. Like its sibling yachts in the Discovery Series, the 115 also has beach club with wet bar, head and hidraulic swim platform.

“The Discovery Series yachts are explorers, so they are wide for their length, which makes them very stable. The large beam – which is 25’6” for the Discovery 115 – also makes for a lot of space inside,” Boksa said.

While interior volume is a design priority for the Discovery Series, Boksa made sure service access was not sacrificed on the 115.

“The main deck has walkaround side decks, and we designed it so the crew can come into the galley from the port side without disturbing the guests in the salon,” he said. On the bridge deck, he continued, “I added steps leading up from the anchor deck on centerline so the crew can run up and access the captain and run down to handle lines, etcetera, without entering the owner’s space.”

In addition to the separate captain’s stateroom, there is an engineer’s cabin aft of the engine room, which allows for the Discover 115 to carry a crew of up to eight people. This provides an extraordinary 8:10 staff-to-guest ratio, extremely rare for a yacht of this size. It also makes the Discovery 115 ideal for charter yacht operations.

“We are designing the Discovery Series for Cheoy Lee to span the size range of the pocket superyacht but still incorporate all the comforts that typically would fit into a much bigger boat,” Boksa summed up.

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Q&A with Naval Architect Nick Boksa - Part 2

Cheoy Lee Yachts is proud to introduce the Discovery Series, a new line of yachts combining the range, seaworthiness and reliability of an explorer with a megayacht’s looks, luxury and living space.

 

Downtown Sydney skyline in Australia at twilight

Q: How did your collaboration with Cheoy Lee on the Discovery Series begin?

 

A: My team and I met with Cheoy Lee Shipyards Director B.Y. Lo at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in 2023. We showed him a concept vessel that is an explorer yacht in the 120-foot range. B.Y. was very receptive because Cheoy Lee Yachts was looking for an explorer-type vessel that was both long-range and robust. So, we started with a clean sheet of paper and the idea of designing a series.

 

Q: What was your design goal for the new series?

 

A: The idea was to have transoceanic range in order to get to places that a lot of yachts can’t. Ample space for proper crew, a lot of flexible spaces throughout the vessel, and for the first one, putting what you might find on 150 foot vessel in 127-foot envelope.

 

Q: What is the concept behind the Discovery 127’s exterior profile?

 

A: My team and I do a lot of work on commercial vessels. We looked at offshore supply vessels that have that traditional look to them, that robustness. That’s what I was looking for with the exterior of the Discover 127. You see with a lot of explorer yachts where the pilothouse is pulled way back. They don’t really have good visibility forward. So, I wanted to pull the pilothouse as far forward was practical in order to give the captain proper visibility for operating.

Working our way back, I wanted to put the center gravity of the boat down low, and to bring the weight of the tender down. So, we left an open area on the main deck aft, so you can operate the davit and deploy your tender from there. The idea is this would be a working deck, while the aft end of the bridge deck, where the tender typically is stored, is for casual entertainment.

 

Q: Talk us through your design for the yacht’s interior.

A: It has a five-stateroom layout, with the master suite in the traditional location at the forward end of the main deck. That’s a good, comfortable, private location, which is why I like to keep it there instead of on the deck above. I like to keep the bridge deck aft open for entertainment for the entire group of guests, as I said. It’s the greatest place on the boat, right? The guests will be here watching games on the television or entertaining around the bar. It also has the best visibility all around.

The large main-deck galley is designed for ease of crew operations. It includes a crew lounge (one of two on board) and there is a dumb waiter from lowest deck to the bridge deck so the crew can serve guests on every deck easily. You have a formal dining area next to the galley for easy access, along with a formal salon for where the guests can have cocktails before dinner.

Regarding crew size, the concept is for typical cruising, you might go with a smaller crew, but there’s ample space for up to 10 crew, depending on whether it includes a husband-and-wife team. The crew has good access to the guest areas, but they also can stay private. Unusual for this size of yacht, the captain’s stateroom is on the bridge deck in the traditional spot in order to be able to access the pilothouse at any time. There is also an engineer’s cabin aft of the engine room.

 

Q: Will there be a beach club on the Discovery 127?

 

A: Yes, a large one. The concept there is that the transom opens up and you step in and walk down into the beach club lounge. There would also be a three-stage hydraulic swim platform the crew could lower down into the water.

 

Q: What is the design goal for the hull?

 

A: There has been a strong direction from Cheoy Lee that they would like to have a very stable vessel. It will have a steel hull, and the hull form is a traditional displacement style, with a sharp entry. I wasn’t planning to add a bulb, simply in order to keep construction costs down. At the speeds these types of vessels typically operate and the amount they are used, I think a bulb is not really as necessary as on a container ship, which is at sea most of its life. I added in a spray chime to knock down the bow wave and spray coming up along the hull. Cheoy Lee Shipyards Director BY Lo and I have discussed ways in which the Discovery 127’s hull can be adapted when we add larger vessels to the series.

Our team has not yet completed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studies on the hull of the 127 yet, but with twin 800-hp Volvo D13 diesel engines, we are estimating a top speed in the 13-knot range, cruising speeds of about 11 or 12 knots, and a long-range speed of about 10 knots. For range, our target is around 4,000 nautical miles.

 

Q: How do you balance functionality, aesthetics and sustainability in a project like this?

 

A: For me, being a merchant mariner, the balance is weighted towards functionality always. It is important to me to first be able to operate the boat and safely at sea. That’s the most important thing. As far as aesthetics, I try to go with a more a robust look, so it gives that influence of power and capability. Sustainability comes through staying abreast of the newest clean technologies and adopting those that are practicable, as well as working to refine the hull form and make it as efficient as possible.

Stay tuned for more on the new Discovery Series from Cheoy Lee!

 

 

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Q&A with Naval Architect Nick Boksa

To develop the new Discovery Series Explorer Yacht line, Cheoy Lee Yachts collaborated with Nick Boksa, PE (professional engineer), president of Boksa Marine Design in Lithia, Florida.

 

A graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and the University of Michigan with degrees in naval architecture and marine engineering, Nick draws on a wide range of experience in the commercial, military and pleasure marine sectors for his new and refit vessel designs. He has worked for Burger Boat Company, Davis Yachts, and oil-and-gas shipping company OSG America. As a licensed U.S. Coast Guard Third Assistant Engineer, he has managed vessel maintenance and operations for container ships and tankers. He has served as shipyard superintendent and fleet naval architect for ATB tugboats, tank barges and tank ships. He also has held design manager positions for refit, retrofit and new construction projects for pilot boats, crew boats, research vessels, passenger vessels, tugboats, tank barges in addition to production boats and megayachts.

 

In 2003, Nick founded Boksa Marine Design (BMD), which specializes in full-scale design and naval architecture for pleasure, commercial and military vessels from a blank sheet of paper. All Boksa boats are designed, engineered and built to exceed the operational requirements of their unique mission. Nick’s background working with commercial ships as well as yachts makes him the perfect partner for Cheoy Lee.

 

We sat down with Nick to learn more about his career and his vision for yacht design.

 

Q: What inspired you to become a naval architect?

A: I’ve been on boats my entire life. I grew up water skiing on Lake Michigan and when I was a teenager, my parents purchased a home in Florida. I would spend my entire summers living on the boats we owned there. It has been a lifelong love of mine, servicing and operating my family’s boats. I went to the Merchant Marine Academy with the goal of becoming a naval architect.

 

Q: Tell us some early influences that helped to shape your career.

A: My first real job out of school was with Burger Boat Company and my mentor there was Don O’Keefe. We would spend hours looking at photos of old black-and-white sailing vessels, the America’s Cup boats. Don would appreciate things about them you never would consider. This was in the mid-1990s and Burger hadn’t yet transitioned to electronic design, computers, CAD, that kind of thing. So, I had the benefit of working with Don, learning to do everything by hand, manual drafting, manual record-keeping, and building charts by hand. I ended up taking his hand drawings and putting them into CAD as we transitioned to that system, and then taking over and doing a lot of the design work myself. To this day, I still sketch some of my vessel designs on onion-skin paper first, just to set myself up for heights and dimensions before working on them with CAD.

One of my other early influences was reading articles about Tom Fexas – I remember the Cheoy Lee Midnight Lace series he designed in the 1980s. I have been aware of Cheoy Lee ever since I was a child, and so it feels natural to partner with the shipyard now.

 

 

Q: What sets Boksa Marine Design (BMD) apart from other firms in your industry?

A: Many of the people who work here with me also went to the Merchant Marine Academy or other merchant marine schools and we have spent quite a bit of time on ships, from climbing in the bilges and sewage tanks right on through rebuilding engines. So, we have a really good understanding of what it takes to manage, operate, and maintain vessels. My career has gone back and forth between commercial and yacht design and naval architecture, and I like to apply that robustness and that understanding of how to operate commercial vessels to our designs.

 

 

Q: What are some of the most significant projects you’ve worked on at BMD?

A: We often work behind the scenes for U.S. boat builders, providing naval architecture, structural and mechanical engineering support for their projects. I call it “backroom engineering” – it’s not glamorous, but it is necessary. Some of the shipyards we’ve done projects for have included Burger, Christensen, Derecktor, Egg Harbor, Lazzara, Newcastle, Nordhavn, and Broward, Palmer Johnson and Trinity, when they were around. One of the best-known yacht projects we have worked on is the 281-foot M/Y Cakewalk. We did a lot of small engineering and outfitting items for Derecktor on that project.

On the commercial side, we have had the opportunity to provide naval architecture and engineering work for shallow-draft barges, tugboats and a lot of conversion projects. One of our highlighted commercial new construction projects is the J.Arnold Witte, an 85-foot push tug for the lakes.

 

 

Q: How important is safety and regulatory compliance to your designs?

A: They are paramount for me and my team, with our background in commercial vessels. When I was working for the shipping company, we lost one of our tugboats and crew, so safety is always at the front of my mind. It’s extremely important to me not only to design a yacht that meets all the regulatory requirements, but also actually functions as a ship.

 

 

Q: What is your vision of the future of marine design, and how do you see BMD contributing to it?

A: I’ve been advocating for the last five or ten years for what I call “pocket superyachts” – explorer-style yachts in the mid-120-foot range. You can get a lot into a vessel like that and take it to every place in the world you can get to on a superyacht for less cost, and with less damage to the environment.

 

As for BMD, one thing I have done is to transition some of the ownership of the company to my employees in an effort to bring them a feeling of ownership in everything we do. I've seen how it has energized our company in that everybody is contributing in a lot of different ways now. So as far as BMD is concerned, I see it growing quite a lot in the next few years and hopefully contributing to the future of yachting for a long time to come.

 

 

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