Silver's Motor Yacht Thelma/Life Aquatic

Life Aquatic is a 72’ classic motor yacht built in 1952 in Silver’s yard in Scotland as Thelma V1. Designed by John Bain she is an Ormidale class boat which were built between 1950 and 1972 and ranged from 48’ to 72’. She has a beam of 14’ and a draught of 5’ 6”. She is built of mahogany and pitch pine on oak. Her propulsion is two Gardner 150hp diesel engines giving her an average cruising speed of 8 knots.

Life Aquatic came to Stirling and Son for a two year major restoration and re-fit which included re-planking, re-framing, replacing her transom, a new teak deck and a re-designed interior. Every bolt in the boat was changed and she was completely refastened. Along with about half of her planking and framing she also had a new beam shelf and deck beams, new semi-swept teak deck and new extended wheel house. Her interior was designed by India Mahdavi design in Paris with Dubois Naval Architecture producing the interior plans. As many original items as possible were salvaged and re-chromed. She was rebuilt and fitted to the highest standard in every aspect and also to meet category C for her MCA coding.

She slipped back down the slip in May 2016 and was delivered by Stirling and Son to Monaco. She is now a private motor yacht based in the south of France. For the full story of her rebuild see the October 2016 issue of Motorboat and Yachting.