Commercial boat operators often have the dilemma of whether to buy new or whether to refit an existing tried and trusted vessel. Advice is on hand from Berthon at Seawork 2024.
ABP's patrol boats Spitfire and Pathfinder recently benefitted from their life-extension refits at Berthon. Pulling on all of Berthon’s skilled trades, the vessels spent a total of 6 months in the company’s big blue sheds, receiving meticulous inspections, thorough maintenance, the necessary repairs, and equipment upgrades, which now ensure peak performance on duty at sea in the busy Solent and Southampton Water.
In Berthon’s experience, a life-extension refit can cost between 1/5 and 1/3 of the new build price. Refitting an existing boat also saves precious time as the procurement of a new boat is usually considerably more complex, requiring a thorough market survey, pre-qualification of potential builders, detailed tender documents and then a lengthy design period before the build even starts.
Working from state-of-the-art purpose-built boatyard and yacht sales facilities, Berthon caters for all aspects of boat maintenance from engineering, rigging to spray painting, welding & joinery for government agencies, commercial marine operators, and the marine leisure markets. A family run international marine business based on the picturesque western bank of Lymington River on the south coast of the UK, Berthon has been trading continuously for over 140 years employing 150 people.
