Coming back from a short visit to the building shed where my own new boat is currently made last weekend I was very much inspired by the beautiful and interesting range of skills and crafts which a master boatbuilder has to have at his disposal. From GRP-lamination to carpentry, from fine joinery to electrics and electronics. There is hardly an other profession combining the big and the small, the rough and the nimble. In this, I was reminded of the intricate and overwhelmingly exciting things I´ve seen in Sweden when I was visiting Linjett Yachts in Rosättra.
And so I thought I´d go through my +500 pictures again to make a list of the top 10 details I spotted there. The things which show the dedication and quality of a master craftsman. All the big and small insights which define the whole – a top quality yacht that lasts for decades! In this one sentence won´t leave my brain when I think of Linjett: Out of all 900 units ever made by that shipyard, they only know of three boats which are not sailing anymore! This brand makes yachts since the Seventies. Amazing, isn´t it? So, here are my top 13 (I couldn´t home in on just 10) craftsmanship details seen at Linjett Yachts in Sweden. But behold, this is a very long article! So you might get yourself a cup of tea or a nice glass of wine before starting to read …
Linjett´s trick: Have an incredible inhouse production depth
Let´s zoom in from the panoramic view into the details. We´ve seen it ourselves so many times: The more you buy in addition from outside suppliers, the more you lose control, the more you become dependent, the more your own profile dissolves. Your product will turn alike, low-profile and cheap. Sounds familiar, right? Well, that´s the trick here at Linjett Yachts: An unusually high vertical integration of production steps.
They have eliminated the need to buy parts from third party manufacturers as much as they could. The inhouse production depth at Linjett is so extensive that for example the shipyard tour I´ve made started in the raw materials warehouse. Thick chunks and big logs of timber are piling up here. Mahogany, Oak and other wooden materials. Roughly cut, piled up to dry. All of the interior parts the boat contains are made from scratch (!) by Linjett´s carpenters.
This does not mean that they don´t incorporate latest technology. I discover a modern CNC-machine that is used for precision cutting and milling. It´s a false conclusion to assume that doing everything inhouse always means extensive handiwork. Linjett doesn´t block progress nor keeps out the modern world. On the contrary: The huge investment into a high-tech precision machine like this CNC-robot shows that they are open-minded towards technology here. As long as it attributes to quality, of course.
Automation and industrialization, on the other hand, is not the way of Linjett. Where the big production companies and series boat producers can squeeze out the cost to make a product affordable to a wide range of people, it´s the exact opposite strategy here. Their aim is not to become cheaper and cheaper, more competative on a hard-fought mass market. Because they don´t have to. Here at Linjett, the people are in focus: Both the people who buy their boats but also the people who make them. With a staff roster of some 50 people in total, Linjett has a very, very small administrative overhead of just nine. All the rest are craftsmen in their respective special areas! Six people each in lamination and equipment installation. Five for engine, water, heating installation and four doing the commissioning, rigging and so forth. A total of again nine people, which is the majority for Linjett´s workforce (apart from the service & retrofit department), are ship carpenters and joiners. Something you´ll surely notice when roaming a Linjett.
No part is too unimportant not to produce it inhouse
Inhouse production means that there should not be a single part that you wouldn´t want to make by yourself. An example for this is the tiller. The smallest boat of the range, the 34-footer, can be ordered with tiller or wheels steering. Tiller, by the way, would be my preferred technique of helming any sailboat up to 35 feet and for sure the preferred way of helming a performance-boat up to 40 and even more, like seen in the Pogo 44.
Now, you could buy pre-fabricated tillers from many manufacturers in any quality and material you wish for. Or you make them yourself the way you want them. With complete control over shape and design but also the raw materials used. Here at Linjett they manufacture those beautifully bent tillers in Mahogany. This is where, for example, the precision-cut timber from the big CNC-robot is delivered to.
A Linjett tiller is composed of five layers of Mahogany, nicely bent in shape and laminated carefully watching and applying the grain of each layer. They wouldn´t show me the process itself, but I know from other shipyards and boatbuilders that form-lamination is a very costly and labour-intensive process. Hence: Expensive. But look at these raw tillers! I mean, they are truly a work of art. As a Linjett client you can even wish for a multi-colored tiller. I ask Matti Wikholm, Sales Manager at Linjett who takes me around, if they could manufacture a tiller here for my Omega 42 too. He smiles. I take it as a „yes“ …
Step by step: Costly production techniques for lasting quality
A next detail I´d like to talk about are the production techniques, especially in woodworking, which are amazing at Linjett. I remember very vividly when Beneteau showed us dealers the then new First 53 – it was the year 2019. Presenting this new yacht, the French pointed toward a detail in her joinery, namely the edge bandings. They were seemingly excited and very proud, having „revived“ this sort of technique. Happy to show that the First 53 had some of those parts made with a classic technique calles „bois moulé“.
„Bois moulé“ means „laminating layers of thin wooden veneers to make a thick, bent shape”, loosely translated. As the Beneteau-guys pointed out, this used to be the standard fabrication technique back in the day, but became very expensive, time- and cost-wise ineffective in series production boat building. Well, it´s still the standard prodecure for many parts made at Linjett. Where Beneteau only adds these parts very accentuated and only in their upper-shelf-models to highlight quality and tradition, in a Linjett, it´s a matter of course.
Take the entryway steps shown in the pictures. These are very important parts of the boat. I can only guess, but I´d say that on a normal sailing weekend every person aboard will use the boats companionway many dozen times. That´s 50 to 100 kilograms of people running down and climbing up such a staircase time and again. In this, these parts must be of a very rugged and tough quality. I know some wild stories of steps broken off, broken in half or at least edge-bandings flying away creating nasty heel injuries. So, here we are at Linjett: A step made in Rosättra will last a lifetime. Which is due to the fabrication process, the said „bois moulé“, hand laminated layers of wooden sheets.
You may have read my article about my own quest for some high-quality steps to be fitted into my Omega 42. It´s really a part of much concern for me as I know very well about the importance of the companionway for a sailboat. Here at Linjett, they will laminate up to 15 layers of Mahogany, Oak or Walnut sheets (depending on a client´s color choice) to get out one single step. It´s a very time-consuming and elaborate process. Even after the offcut has been removed, each step will receive a thick-quality edge-band. Such a step is very stiff and will surely last a lifetime.
You eat with your eyes first
Another thing that came up during my shipyard visit was the topic of „beauty“. No matter if I talked to the workmen or the management of Linjett, they always had a very strong emphasis on creating beautiful things. In a world of constant struggle to improve efficiency, of getting down the cost at any price or raising the profitability it is more than refreshing that those things are treated secondary here.
Take the above part for example. It´s the front cover of the island bed for an owner´s cabin. Again, it´s „bois moulé“, hand laminated, moulded to form a nice rounded shape one-piece part. It´s pure eye-candy to look at. The part alone as a proof of craftsmanship. But as the saying goes: „You eat with your eyes first“, this is the best example to show what I mean. Because these guys may have thought that upon entering the cabin, your first sight is the front of the island bed. It´s the very first thing you see when going through the door. So: It has to be especially beautiful!
This motto, to create beautiful things which are a delight to look at and make you smile, is like a red thread winding through the whole boat. A Linjett is full of those things. It´s the constant improvement of the countless small details which make the big progress of a Linjett. Not the usual „a new revolution all five-years“-approach of so many other brands. Everything they do here is always scrutinized by „are we making it nice?“ as well. You don´t find this approach all too often.
Obsessed with details
I´ve mentioned it: At Linjett it´s not so much the giant leaps but the attention to details. Take the following examples. First of all, most of the decorative and visible front panels of all woodworks in the boats feature a continous grain. As shown below, for example, the chart table where the fold-up lid is made from the very same piece of wood as the rest of the desk.
In this, when closed, the appearance of having a continuous grain in the wooden parts makes for a much coherent impression. This can best be seen in large surfaces, like whole shelf units, wall fronts or the floor-boards. Very few boat brands offer this because it is much, much, much more expensive to get the raw materials suitable for this kind of product in the first place – and it takes much more elaboration to make it. The bigger the surface is, the more expensive and labour-intensive it becomes to make in continuous grain. Solaris Yachts is one of the other few brands offering this high level of woodworks to such an extend, by the way.
See the grab hold above? The fact that the stainless steel frame is girded with leather is not so much newsworthy. But there´s a tiny detail: At the end of each side, the leather is overlapped and then stitched together. So, normally, you´d have double the material-thickness forming a sort of „bulge“ around both ends of the leather cover. Well, not with Linjett: The craftsmen take away half of the material´s thickness on the backside of the leather before applying it, so that after folding and stitiching it there is no such thing as a bulge. How crazy is this? I mean, this level of depth in terms of attention to details is just mind-boggling!
But it´s by far not all and solely done for the sake of beauty. In the above picture you see a nicely milled stainless steel part. It´s a simple hinged fitting that secures the front-loader fridge. For most of the time sailing, closing covers and hatches – mostly in the galley – will remain closed. But in case of heavy weather and large waves, it frequently happens that shelves will rupture open spilling out their contents into the salon. Nasty but also dangerous. I remember very vividly a stormy delivery of an Oceanis 34.1 – the whole trashbin-unit literally exploded out into the cabin in the course of the bumpy ride. The bin and wooden panels flew all the way through the cabin, nearly missing to hit my girlfriend in her face! This little metal thingy would have secured the bin.
In their strive to constantly upgrade and optimize the details of their yachts and the emphasis on creating timeless, beautiful shapes, a Linjett is full of such highlights. Take the above shown massive Teak grab hold to both sides of the entryway. Heavy quality, seaworthy ruggedness meet an absolutely beautifully made piece of boat carpentry!
No theatre backdrops!
So, when I speak of continuous grain for the decorative fronts and nice to look at details, don´t get me wrong: These boats are not just only „beautiful“. Mostly, when a focus is set on the front end appearance of things the beauty is a cover-up or distraction from a rather empty inner life. Just like your last date. A woman with too much lipstick or thick make-up. Sexy but character-less. Or that formidable looking man, dressed up in a tailor-made suit, handmade shoes, perfectly shaved, smelling fine with done eyebrows. Beautiful – but dumb. Nope, not here.
Looking behind the facade of a Linjett´s does not reveal an empty theatre backdop. It´s the opposite. Just take these push trays for example: Normally the tray itself would be consisting of cheaply made pressboards, put together with a few screws. CNC-cut puzzles – easy to assemble. Here at Linjett, it´s the carpenter´s pride to make a true, classic dovetail, putting together massive wooden parts. This technique of connecting is much longer lasting and also warp-resistant for the material.
In this, many of the push trays will receive extra decorative blinds – many of which are made from one big plank to make sure that there is this nice pattern of continuous grain. You can imagine the multitude of working hours and effort that goes into making just a single one of these furniture parts? Imagine a whole boat: That´s between 3.000 and 5.000 hours for a Linjett, depending on the yachts´s size. Far beyond the time- and cost-optimized production time of a mass-produced boat.
Eight layers minimum
Don´t get me wrong here: I don´t want to demonize series production companies! Not at all! There are pros and cons in every of them two approaches to making a boat. The big companies can offer their products for a much, much lower price. Thus making sailing accessible to a broad number of customers. The whole charter industry has only been made possible simply by the fact that there are relatively cheap boats available in vast numbers. On the other hand, brands like Linjett offer very high priced products in limited amounts: Special yachts for very special people. Where your ordinary production cruiser has an average lifetime of a few years, the first ever built Linjett is still up, well and sailing!
This of course has it´s price. Take the detail of matt-varnishing the wooden parts. If you have read my article about the industrialized joinery of Bavaria Yachts, you may have seen their automated robot for glossy painting. It´s a high-tech programmable machine that paints all the wooden parts utilized in a Bavaria. Their machine applies a maximum six layers for most prominent parts, less for the parts not visible.
As for Linjett, there is no such machine. Professional varnishers have their own dedicated vented chambers where they spray-paint the parts. As a minimum, Linjett´s wooden pieces receive eight layers of matt varnish paint minimum. Some parts even more to achieve a long lasting, anti-abrasive coat. They even have come up with their own proprietary paints, such as pigmented paint for a „chalk“-effect in light Oak. No machine. No never stopping line-assembly. Instead, the watchful eyes of skilled craftsmen, enough drying time, constant quality checks by real people.
Incredible room for customization
In any kind of manufacturing process you try to increase efficiency. That´s a natural strive in any company that makes things. Cutting time, material usage and waste production, efficient processes – all that can save money and increase profit. Customization is the enemy of any product that is made in a series production manner. On the other hand, special requests and the ability to satisfy your client´s requests are utterly profitable. Where in almost all mass-produced boats the range of individual choices is limited to a few pre-determined variants, at Linjett, it´s virtually limitless.
Take your ship´s galley for example. The maker of Corian offers a total of 105 different shades of colors for their worktops. By the way, the Corian base-material is among the very few things Linjett has to buy from a third party manufacturer. When in your average boat sometimes there´s only an upgrade from cheap standard pressboard to a single Corian-worktop available, you sometimes get two (one light and one dark) colors to choose from. In a new Linjett you have exactly 105 different choices …
They will literally custom made this single one worktop in your most beloved color just for you: Be it the Lemon-yellow, the Soap-green or one of the rediculously +50 shades of White. And again, not only the pure choice of the material´s color is special: look at the picture above. Instead of just putting the worktop onto the galley, again, their attention to detail and constant improvement has produced a wonderfully shaped, spotlessly crafted grab-hold. Isn´t this just awesome to acknowledge?
Innovation and evolution
This constant strive for improvement applies both for the small things, like the integrated grab-hold in the Corian worktop of the ship´s galley, as well as for the big. Albeit being considered a „modern classic“ in terms of hull shape and sailing capabilities, the Linjett of course adapts to an ever changing sailing world. The sails, for example: The classic Spinnaker is basically a thing of the past. Modern Gennakers, Code 0 and AWA-sails have completely taken over the market for light-wind sails. Linjett adjusts, explores and evolves. I discover the mould for one of these:
The Linjett 39 and new 36 yachts will be available with a custom made laminated bowsprit sporting a hidden stainless-steel structure. Which in itself isn´t such a big deal, you probably think. But this one will be special: To my knowledge this will be the first bowsprit on the market to have the electric Code 0-furler (by Seldén) completely integrated. You wouldn´t have thought that such a „classic“ product will come up with this, right? Well, as I said, it´s special here in Sweden …
Refining the steering post
One of the nice things I dicovered also were the steering posts. Again, not something all too exciting, you would think. Yes, sure: It´s just a post with a panel that has all the displays and control units available you need to navigate and helm the yacht. Not many brands invest much in making these look nice. Some will offer a more or less nicely made panel, some other (Jeanneau for example), just don´t seem to care and fit the displays to random places. At least this is what it appears to be.
With Linjett, it all starts with the details. For example the engraved and painted markings. Have you noticed that on many yachts after a certain time all of these stickers and painted decriptions will peel off, fade away under the impression of UV-light or simply vanish? That is something which cannot happen to a steering post´s panel of a Linjett.
The CNC-machine you´ve seen at the beginning of this article can be utilized for the heavy stuff – but is also able to carry out the small, nimble tasks. Just as engraving the shipyard´s logo, the descriptions and other markings into the helm stations´s panel. They add some long lasting paint into the markings, apply a decent polish and here we are: A panel that is nicely readable, doesn´t need any cheap stickers and that will withstand the challenges of many, many seasons subjected to the weather forces.
Of course, Carbonautica steering wheels are a matter of course in a Linjett, not a costly extra. There is also a certain idea behind the location of each instrument, display and knob on the panel. As I said, with many boats these panels are just an awful sight: Random placed stuff. No beauty nor ergonomics and intuitive handling.
It´s always this crazy attention to details! By chance I discover that these steering posts have two integrated LED-lights at their underside. When sailing in darkness, these will illuminate the cockpit floor and make the watchmen roam the cockpit in safety. These lights are placed underneath the steering posts´s panel, where they are protected and easy to access if something happens. Clever!
Made for real sailing
Up until now I have focused on the, let´s say, rather „beautiful“ aspects of craftsmanship at Linjett. But of course, these yachts are real sailboats made to cross oceans, withstand storms and last a lifetime (and more). Beautifully mirroring my last article about how a rudder blade is made for my Omega 42, I also came by that very production step at Linjett.
Their rudder blades are made inhouse, of course, in a similar technique as I describe in my rudder-article(s). Stainles steel rudder-stocks, nicely milled to perfection, laminated and filled with Divinicell blades with a stainless steel-inner reinforcement. For each Linjett, Jefa steering components are used such as the two bevel reduction gearboxes, one for each side.
The production of each rudder is somewhat cost-intensive and surely could be done in a much more cheaper way. But as the shipyard tells me, only by adding value in both material and production they can insure a long life of this integral part of the boat. Minimizing corrosion and fatigue is a number one concern when it comes to rudders at Linjett. But here it comes …
Later in the tour, roaming one of the huge winter storage halls, I look at one of the boats. Something felt strangely „off“. You may already have noticed in the picture above the reason why: The rudder blade! As Matti Wikholm tells me, every rudder of a Linjett has a sacrificial tip. These blades are made in such a way that the rudder as a whole can withstand the stresses of normal sailing – but when hitting something, a chunk of the blade can simply snap off. A clear predetermined breaking point. Just like a Gecko sacrificing his tail, but saving its dear life, a Linjett´s rudder will remain intact even if in case of grounding. The boat shown in the picture above, by the way, has been sailing on with it´s tail end snapped off for a complete season without problems …
Going the extra mile
Now isn´t that just fantastic? I mean, like a fully stocked box of your favourite chocolates, this shipyard seems to be a never ending supply of little but great stories here and there! A section I find particularly interesting but also a but frightening is the ship´s electric system. Well, „frightening“ is the wrong word, it´s just a topic I have the least knowldge and competence myself, a closed book for me.
But as much as I lack the competence, I have the „eye“ to see whether there is order, tidiness and an overall „plan“. Folding down the front cover of the main switch panel of one half-finished Linjett I can see the electric and electronic installations „behind the scenes“. Mounting locations, wiring pathways, connections and labels are done with care and a certain sense for order.
This goes for the small things, like the fuses and main switches, as well as for the big things, as I can see in an aft cabin. There the electric installations are wide open: Water heating system, batteries, main fuses and shore power electronics. Maintaining this boat from the perspective of an electrician is made easy. Also exchanging old or damaged parts and even upgrading. Everything, including the big Diesel engine, is fitted in a way that taking stuff out and putting new stuff in can be done in the least labourious way. Also a way of ensuring sustainability, by the way.
That a shipyard like Linjett only utilizes top-shelf products goes without question. And, you already guessed it by looking at the picture above, it´s again one step more here. All cables used to wire up the different electric and electronic parts of a Linjett are coated with tin, protecting the copper. This reduced the risk of corrosion and further prolonges the worklife of the boat. Matti Wikholm takes me to the „wire shop“: I see dozens of bigger and smaller coils of wires, all sorts of widths. He randomly picks one cable, skinning the end: Pure, silverish tin!
It´s the people!
I could go on for many, many pages. Really, the level of attention and details is absolutely awesome. I guess you got my point now. Am I just cherry picking? Maybe. But honestly, anywhere you look, it´s just the finest products. In the end, that amounts to the value of these boats. A value that is measured in decades here, not in Euros or Dollars. Linjett was and still remains a rarity in the business, a hidden gem. This all, that´s for sure, is the product of people, not the sum of all those high-grade parts making up a Linjett.
As I have already described in my first article, people are making the difference here. Their labour his valued. Their dedication is true. Be it the owners in their third generation now or the people laminating the steps, painting the furnitire, cutting the wires: They all showed a bright smile when they recognized me, keen to explain what they are doing. Nobody refused to being photographed – everyone showed the logo of their employer with pride.
If people love what they do, if they are appreciated and valued, the outcome will always be much better than the products of unmotivated staff. If your employees are only showing up for work because they need to spend eight hours and the only thing they look forward to is the time stamp at the end of the day, it won´t work. Be it the construction of a house, the service in a restaurant or the making of a boat. Quality has its price: Despite the materials used, it´s the human. A respected, cherished and valued member of the family. Maybe that´s their true secret here.
More Linjett-articles by clicking the hashtag #linjettyachts
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