AvA's 26m Kando 85 runs 5,000nm, and hull two is for sale
What is AvA's Kando 85, and where was she built?
V is the first hull of AvA Yachts' Kando 85 series, a 25.7m steel-hulled explorer delivered from the Antalya Free Zone in Turkey with multiple watertight bulkheads behind 8-10mm underwater plating.
AvA Yachts has delivered V, the first hull in its Kando 85 series, from the Antalya Free Zone in Turkey. She measures 25.7 metres overall on a 7.5 metre beam, with a draft of 2.3 metres. The hull is displacement steel with an aluminium superstructure, and the plating below the waterline runs between eight and ten millimetres thick. Multiple watertight bulkheads sit behind it. Delivery was completed in June 2026, and BOAT International reported the handover on 27 July.
The scantlings matter more here than the styling. Eight to ten millimetres of underwater steel is heavy plating for a boat of this length, and it is the specification that lets a yacht sit out weather rather than run from it. The tonnage stays well clear of the 500 gross tonne threshold that pulls a yacht into a heavier regulatory regime and a larger crew bill. For an owner, that pairing is the whole proposition: ocean-capable structure on small-yacht paperwork.
How far does the Kando 85 cruise, and on how much power?
Twin Volvo Penta D13 diesels totalling 816hp push V to a 9-knot cruise and, on both trade reports covering the delivery, more than 5,000 nautical miles of range -- enough to reach the Caribbean from the Canaries without refuelling.
V runs twin Volvo Penta D13 diesels rated at 408hp each, 816hp in total. Top speed is 12 knots and she cruises at nine. Both trade reports on the delivery put her range at more than 5,000 nautical miles at that cruising speed. That is an Atlantic crossing with a wide margin, and it reaches the Caribbean from the Canaries without a fuel stop to arrange.
Very few 26 metre yachts are specified this way. A planing boat of the same length often carries three or four times the installed power and burns it, which caps a passage at the distance between marinas. The Kando 85 gives up top speed to buy reach. An owner who wanted to cross oceans has usually had to buy length instead, and length brings crew, berth costs and a heavier class regime. This is an attempt to sell the range on its own.
How is the Kando 85 laid out for her owner?
The master suite sits forward on the main deck with its own private office, a full-beam VIP takes the widest part of the hull below, and two more cabins complete an eight-guest, four-cabin arrangement.
The layout puts the master suite forward on the main deck, with panoramic windows and a private office. Below it a full-beam VIP takes the widest part of the hull. A double and a convertible twin complete a four-cabin arrangement for eight guests. AvA handled the exterior styling, the interior and the naval architecture in-house rather than commissioning a studio.
That main deck master is the tell. On a yacht this size the owner's cabin normally goes below with everyone else, and moving it up costs volume somewhere. Putting a working desk in it says something about who the boat was drawn for: an owner who spends weeks aboard rather than weekends. The aft deck carries seating and a dining table, with a Jacuzzi on the foredeck and a swim platform aft.
Is a second Kando 85 available to buy?
Yes -- hull two is under construction and listed for sale through Smart Yachts, with delivery expected in the second quarter of 2027, while V herself is booked to appear at Cannes and then Monaco.
The second Kando 85 is under construction and listed for sale through Smart Yachts, with delivery expected in the second quarter of 2027. Maria Razumi of Smart Yachts introduced the first owner to the yard. AvA also has a larger Kando 110 in build. V is scheduled to appear at the Cannes Yachting Festival and then the Monaco Yacht Show.
A buyer looking at hull two gets what the first client could not have: a delivered sister to walk through and a shakedown season behind the design. Neither price has been published. The autumn shows are the real test, because a series builder in its first delivery is competing for an owner's attention against names he already trusts.
What does a buyer risk on the first hull of a new series?
AvA designed and engineered the Kando 85 entirely in-house, which kept costs down but meant the first owner bought into a young yard's new series with no delivered sister hull to inspect beforehand.
Founder Atilla Kucukdiker said the launch was "the result of the trust placed in us by the owners and the dedication of our entire team." That is the standard line at a handover, and in this case the first owner did carry a real risk: a new series, a young yard, no delivered sister to inspect. Designing and engineering the boat in-house keeps the cost down and removes the reassurance a known studio provides.
For a buyer the open question is resale. A yacht with genuine range holds its value when the survey supports the brochure, and the pool of owners who need 5,000 nautical miles is small but steady. A first hull from an Antalya yard still carries brand risk that a Feadship or a Damen does not, and the offset is price. Hull two and the Kando 110 will show whether AvA can turn one delivery into a series a broker can price with confidence.
What is good, and what to watch
Strong points
- Efficient long-range design at a compact sizeMultiple independent trade outlets (SuperYacht Times, Boat International, YachtBuyer) converge on the same figures for V: 816hp total driving a 25.7m full-displacement hull to a builder-claimed 5,000nm+ range at 9kt cruise -- a genuinely modest power figure for a serious explorer of this length.
- Explorer-grade steel construction8-10mm underwater steel plating with an aluminium superstructure is confirmed consistently across every source that gives a hull-thickness figure, including AvA's own spec sheet and independent trade press -- a build spec in line with dedicated expedition yachts rather than a coastal cruiser dressed up as one.
- In-house design pipeline with prior explorer experienceAvA Yachts did exterior, interior and naval architecture entirely in-house, and had already delivered two Kando 110 explorer hulls (Lady Caroline, 2019; Infinity Nine, 2022) before building the smaller Kando 85 -- so the yard was not starting the explorer-series discipline from zero.
- Hull two sold ahead of completionHull two of the Kando 85 was placed on the market and reported sold/under offer through Smart Yachts (broker Maria Razumi) while still under construction, per Boat International -- an early demand signal for a brand-new model line.
What to watch
- No track record for this specific modelV is the only Kando 85 in the water. There is no multi-year owner-satisfaction record, no resale history, and no independent long-range verification specific to this hull size -- unlike established explorer-yacht lines with years of in-service data.
- Range and even basic specs are not settled across sourcesAvA Yachts' own Kando 85 spec page (6,000nm at 8kt cruise, Volvo Penta D11 2x510hp), Smart Yachts' broker write-up (6,700nm at 8kt), and the press consensus for V at delivery (5,000nm at 9kt, Volvo Penta D13 408hp) all disagree -- and even GT is reported as either ~160 or ~199-200 depending on the source, including two different figures from Boat International's own site. None of this rests on a reported, independently witnessed sea trial.
- No outside naval architecture or design firm's reputation stands behind the numbersExterior, interior and naval architecture were all done in-house by AvA Yachts, per the builder's own spec page -- unlike yards that commission and can point to an independent design or engineering house's track record.
- A young entrant in a category with established namesAvA Yachts was founded in 2005, but its long-range steel-explorer 'Kando' line only began in 2019, and the Kando 85 is its newest and smallest model in that line -- a much shorter and narrower track record in the dedicated-explorer category than yards such as Bering or Nordhavn.
- Hull-two pricing cannot be reliably sourcedThe exclusive agent (Smart Yachts) and Boat International do not publish a price for hull two. Third-party brokerage listings found range from EUR 7,250,000 to USD 9,100,475 and carry mismatched engine/range specs, so a prospective buyer cannot get a trustworthy price read from public sources.
Practical detail
| LOA / GT / beam / draft | 25.7m LOA, 7.5m beam, 2.3m draft. GT is unsettled across sources: 199-200 GT per Boat International's own superyacht directory, YachtBuyer and AvA Yachts' official Kando 85 spec page, versus 160 GT per a separate Boat International delivery-news article and a Northrop & Johnson brokerage listing -- even Boat International's own site disagrees internally. |
|---|---|
| Build facility and delivery timeline | Built at AvA Yachts' facility in the Antalya Free Zone, Turkey. Keel laid March 2024, launched 8 June 2026, delivered July 2026 -- dates consistent across SuperYacht Times, Boat International and YachtBuyer. |
| Design / naval-architecture credit | Exterior styling, interior design and naval architecture are all credited to AvA Yachts in-house, per AvA's own Kando 85 specification page and Boat International's superyacht directory entry. No outside design studio or naval-architecture firm is named for this hull. |
| Accommodation | Four cabins for up to 8 guests: forward main-deck owner's suite with private office and en suite, full-beam VIP suite below, a double cabin, and a twin convertible to a double. Crew capacity is reported inconsistently (2-4, depending on listing/press source). |
| Engines / speed / range (as reported for hull one, V) | Twin Volvo Penta D13 diesels, 408hp each (816hp total), 12kt top speed, 9kt cruise, range reported as 'over 5,000nm' at cruise -- figures consistent across SuperYacht Times, Boat International's delivery coverage, YachtBuyer and AvA Yachts' own news page for V. This range figure is a builder/press claim; no independently witnessed sea-trial range test has been reported. |
| Hull two -- broker and delivery | Listed exclusively for sale with Smart Yachts (broker Maria Razumi), delivery expected Q2 2027 -- confirmed independently by Boat International's news coverage and by Smart Yachts' own listing. |
| Hull two -- asking price | Not published by Smart Yachts (the exclusive agent) or by Boat International. Third-party resale listings disagree substantially and are inconsistent with each other's specs: EUR 7,250,000 (Northrop & Johnson), USD 8,431,750 (Seattle Yachts), USD 9,100,475 (SYS Yacht Sales). Because these listings also show mismatched engines and range figures, none can be confirmed as an accurate current asking price for hull two. |
| AvA Yachts background | Founded in 2005 in Antalya as a naval-architecture and engineering firm (per AvA Yachts' own company page). Its long-range steel-hull 'Kando' explorer line began later, in 2019, with the Kando 110 (M/Y Lady Caroline); a second Kando 110, M/Y Infinity Nine, followed in 2022. A further, larger Kando 110 (34m) -- M/Y Helene -- is currently under construction for 2027 delivery. |
| What is not published | The price paid for hull one (V) has not been disclosed by AvA Yachts, Smart Yachts or trade press. The 'over 5,000nm' range figure rests on builder and press claims rather than a reported independent sea trial, and it is not even internally consistent: AvA Yachts' own Kando 85 spec page states 6,000nm at 8kt cruise, while Smart Yachts' broker write-up states 6,700nm at 8kt -- both different from the 5,000nm-at-9kt figure used in delivery coverage of V. The identity of V's first owner has not been named by any source found. |
Questions this story answers
What happened?
AvA Yachts has handed over V, the first hull of its Kando 85 series, a 25.7 metre steel explorer that cruises more than 5,000 nautical miles on 816hp. The second hull is already listed for a 2027 delivery. For an owner who wants ocean range without buying length, this is the trade being tested.
What is good about it?
Efficient long-range design at a compact size. Multiple independent trade outlets (SuperYacht Times, Boat International, YachtBuyer) converge on the same figures for V: 816hp total driving a 25.7m full-displacement hull to a builder-claimed 5,000nm+ range at 9kt cruise -- a genuinely modest power figure for a serious explorer of this length.
What should an owner or buyer watch?
No track record for this specific model. V is the only Kando 85 in the water. There is no multi-year owner-satisfaction record, no resale history, and no independent long-range verification specific to this hull size -- unlike established explorer-yacht lines with years of in-service data.
Who reported this?
BOAT International, YachtBuyer, AvA Yachts, Smart Yachts, SuperYacht Times, Boat International, Karbon Yachts, Superyacht Investor, Northrop & Johnson, Seattle Yachts, SYS Yacht Sales.
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