AvA's 26m Kando 85 runs 5,000nm, and hull two is for sale
A 26-metre hull built to keep going
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.
816hp, nine knots and 5,000 miles
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.
The owner sits forward, with a desk
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.
Hull two is on the market for 2027
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.
The risk in a first hull
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.