Valor
| LOA | 79.5 m (260 ft 10 in); beam 13.40 m; GT 2,025 |
|---|---|
| Guests | 14 in 7 suites; crew: 23 |
| Launched May 2025, delivered 8 September 2025 (Feadship Project 715) | |
| Hybrid diesel-electric | 5.34 MWh battery, up to 48 hours zero-emission running |
| Ice class | Bureau Veritas Young Ice 2, 2 m ice belt above and below the waterline |
| Cruising speed 11 kn, top speed just over 15 kn, range beyond 5,000 nm | |
| Design | Studio De Voogt exterior, Bannenberg & Rowell Design interior |
| Winner, Displacement Motor Yachts 1,500-2,499 GT, World Superyacht Awards 2026 | |
The first Feadship built to actually go somewhere hard
Valor is Feadship's Project 715, a 79.5 metre displacement explorer yacht launched from the yard's Aalsmeer facility in May 2025 and handed over on 8 September 2025, in time to make her public debut at the Monaco Yacht Show later that month. She carries fourteen guests in seven suites with twenty-three crew, and she is built to a Bureau Veritas Young Ice 2 ice notation, a class rating aimed squarely at the Northwest Passage and other high-latitude routes rather than the usual Riviera cruising ground.
The owner is a repeat Feadship client, described by the yard and by Boat International only as an American with a long history at the yard and three Golden Retrievers who get their own grass-topped relief station on the owner's deck. Feadship and the owner have not named him publicly, and this page does not guess. Valor is privately owned and is not listed for charter, so what follows is drawn from the yard's own technical release and independent marine press, not from a broker's pitch.
The hybrid power system, explained
Feadship's own release specifies two Caterpillar C32B variable-speed generators at 1,470 kWe each and two John Deere variable-speed units at 354 kWe each, all feeding a common DC grid rather than driving shafts directly. That arrangement lets the system run only as many generators as the load actually needs, instead of a fixed set turning at a fixed speed regardless of demand, which is where most of the fuel saving over a conventional diesel-electric yacht comes from.
Sitting behind the generators is a lithium-ion battery bank of about 5.34 megawatt-hours, which Feadship and independent reviewers both describe as good for roughly 48 hours of silent, zero-emission running on battery power alone, covering lights, air conditioning, galley and hotel load without a generator turning over. The yard also fits the system to run on HVO biofuel instead of standard low-sulphur diesel, which it says cuts carbon output by around 90 percent whenever the fuel is available in port.
A 260-foot explorer with a dreadnought bow, a 5.34 MWh battery bank, and an ice belt built for the Northwest Passage.
Built for ice, not just for looks
The naval-inspired look, a near-vertical dreadnought bow and unusually wide bulwarks on the owner's and bridge decks, is not styling for its own sake. Studio De Voogt's Chris Bottoms has said the owner's brief began with wanting something recognisable from a distance rather than another wedding-cake profile, and the practical result is a hull that carries a two-metre ice belt encircling it above and below the waterline, structural steel reinforcement rather than a cosmetic dark stripe.
Manoeuvring in tight, current-swept anchorages is handled by twin Schottel EcoPeller azimuthing thrusters plus a symmetrical-thrust Schottel Rim-Drive bow thruster, with Quantum Marine's XT Fin and MAGlift stabilisers holding her steady underway and at rest. Feadship quotes a cruising speed of 11 knots, a top speed a little over 15 knots and a range beyond 5,000 nautical miles, numbers built around long, self-sufficient passages rather than a fast hop between anchorages.
Design and life aboard
Bannenberg & Rowell Design shaped the interior around a mid-century sensibility rather than the glass-and-white palette common on recent Feadships, most visibly in a staircase built from just over 48,000 individual parts in solid bronze and stone. Fourteen guests are carried across seven suites, with an owner's deck that adds a private jacuzzi, an outdoor lounge and a dedicated office away from the guest decks below.
At the stern, a beach club opens through fold-down platforms onto the water, backed by a gym, a wellness room and a contra-flow infinity pool on the deck above. Forward, Feadship built what the yard describes as its largest tender door to date, serving a garage sized for genuine expedition tenders and toys rather than a single runabout, in keeping with a yacht meant to support diving, exploring and time spent away from a marina for weeks at a stretch.
How judges and rivals rank her
At the 2026 World Superyacht Awards in Venice, Valor took her category against what Boat International called hotly contested competition, with one judge quoted saying the owner was involved in every single aspect of the yacht. The panel's citation praised disciplined, purpose-driven design, balancing genuine expedition capability with everyday usability, and specifically noted that she was delivered on time and on budget, an operational detail judges do not usually get to comment on.
She is one of several Feadships that reached the water in the same stretch, alongside the 118.8 metre hydrogen fuel-cell Breakthrough, which took the yard's Motor Yacht of the Year award the same night. Boat International's own comparison of Feadship's 2025 launches singled Valor out for her bolder, naval-grey paint scheme against the softer grey-and-white of Moonrise and the crisp white finishes elsewhere that year, and for carrying the widest ice belt and largest tender door among them.
What is confirmed, and what a reader should watch for
Because Valor was only delivered in September 2025 and has never been offered for charter, there is no independent owner, guest or crew report to weigh against the yard's own account, only the World Superyacht Awards judging panel's in-person assessment and marine-press coverage of her delivery. A buyer or a curious reader should treat every number here as coming from Feadship's own technical release or from named marine journalists, not from an owner's own words, because none have been published.
One real trap in researching her: several yacht sites and blogs conflate this 2025 Valor with an entirely different, older Feadship nicknamed Valor on the reality series Below Deck, whose real name is BG and whose owner is the entrepreneur Bobby Genovese. The two boats share nothing but a nickname, and at least one aggregator's build-cost and ownership details for this Valor appear to be lifted from that unrelated yacht. This page uses only details tied directly to Feadship's Project 715, and drops the price and ownership claims that trace back to the wrong boat.
Engines and systems
| Hull, class and ice protection | Steel hull, aluminium superstructure, with a 2-metre ice belt encircling the hull above and below the waterline, earning a Bureau Veritas Young Ice 2 notation. |
|---|---|
| Generators | 2 x Caterpillar custom variable-speed C32B at 1,470 kWe each, plus 2 x John Deere custom variable-speed units at 354 kWe each, all feeding a common DC grid, per Feadship's own specification. |
| Batteries | Lithium-ion bank of approximately 5.34 MWh, rated for up to 48 hours of zero-emission, generator-off running; the propulsion system also accepts HVO biofuel, which Feadship says cuts carbon output by around 90 percent versus standard low-sulphur diesel. |
| Thrusters | Twin Schottel EcoPeller azimuthing thrusters plus a symmetrical-thrust Schottel Rim-Drive bow thruster. |
| Stabilisers | Quantum Marine Stabilizers, XT Fin underway plus MAGlift for low-speed and at-anchor stabilisation. |
| Speed and range | Cruising speed 11 knots, top speed just over 15 knots, range beyond 5,000 nautical miles. |
| Fuel tankage | Approximately 166 cubic metres, per Feadship's own specification; not independently corroborated elsewhere. |
| Watermaker and fresh-water tankage | Not disclosed in any source found for this page. |
| Naval architecture and design | Naval architecture in-house at Feadship De Voogt Naval Architects; exterior by Studio De Voogt (lead Chris Bottoms); interior by Bannenberg & Rowell Design. |
What owners and crew report
In-person judging praised the owner's involvement and the build discipline, not just the systems
The World Superyacht Awards 2026 judging panel, which inspects entered yachts rather than relying only on the builder's own material, said the owner was involved in every single aspect of the yacht and specifically credited the build as delivered on time and on budget, a detail judges do not routinely single out.
World Superyacht Awards judging panel, reported by Boat InternationalNo owner, guest or crew testimonial exists yet
Valor was delivered in September 2025, is privately operated and has never been listed for charter, so this research found no first-person account from anyone who has actually lived aboard her, only yard technical material, marine-press coverage of the delivery and the awards judging.
Yotters research desk
What is good, and what to watch
Strong points
- A real ice-class explorer, not just an explorer-styled cruiserThe two-metre ice belt and Bureau Veritas Young Ice 2 notation are structural and classed, not a paint scheme, and they are paired with a genuinely long, hybrid-extended range rather than a single headline number.
- Independent recognition within a year of deliveryWinning her category at the 2026 World Superyacht Awards, with judges specifically praising an on-time, on-budget build, is a form of scrutiny a yacht cannot buy directly from her own builder's press office.
- A hybrid system specified with real, checkable numbersFeadship names the exact generator models and outputs (2 x Caterpillar C32B at 1,470 kWe, 2 x John Deere units at 354 kWe) and a battery bank of about 5.34 MWh good for roughly 48 hours silent running, figures corroborated by independent marine press rather than resting on a single adjective like efficient.
What to watch
- No independent owner or crew account exists yetBecause she is under a year old, privately run and never chartered, everything known about how she actually performs day to day comes from the yard and from journalists at a launch event or an awards inspection, not from anyone who has lived aboard her for a season.
- Price and ownership are genuinely unconfirmed, and some published figures are simply wrongFeadship has not disclosed a build cost, and at least one build-cost and ownership claim circulating for this yacht traces back to confusion with BG, an unrelated older Feadship nicknamed Valor on the television series Below Deck. This page reports that confusion rather than repeating the contaminated figure.
- Several systems are simply not publishedWatermaker capacity, fresh-water tankage and exact tender specifications do not appear in Feadship's own release or in the independent marine coverage reviewed for this page.
Practical detail
| New-build price | Not disclosed by Feadship. No reliable independent figure exists; a cost figure circulating on some yacht-data sites for this Valor traces back to an unrelated older Feadship of the same nickname (see below) and should not be trusted. |
|---|---|
| Owner | Unnamed. Described only as an American repeat Feadship client by both Feadship and Boat International, with three Golden Retrievers who have their own relief station on the owner's deck. |
| Charter availability | Not available for charter, per YachtCharterFleet. She is privately owned and operated. |
| Build and delivery timeline | Launched from Feadship's Aalsmeer facility in May 2025, delivered 8 September 2025, and publicly debuted at the Monaco Yacht Show later that same month. |
| A genuine name mix-up to watch for | This 2025 Feadship Valor (Project 715) is not the yacht nicknamed Valor on the reality series Below Deck, an older Feadship whose real name is BG and whose owner is entrepreneur Bobby Genovese. Several aggregator sites conflate the two; verify any Valor listing names Project 715 or 79.5 metres before trusting its numbers. |
| What is not published | Watermaker capacity, fresh-water tankage, exact tender specifications, running costs and insurance. None of these appear in any primary or verified secondary source found for this page. |
Questions owners ask
How big is the Feadship Valor?
LOA: 79.5 m (260 ft 10 in); beam 13.40 m; GT 2,025. Guests: 14 in 7 suites; crew: 23.
Who is the Feadship Valor for?
An owner who actually wants to reach remote, high-latitude water in genuine comfort and safety, not just cruise the Mediterranean, and who is established enough at Feadship to commission a one-off hybrid explorer rather than a semi-custom platform.
What is the Feadship Valor good at?
A real ice-class explorer, not just an explorer-styled cruiser. The two-metre ice belt and Bureau Veritas Young Ice 2 notation are structural and classed, not a paint scheme, and they are paired with a genuinely long, hybrid-extended range rather than a single headline number.
What are the drawbacks of the Feadship Valor?
No independent owner or crew account exists yet. Because she is under a year old, privately run and never chartered, everything known about how she actually performs day to day comes from the yard and from journalists at a launch event or an awards inspection, not from anyone who has lived aboard her for a season.
What do owners and crew report about the Feadship Valor?
The World Superyacht Awards 2026 judging panel, which inspects entered yachts rather than relying only on the builder's own material, said the owner was involved in every single aspect of the yacht and specifically credited the build as delivered on time and on budget, a detail judges do not routinely single out. (World Superyacht Awards judging panel, reported by Boat International)
Design
| Exterior | Studio De Voogt |
|---|---|
| Interior | Bannenberg & Rowell Design |
| Naval architecture | Feadship - De Voogt Naval Architects |
Who it is for: An owner who actually wants to reach remote, high-latitude water in genuine comfort and safety, not just cruise the Mediterranean, and who is established enough at Feadship to commission a one-off hybrid explorer rather than a semi-custom platform.