Wajer

• Category: fast day boats and large tenders
• Based: Friesland, the Netherlands, with yards at Heeg and Lemmer
• History: about thirty years of building across two generations of the same family
• Scale: more than 350 in-house staff, with design, build, sales and service kept internal
• Range: Wajer 38, 44 and 55, each in standard, hardtop or S form, plus the Wajer 77
• Wajer 38: 11.83 m, 3.75 m beam, 0.90 m draft, 8.4 tonnes half load, 46 knots top on the larger IPS option
• Wajer 44: 13.10 m, 4.00 m beam, 12.7 tonnes, 38 knots top, 300 nm range
• Wajer 55: 16.80 m, 4.65 m beam, 20.9 tonnes, three Volvo Penta D6 IPS600 of 440 hp, 390 nm range
• Wajer 77: 23.45 m, 5.80 m beam, 51 tonnes, three Volvo Penta IPS 1200 D13 of 900 hp, 25 knot cruise
• Range: 250 to 390 nautical miles depending on model
• Service: five Wajer Care hubs at Amsterdam, Saint-Tropez, Ibiza, Mallorca and Miami
• Prices: not published

A Friesland yard that stayed in the family

Wajer has been building boats in Friesland for about thirty years across two generations of the same family, in a northern Dutch province with a long boatbuilding tradition. The company now runs three facilities, the Wajer Boathouse and Wajer Yachts at Heeg and Wajer Super Yachts at Lemmer, with more than 350 people employed directly. Design, construction, sales and service are all kept in house.

The lineage runs from the original Captain's Launch through the Wajer 34 and 37 to the current range. What changed along the way was the ambition. A launch is a harbour boat. The current 77 is a 51 tonne yacht with three suites, and the company sells and services it across two continents. The family ownership has held through that transition.

The range from 38 to 77

Four hulls, offered in nine configurations. The 38 is 11.83 m long, 3.75 m in the beam, draws 0.90 m and weighs 8.4 tonnes at half load, running twin Volvo Penta IPS 400 units of 300 hp with an IPS 650 option that lifts the top speed to 46 knots. The 44 is 13.10 m and 12.7 tonnes on IPS 500 units of 380 hp. Each hull comes in standard, hardtop and S form.

The 55 is 16.80 m and 20.9 tonnes on three Volvo Penta D6 IPS600 units of 440 hp, cruising at 28 knots with a top speed of 38. The 77 is a different order of boat at 23.45 m, 5.80 m in the beam and 51 tonnes, driven by three IPS 1200 D13 units of 900 hp for a 25 knot cruise. It sleeps six in three suites and carries a Williams 325 jet tender of its own.

Eight and a half tonnes of day boat that no yacht crane will ever lift.

What the numbers actually mean

Two figures matter more than the top speeds. The first is draft. A Wajer 38 draws 0.90 m and a 44 draws 1.10 m, which opens up the shallow anchorages of the Balearics, the Bahamas and the Croatian islands that a deeper boat cannot reach. The second is the cruising speed. All four hulls settle at 25 to 28 knots, and that is the speed at which the boat is comfortable and the fuel figures work.

The top speeds are real and are a function of the engine option chosen. A 38 on the larger IPS package will see 46 knots and a 77 will see 37. Volvo Penta IPS pod drives are the common thread, which brings joystick manoeuvring and a service network that reaches every marina an owner is likely to use. It also means the drives are a specialist item when something goes wrong.

Range, and the limit it sets

Published range runs from 250 nautical miles on the 38 to 390 on the 55, with the 44 at 300 and the 77 at 350. These are day boat numbers. A Wajer will take an owner from Saint-Tropez to Portofino and back with fuel in hand, and it will not cross a sea without planning. Anyone imagining passage-making should read the range figures again before ordering.

In practice the range shapes how these boats are used. They live in one cruising ground for a season, based at a marina or alongside a larger yacht, and they do day trips. Wajer transports boats between its own hub locations for owners who move with the seasons, which is a tacit acknowledgement that the boat will not always deliver itself.

As a superyacht owner's second boat

The most common reason an owner buys one is that the yacht is somewhere else. A 38 or a 44 sits in a home marina and is available on a Saturday without a crew, a passage plan or a two week notice period. On a large yacht it also works as a chase boat, running guests to shore and back at 28 knots and covering distances the ship's tender cannot.

What it will not be is a garage tender. At 8.4 tonnes the 38 is far beyond any yacht crane, and the 44 at 12.7 tonnes is beyond most. A Wajer travels on its own bottom, on a shadow vessel or on a ship. Owners who want a boat this size alongside a yacht are buying a berth and a logistics arrangement at the same time.

Wajer Care and the five hubs

The service business is the part of Wajer that other builders do not have. Five hubs at Amsterdam, Saint-Tropez, Ibiza, Mallorca and Miami provide maintenance and technical support, with what the company calls flying doctors for problems outside those places and a stated 24 hour response. Winter storage, deep cleaning, engine work, storm protection and transport between hubs are all handled by the yard.

There is an owner app for arranging all of it, and the service list extends to fuelling, stocking, paperwork and restaurant bookings. Boats of 77 feet and above are offered dedicated crew. For an owner who does not want to employ anyone, this is the whole proposition. The obvious limitation is geography. Outside those five hubs the support is a visit and not a facility.

What it costs and what it holds

Wajer publishes no prices, and boats are quoted individually with engine package, interior and options driving the number. What is visible is the demand side. The used market for these boats is active, they are traded through the yard's own pre-owned programme, and the company runs charter and an exchange scheme that gives owners access to other Wajers at other hubs.

Running cost is dominated by three Volvo Penta diesels on the larger hulls and by berthing. A 16.80 m boat pays a 16.80 m tariff in Saint-Tropez or Porto Cervo in August, which is among the most expensive berthing in the Mediterranean and is priced by length and season. Servicing through the yard's own hubs is not the cheap option and it is the one that protects the resale.

Against the rest of the fast day boat market

The direct rivals are Frauscher from Austria, Brabus Marine from Germany, and at a different price point the Finnish builder Axopar. Each has taken a different route. Frauscher sells design and Austrian lake-boat engineering, Brabus sells aggression and the association with the car tuner, and Axopar sells volume and value. Wajer's answer is finish, silence and the service network behind the boat.

Where Wajer wins is with an owner who wants the boat to be handled for them and does not want to think about winter storage or a mechanic. Where it loses is with an owner who wants a boat to keep somewhere Wajer does not operate, or who wants the lowest running cost. The boats are also conspicuous, and in some anchorages that is the point and in others it is not.

Crew, licences and handling

The 38 and 44 are designed to be driven by the owner. Joystick control through the Volvo Penta pods makes berthing manageable for someone who is not a professional, and automatic fenders deploy without a crew member on the side deck. A boat licence is required in every Mediterranean country for craft of this power, and the requirement varies by state, so the paperwork should be sorted before delivery.

The 55 and 77 change the picture. A 51 tonne boat at 23.45 m is a ship in most harbours and Wajer offers dedicated crew from 77 feet upward for a reason. Insurance conditions on the larger hulls often specify qualified operation. An owner intending to drive the boat personally should establish what the underwriter expects before the contract is signed.

Who it is for: Owners who want a fast, beautifully finished boat available at an hour's notice in one of five places, without employing anyone to run it.