Rebuilt for $13m, 1986 Feadship Alaia Lists at EUR 9.85m

Fourteen Years to Rebuild a 1986 Hull

In 2013, Alaia's owner began an extensive rebuild of the 1986 Feadship, originally launched as Excellence, that would not finish until 2020 and would cost more than $13 million. The scope went well beyond a refresh: the hull was extended, a new lazarette was added aft, and the boat's pipework, wiring and steel plating were replaced section by section rather than patched over. Two new Caterpillar C32 engines, rated at 660hp each, went in alongside zero-speed stabilisers and a full suite of new navigational equipment. For a yard-built Feadship from the analogue era, that is closer to a structural rebuild than a cosmetic refit.

The logic behind spending eight figures on a 34-year-old hull is familiar to owners of vintage tonnage: a genuine Feadship pedigree, built to the engineering standards Royal Van Lent set decades ago, is difficult to replicate in a new build at any price, and hard to find on the brokerage market in this size bracket. De Voogt Naval Architects drew the original exterior, and the 2013-2020 work kept that profile while modernising everything beneath it. Brokers who sell this category of boat say what an owner is really buying is not the interior finish, which gets replaced again anyway, but the naval architecture and the yard name on the builder's plate.

A Second Refit in 2022, More Work Through 2026

Alaia went back into a yard in 2022 for a further comprehensive refit, with additional upgrades continuing through 2024 and, according to the current sales listing, into 2026. The work reworked the aft deck around a Beach House concept - expansive open deck space, a generous swim platform and a large lazarette sized for water toys - a layout that has become a standard request on refitted classics over the past five years because it borrows the low, indoor-outdoor social space of a modern build without touching the hull. Brand-new engines, a full renewal of technical systems, and new Northern Lights generators followed the earlier stabiliser and navigation work.

Two refits inside a decade is a heavier program than most 40-metre classics get, and it puts Alaia's total invested capital - not broken out publicly, but running well past the original $13 million figure once the 2022 and 2024 work is added - close to what a comparable new-build semi-custom yacht of similar length would cost without the Feadship name. That is the trade a buyer is being asked to make: pay for the badge and the naval architecture, and accept that the interior, however recently finished, sits on a hull cut in 1986.

Two Prices for the Same Boat

Fraser's own sales listing prices Alaia at EUR 9,850,000. BOAT International's report on the listing, published the same week, cites EUR 10,800,000. Fraser is the listing broker of record and the primary source for the figure a buyer would actually be quoted, so that is the number to use here; the roughly EUR 950,000 gap likely reflects either a price adjustment made between when BOAT International's report was filed and when Fraser's own page was last updated, or a VAT-paid-versus-VAT-exempt distinction common on European-flagged classics that trade reports do not always specify. Either way, a five- to ten-percent spread between a trade report and the broker's own listing page turns up often enough on resale yachts that a buyer should confirm the live figure directly with the brokerage rather than the last headline they read.

David Legrand, the Fraser broker handling the sale, has called Alaia one of the most exceptional Feadship opportunities available today - broker language that should be read as sales copy rather than independent assessment. The underlying claim, that a rebuilt 1980s Feadship of this size rarely comes to market, does hold up against current brokerage listings for boats in the 40-45 metre classic-Feadship bracket, where inventory is thin.

Five Cabins, Eleven Crew, One Owner's Suite

Below decks, Alaia sleeps 13 guests across five staterooms - two doubles and three twins configured with pullman berths - with a full-beam Owner's Suite occupying the main deck, a layout that predates the trend for owner's decks aft or forward on newer tonnage but still delivers the single biggest private space on the boat. The suite carries a 60-inch flatscreen, one of the upgrades from the 2022 refit rather than a holdover from 1986. A skylounge with its own bar sits above, and the boat offers multiple dining setups, inside and out, plus a four-person Jacuzzi on the sundeck.

Running the boat takes 11 crew, a heavy complement for a 41.8-metre yacht and one that reflects both her age - older mechanical and hotel systems generally need more hands than a modern equivalent - and the level of service a 13-guest, five-cabin layout is built to deliver. A prospective buyer budgeting operating costs should treat that crew number, not the headline asking price, as the more revealing figure about what owning Alaia actually costs year to year.

The Trade a Buyer Is Actually Making

The strong case for Alaia is straightforward: a genuine Feadship hull with De Voogt naval architecture, two structural-grade rebuilds rather than a single cosmetic pass, current-generation engines and technical systems, and a Beach House aft deck that brings a 1986 profile in line with what buyers now expect from a 40-metre yacht. At an asking price south of EUR 10 million, she costs a fraction of a new-build Feadship of similar length, and the naval architecture pedigree is not something a buyer can purchase new at any price point below the flagship yards.

The weak case is just as concrete. Top speed sits at 13.7 knots, cruising at 11 - slow even by displacement-yacht standards, and a hard limit on how far an owner can cover in a charter week compared with faster tonnage in the same size class. Eleven crew is expensive to run relative to newer 40-metre designs that manage with eight or nine. And no independent post-refit survey has been published alongside the listing - every technical claim here, including the scope of the 2022 and 2024 work, comes from the selling broker and the yard's own account, which is standard practice on a brokerage listing but worth stating plainly rather than passing off as third-party verification.