Yachtbox turns a laid-up 38m Proton into the 45m Luis Lima

From six years idle to a 45m relaunch

Proton was a 38m motor yacht built in the early 1990s by the Greek yard Panteleakos, then left idle for about six years in Greece. It has since been bought, moved to the Yachtbox facility in Izmir, and cut open, with work beginning in May 2024. The hull has been lengthened by seven metres to 45m, with naval architecture by Alfa Marine Design and a full exterior and interior redesign by Baran Akalin Yacht Design. Relaunch is expected in late 2026, when the boat re-enters service as Luis Lima.

The seven added metres do most of the work. They carry a 90 sqm beach club with fold-down balconies, a pool and jacuzzi, integrated lounge and dining, and a rotatable television that drops into the floor. Elsewhere the boat gains a wellness centre with sauna and a seven-metre pool, a walk-through wine cellar, two saloons, five guest cabins, an 85 sqm flydeck with a further jacuzzi, and a four-person elevator. That is a feature list rarely seen on a 45m yacht, and none of it existed on the original 38m boat.

Why a distressed hull can beat a new order

For a buyer, the appeal is arithmetic. A tired 1990s hull can be acquired for a fraction of a new build, and the extension is the value lever, because seven metres buys both interior volume and the beach club that today's charter guests expect. It also moves the yacht into a size and specification the original 38m platform could never offer. From steel-cutting in May 2024 to a late-2026 relaunch, the timeline is roughly two and a half years, inside the wait for many new orders.

The caution is that a laid-up hull is not a clean sheet. Lengthening a hull brings structural, class and stability work, and every system, the paint and the full interior are new spend on top of the purchase. A rebuild's final bill can climb toward new-build territory once all of that is counted, so the case rests on the hull's condition and the yard holding its scope. Luis Lima is the test of whether the sums hold at 45m.

Izmir's pitch to the rebuild market

The job also puts a spotlight on where it is being done. Yachtbox is executing the rebuild at Izmir, on Turkey's Aegean coast, where a cluster of refit and rebuild yards has grown up competing with Mediterranean facilities largely on cost and labour. A 45m rebuild with this level of specification is a step up in ambition for that base.

For owners deciding where to place a project, the trade is familiar. Turkish yards can offer capacity and price against the established Med and Northern European refit names, but a rebuild done outside the traditional houses raises its own questions on class, warranty and how the finished yacht is later perceived on the market. Luis Lima will be a visible data point on both sides of that ledger when she relaunches.