Outer Reef Yachts builds long-range motoryachts with rugged appeal, encouraging customers to voyage farther. Following a yearlong search for a Europe-based partner to help it grow, it’s merging with the Dutch builder Lynx Yachts. The latter will change its name to Outer Reef Yachts – Netherlands as part of the deal.
Since its founding in the late 1990s, Outer Reef has produced all-fiberglass yachts in a variety of LOAs in Taiwan. Its largest model to date is the Outer Reef 900, a semi-custom 89-footer (27-meter) in its Classic line. Because Outer Reef’s executive team has been planning to add more, and larger, megayacht models, it believed aligning with a European yard was the best course of action. The team appraised several shipyards in The Netherlands and Turkey, additionally visiting some of them.
Lynx Yachts, about an hour’s drive east from the Amsterdam airport in Nijkerk, impressed the team for a few reasons. Firstly, the members of management team have extensive personal and professional yachting experience. That professional experience includes superyacht naval architecture, construction, and operation. Secondly, Lynx Yachts has a few steel and aluminum semi-custom series under its belt, including the YXT and Adventure. It created the YXT series to hold all sorts of watertoys, as well as extra staterooms and crew cabins. Although some owners have commissioned them as shadow yachts, others have taken delivery of them as primary boats. The largest model so far is the 111-foot (33.8-meter) Lynx YXT 34. Lynx’s Adventure series, meanwhile, includes the 79-foot (24-meter) Adventure 24 yacht started on spec last year. This series leans more into luxury, though long range remains a priority.
Notably, the Adventure 24 yacht, with go-anywhere styling, has a new name due to the merger. She’s now the Outer Reef Yachts Adventure 780 (above and below). Launch is set for next February. The LOA means she’s small enough to anchor in small coves, and her draft of just over six feet (nearly 2 meters) is also shallow-water friendly. Additionally, she has surprising toy capacity and an equally surprising beam of 22 feet (6.75 meters). Therefore, ample space inside and out accommodates lounges, dining areas, and more.
The Adventure 780 yacht further marks the first of several larger superyachts to 141 feet (43 meters). Although specifics aren’t available yet, they’ll retain the focus on long-range cruising, reliable systems, and owner-chosen luxuries. All will see construction at the Outer Reef Yachts – Netherlands shipyard, too. The longstanding Classic series (top) from Outer Reef, meanwhile, will still undergo construction in Taiwan.
Lynx Yachts’ management team is being integrated to ensure its experience and the yard’s traditional Dutch craftsmanship continue reaping benefits. Jeff Druek, Outer Reef’s CEO, says the merger “aligns perfectly with our commitment to innovation and quality.” He adds that it will permit meeting “the growing demand for adventure yachting across Europe, the United States, Australia, and beyond.”
“The merger with Outer Reef Yachts represents a crucial step forward for Lynx Yachts,” says Slim Bouricha, Lynx Yachts’ founder and CEO. “Both companies have worked efficiently and effectively to fine-tune this venture, and we are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead.”
Lynx Yachts lynxyachts.com
Outer Reef Yachts outerreefyachts.com
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