The More Boats success story

In early May 2017 the prominent Italian sailing magazine Solo Vela  published an article about the history behind More Boats, their immediate success and the new More 40. Below is a translation of this fantastic article.

“More 40, just born, but already sold out”

“The strange story of More Boats, the Croatian-built yachts that you can’t buy because all are sold.

Split (Croatia) – There are some yacht builders that make important claims to have sold exaggerated numbers boats, only to have empty shipyards. There is no need of More Boats, the new Croatian shipyard, that within a year, has already had to move to a larger shipyard to meet production demands.

Located between Split and Trogir, the new More Boats shipyard is sited in buildings built by an Italian architect which are amongst the newest and most beautiful in the area. More Boats are producing two models, The More 55, which Solovelanet has got to exclusively try out last year, and the new More 40. Both models are designed by Italian naval architect Maurizio Cossutti, who is presently going through a golden period of successful designs.

The new More 40 is a well-centred boat, spacious, comfortable and very fast, as dictated by the Croatian charter companies that order three or four yachts at a time for their fleets.

More Boats has a very interesting history which began when More Charter, a half-Swedish and half-Croatian owned company approached Solana Yachts where from their charter fleet was usually sourced, to construct a new 55ft boat. More Charter would have paid in advance for a dozen boats if Salona had been able to offer the type of boat More Charter required, but the deal was not concluded. More Charter were not going to give up on their requirement for a 55ft design, so instead took the surprising decision to found More Yachts.

The new company was put to work immediately, with the former shipyard foreman from Salona orchestrating the direction of the yard and Maurizio Cossutti, who was the designer of the Salona range designing the new More 55. Within just a few months production began with a run of seven new More 55’s.

The More 55 is a beautiful boat, very spacious and very fast, yet at a very competitive price for a performance offered. News of the new More 55 spread quickly and buyers began to arrive. The initial run of seven More 55’s quickly became 12, then 15 and then 18 new builds. Every time the shipyard owner’s reported that the new boats were finished and focus would shift to marketing the brand to make themselves better known in new markets, a new wave of orders would come in and the orders books would be full once more. And so, after just two years from the birth of More Boats, still nobody knows anything about the brand, despite it now being the most productive yacht builder in Croatia.

After the More 55, it’s the new More 40, and what had happened with the 55 was repeated again. Orders were placed on top of orders and the pipeline that runs to build and delivery was soon full once again. The little marketing done in Northern Europe produced unexpectedly positive results, and so once again, More Yachts is operated at full capacity without actually having the opportunity to proactively market the yachts, simply because they cannot keep up with the orders.

Many of the boats that have been built are for More Charter itself as it goes through a period of renovating all of its fleets, but a good percentage will go to other fleets and a few lucky private individuals who have managed to secure a purchase contract.

We tried the More 55 and visited the shipyard and we believe that when More Boats arrive in the private market, they will attract a great deal of interest.”

Since this article was published, Grabau International have become part of a small and dedicated network of agents & dealers who will focus on bringing this exciting new brand and range of performance cruising yachts to the private buyer, either for exclusively private use, or to put into charter management with More Charter.

Production capacities are increasing and forward orders are now being invited for delivery of the new More 40 and More 55.

The More 40 is available from just Euro 185k+VAT* and the More 55 from Euro 441k+VAT*. Please contact us for a brochure, full specification, price & options list, and to discuss your yachting plans.

*All prices quoted are for a standard specification, ex-shipyard. They are non-contractual and may be changed without notice.