HARLINGEN – Houseboats have long looked like floating log cabins. Luckily, the SRF shipyard yard has come to the rescue with Cruising Homes, sophisticated vessels that let you “experience a different way of yachting, living and traveling.”
The SRF yard has been building inland and offshore steel vessels for over 40 years. It took its first Cruising Home to the 2015 Boot Düsseldorf where it scored several orders. The plan then was to build serial-built houseboats with a standard interior, but that idea quickly tanked. The market demanded customization.
SRF Project Manager Marco Brattinga: “No two Cruising Homes are the same. We have standard specifications, but anything is possible within the hull’s dimensions.” Prices start at around €500,000 and can creep up to almost €2 million.”
SRF Shipbuilding partners with Marina Düsseldorf owner Rolf Gast. Right now, there are three Cruising Homes at that marina.
The leading Cruising Home designer was Jan Visser, who died in 2019. The company then approached the Olivier van Meer studio. Today, Cruising Home comes in several models: the 12m and 15m (39 and 49ft) Traveller, the 12.5m (41ft) and 15m (49ft) Explorer and the 15m (49ft) Explorer Open Deck.
SRF is now building a 15m (49ft) CH Traveller and had to outsource its hull, says Brattinga, “because we are full at the moment.”
One Cruising Home client in Düsseldorf has a split level 15m Traveller XXL. He uses it as a luxury B&B. Another has a Traveller 1500 Panorama and uses it as a luxury apartment that occasionally sails. “The Explorer version is a CE Category C hybrid, a vessel with an angular superstructure that goes onto open waters,” said Brattinga. “The Traveller is more for inland touring.”
While SRF is for now very focused on Germany, it is ready to spread its wings, says Brattinga. “I am working on a sales point in southern France. And possibly one in Scandinavia.”
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