Rebuilt from the frames up
How a classic Turkish sailing yacht became SY Mermaid: the story of the rebuild, in photos.
SY Mermaid was designed and built as a sailing yacht in Turkey. Between 2025 and 2026 she was taken back to her frames at the shipyard in Safaga and rebuilt: new timber, a new superstructure, new decks, new systems and ten new ensuite cabins. What came out of the yard is a yacht with the character of a classic and the comfort of a modern liveaboard.
Out of the water
In autumn 2025 SY Mermaid was lifted out of the sea and onto the slipway. The plan was simple to say and hard to do: keep the soul of a classic Turkish sailing yacht, and rebuild everything else to the standard of a modern liveaboard.
Back to the frames
The yacht was opened up down to her wooden frames. Every rib was inspected, and anything tired was cut out and replaced with new timber, shaped and fitted by hand: the same way wooden hulls have been built on this coast for generations.
A new shape on deck
On top of the restored hull, a new superstructure rose: the saloon, the shaded middle deck and the open star deck above. It was laid out around the way divers, snorkellers and kiters actually live on board: more space to move, more light, and more room to rest between sessions.
Made by hand
Behind every plank is a craftsman. Carpenters, shipwrights and fitters from the Red Sea coast spent months on the yacht: laying new deck planking, building cabins and fitting the details that guests touch every day.
Deep blue and white
Sealed, faired and painted, the hull took on her new colours: deep navy below, crisp white above. With the systems installed and the decks finished, SY Mermaid stood on the slipway ready for the sea again.
Back on the Red Sea
In spring 2026 SY Mermaid went back into the water: the same classic lines, rebuilt from the frames up, with ten ensuite cabins, a serious dive deck and room for twenty guests. She is ready for her first seasons of diving, snorkelling and kite trips.
