Derecktor gave At Last a raised pilothouse roof and different windows than she sported as the former Lady Joy.
Proof that one owner’s brokerage yacht can become another owner’s custom “new build’, the 145-foot Heesen At Last left the Derecktor Florida yard this summer looking almost nothing like her former self. During an extensive refit, Derecktor completely updated and refurbished the ex-Lady Joy – which previously belonged to the international socialite Denise Rich – a task that included performing radical surgery on the pilothouse roof.
The former Lady Joy, before a major refit turned her into At Last.
The yacht’s new owners, an American couple, originally took her to Derecktor Florida to have the engines overhauled – one of the full menu of services offered by the Dania-based yard. One thing led to another, and the owners ended up asking Derecktor to rip out much of the yacht’s 1990s-era interior and recreate her as a classic, family-friendly yacht.
Claudette Bonville Associates created a warm and inviting custom interior design for At Last that incorporates exotic anigré woodwork with maple and walnut accents, as well as rare stone. “It was such a pleasure working at Derecktor. The staff was professional and always ready to respond,” says Bonville. “The interior of At Last came out great and Derecktor was a significant part of the team that made it a success.”
His-and-hers master baths were combined into a single, elegant bathroom.
In addition to re-engineering the wheelhouse – a job that required Derecktor to cut away and replace the existing roof – the refit project involved several other major design and engineering challenges. The owners wanted to add a day head to the skylounge deck; the yard replaced a half-moon skylight in the floor at the top of the grand staircase with metal decking, then used it as the footprint for a new semicircular powder room.
An all new wheelhouse design was possible thankx to the change in exterior.
Even more difficult was the owners’ request to move the central corridor leading from the dining salon to the master stateroom on the main deck over to the starboard side. Not only did this entail stripping the stateroom back to the bare aluminum walls, but it also meant relocating the his-and-her master baths and combining them into a single, elegant bathroom.
On the lower deck, the former fitness room was transformed into a spacious VIP suite with a king bed. The three other staterooms were totally refurbished, and a Pullman berth was added to one of the cabins in order to increase the yacht’s guest capacity to eleven.
The new spacious VIP suite boasts a king sized bed.
The sun deck received a complete makeover as well. A new jacuzzi, bar and lounge seating were added to create an inviting open air entertainment area. Another, more intimate outdoor conversation area is located on the foredeck, forward of the wheelhouse.
Rather than overhauling the engines, At Last’s owners ultimately decided to replace them with new MTU 12V 4,000 diesels that give the semi-displacement vessel a cruise speed of 16 knots. Derecktor also refurbished the yacht’s KaMeWa water-jet drives, which give her a draft of less than six feet. Brand new, state-of-the-art electronics and entertainment packages have enhanced the yacht’s operations as both a family cruising yacht and a four-star charter vessel.
Editor’s Note: At Last is available for exclusive charter vacations in The Bahamas and the Caribbean through International Yacht Collection, which also is offering her for sale at a price of US $19.9 million.
