Our philosophy

Wim van der Valk

Passion for boats

My passion for boats began early. Something over 40 years ago, I was working in the family business of my father, which frequently brought me into contact with boat travel. We provided services to market gardening businesses in the ‘Westland’ region, an area with a high concentration of greenhouse horticulture and one of the greatest abundances of water in the Netherlands. Water – and everything connected with it – has always held a great attraction for me. But the boat bug only really bit me after we had the opportunity to buy an old market gardener’s barge. My brothers and I decided to buy it and convert it into a beautiful ship that the whole family could enjoy. In the following months we spent every free moment stripping out the old barge and providing it with a superstructure and interior. That was no easy task, despite our experience and knowledge of the materials and technology involved. But the result was extremely satisfying. An unexpected additional effect was that, when other people saw the end result, they immediately asked us to build similar boats for them too. The decision was reached pretty quickly: we started with limited means, but highly motivated. A new family business was born.

The rest is history. Now, more than forty years and over 1500 vessels later, we are still a family business. The ships are now much larger, more beautiful and more luxurious than in the past. But the family feeling, the passion and the satisfaction are the same. In our eyes, a ship is much more than just a beautiful product. It has its own identity, a soul. And so it fills me with pride every time, when I see all our employees working with dedication and enthusiasm on a new yacht. The passion for yachts is what drives us on and what we like to share with out customers. The close contact our specialists have with the customer while a ship is being built not only makes for a gorgeous, custom-built yacht but also means that that customer becomes part of our family too. We often remain in contact long after the ship has been built. I regard this continually growing family as the reward for our hard work and shared passion. So, if you decide to purchase a yacht, I would be more than happy to welcome you to our shipyard in Waalwijk. You will always be most welcome.