PORT ANGELES — Having built a $30 million yacht, Westport Shipyard now will try its best to break it.
Evviva, the second 164-foot-long craft to come out of Westport’s Port Angeles assembly plant, hit the water Sunday morning and will start two weeks of sea trials today.
“We’re trying to break anything that’s going to break,” said Ryan Lemon, electrical supervisor at Westport.
“If anything breaks, we want to break on us — not on the owner.”
As it did with Vango, the shipyard’s first Port Angeles-built yacht that was launched last Feb. 6, Westport is staying mum about who owns Evviva.
Company officials said only that he is a married American believed to live Arizona.
The yacht may have an Old-World connection, however: Evviva means “Hurray!” or “This is the life!” in Italian.
Room for helicopter
Except for a radio mast moved 10 feet farther forward than that of the first yacht — the better to accommodate its owner’s helicopter — Evviva is a mirror of Vango.
And that’s just what Westport is aiming to do.
“We’re set up now to manufacture them,” said Daryl Wakefield, president of Westport.
As he spoke Sunday, two more 164-foot craft are under construction.
A potential buyer has put down a deposit on one of the yachts. The other is being built on speculation.
Westport Shipyard wants to turn out two of the yachts — the largest assembly-line craft in the industry — each year, plus five 130-foot craft at its Hoquiam yard and five 112-foot boats at its plant in Westport.
“It’s somewhat routine now,” Wakefield said.
