Superyacht and Yacht Refit and Repair in Tuzla, Istanbul

KRM Yacht is a superyacht refit and rebuild shipyard in the Eastern Mediterranean, based in Tuzla, Istanbul. Refit and rebuild is all we do. We work on yachts from 30 to 110 metres: our 900-ton travel lift hauls out yachts to 70 metres within its beam, draft and weight limits, and larger or heavier yachts are refitted afloat at our quays, which take yachts to 110 metres. A yard period here can be a five-year class survey, a full repaint, a systems overhaul, a structural job, or all of them at once.

Repairs are part of most refit worklists: plating renewed where a tank survey finds steel or aluminium wastage, teak deck repairs, paint repairs, machinery overhauls. We carry them out in the same yard period, with the same workshops and on the same schedule as the rest of the refit.

The hard part of a big refit is not any single trade. It is the points where the trades meet: a late survey finding, a drawing waiting for approval, a long-lead item not yet on order. We plan for those before she arrives. One schedule covers the survey items, the workshop jobs and the work on board through to redelivery. Where the worklist goes as far as rebuilding her structure or extending her length, the job is a rebuild, and our superyacht rebuild page covers that work.

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MEMBER OF ICOMIA SUPERYACHT REFIT GROUP
LRQA ISO 9001
LRQA ISO 14001
LRQA ISO 45001
Helmet

300+

MARINE
PROFESSIONALS

Ratio

92%

RETURNING
CLIENT RATE

Design

200+

DELIVERED
PROJECTS

Yacht

400+ m

TOTAL YACHT LENGTH
DELIVERED LAST YEAR

Planning a Yard Period Around the Mediterranean Season

Most yachts we work on run a Mediterranean season and lay up afterwards. That sets the yard calendar: work starts once the season ends in September or October, and she has to be back in service before the next one begins.

Coming from the western Mediterranean

For a yacht finishing the season around Monaco, Antibes, Palma or the Italian coast, the run to Istanbul is planned as the end-of-season passage. Crews fold it into the lay-up move, and she arrives as the yard period opens.

Coming from the eastern Mediterranean

For a yacht cruising the Greek islands, the Aegean or the Adriatic, the passage to Tuzla is the lay-up move itself. From Greece, Croatia or Montenegro, she leaves the cruising grounds and arrives at the yard on one trip.

Passage planning from the main Mediterranean bases is set out on our yacht refit for Europe-based yachts page.

Opening the scope review

Through the winter we keep room on the hard and at the quays for technical, paint and survey periods. The October to April weeks fill up during the summer, so the best time to open a scope review is while she is still cruising. Send us her dates and the worklist now and we will come back with the weeks that are open.

If your next yard period falls in that window, you can open a scope review now.

Running the Refit as One Project

One schedule from survey to redelivery

A yard period runs as one sequence: technical definition, workshop production, on-board work, commissioning and close-out. We coordinate the handovers between trades ourselves, on that one schedule.

Variations and long-lead orders

As the worklist grows, each variation is written up with its price and its effect on the date, and your side decides before the work goes ahead. Long-lead equipment is ordered early, while there is still room to plan around it.

Class, flag and approvals planned early

Class survey items, flag requirements and third-party approvals go into the plan before they can block fabrication, installation or redelivery. We deal with the surveyors attending the yard period directly.

Clear approval paths for your side

Captains, owner's representatives and management teams know who approves what, and can see what is still open. When a decision is needed, it is clear who makes it and what it affects.

Core trades in our own workshops

The core trades work inside the yard, so we plan the workload of each workshop and the points where one trade hands over to the next. Specialist subcontractors work inside our sequence and report to the same project manager.

Commissioning and redelivery planned from the start

Testing, documentation and close-out lists are planned from the start of the project, so open items are cleared before redelivery, not after it.

Cost on Larger Worklists

On a larger refit, keeping most of the work in one yard means fewer interfaces to manage and fewer gaps for cost to slip through. A day rate on its own is not a reliable basis for comparing yards. Our guide to what a yacht refit costs explains what drives the figure.

900-ton Travel Lift

Our 900-ton travel lift, the largest in Türkiye, hauls out yachts to 70 m within 10.3 m beam and 5 m draft. A second, 300-ton lift serves smaller yachts. Yachts beyond the lift's limits are refitted afloat at our quays, to 110 m. Send us her LOA, beam, draft and lifting displacement and our dock team will confirm whether she comes out.

Yard and Workshops

40,000 m² of hard-standing for up to 50 yachts, and quays for up to 15 superyachts alongside, to 110 m. 3,500 m² of workshops and 800 m² of storage in Tuzla, and a 2,000 m² interior production workshop in Darıca. More on our facilities page.

LRQA-Certified Management Systems

Our management systems are certified by LRQA to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. The certificates are on our quality policies page.

ICOMIA Refit Group Member

KRM Yacht is the first Turkish member of the ICOMIA Superyacht Refit Group, and as of 2026 still the only one. In 2023 we won the Best Superyacht Refit Yard Award at ACREW's Superyacht Business Awards, voted for by superyacht captains and crew.

Istanbul Supply Access

Tuzla is Istanbul's shipbuilding and ship repair district, with steel and equipment suppliers and specialist trades around the yard.

Crew & Visiting Team Support

Long yard periods put people on site for weeks. The yard is about 15 minutes from Sabiha Gökçen airport, with hotels and the city close by, so crew, surveyors and owner's teams can attend without it becoming a second project.

Mixed Worklists

Some worklists cross hull, paint, machinery, electrical, interior and class items at the same time. Recent examples are listed below, with how long each took.

View Your Yacht

Through View Your Yacht, owners follow the progress of the project online, 24 hours a day.

Recent Yard Periods

The work changes with the worklist. A topside repaint, a systems-led refit and a mixed technical and interior period put different loads on access, scaffolding and protection. We plan each yard period around them. Yachts to 70 metres, within 10.3 m beam, 5 m draft and the lift's weight limit, come out on the 900-ton lift. Larger or heavier yachts run the yard period afloat at our quays, with the same workshops behind them.

Six recent yard periods, by worklist:

  • M/Y Newal, 31.8 m, 1988 Heesen: a rebuild, not a refit. New aluminium transom taking her from 28 m to 31.8 m, about 180 m² of new teak, the whole interior rebuilt, electrical and seawater systems renewed, both main engines overhauled. 15 months from first drawings to redelivery.
  • 52 m motor yacht, 2003 build: five-year class survey, stabiliser overhaul, HVAC upgrades, teak deck repairs and complete exterior repaint. Redelivered in 24 weeks.
  • 42 m motor yacht, 2016 build: guest-area refurbishment, navigation and AV/IT upgrades, galley improvements and exterior paint repairs. Redelivered in 12 weeks.
  • 49.2 m motor yacht, 2011 build: generator replacement, bridge electronics upgrade, hydraulic-system overhaul and complete hull and superstructure repaint. Redelivered in 24 weeks.
  • 52 m motor yacht, 2023 build: owner-requested interior modifications, noise and vibration improvements, beach-club refurbishment and electrical-system optimisation. Redelivered in 14 weeks.
  • 65 m motor yacht, 2011 build: interior refurbishment, complete repaint, HVAC renewal, power-management upgrades and five-year class survey. Redelivered in 9 months.

The full list is on our Completed Projects page.

For a similar yard period, send us her details and the worklist. Request a Refit Quote

Yacht refit technical drawing – engineering plan for luxury yacht refurbishment

How a Yard Period Runs

1. Scope review and survey

We start on board: her class and flag status, her condition, the worklist you have and the dates. An early survey, with tanks and panels opened up where needed, fixes the real worklist before we quote. See our refit planning guide.

2. Engineering, procurement and approvals

Drawings, long-lead orders, workshop loading and the class and flag submissions. Stabilisers, generators and coating systems with long lead times go on order at this stage, while there is still room to work around them.

3. Yard production

Hull, paint, machinery, electrical, piping, interior and structural work run on one schedule. Most of the planning is keeping two trades out of the same space in the same week, so nobody sands a deck after the topcoat has gone on.

4. Commissioning, documentation and redelivery

Systems are tested, the class items are presented to the surveyor for sign-off, the snag list is cleared and sea trials run where the worklist calls for them. Then she is redelivered with her documentation.

Who You Deal With

Projects come to us through the owner, the captain, an owner's representative or a management company. Before she arrives we agree with your side who approves a variation, who signs off a drawing and who receives the reports. On a big yard period that matters as much as the work itself. When a tank is opened up and the surveyor finds wastage, the cost of that finding depends on who decides and how quickly the answer comes back. One project manager answers for the date and the price from arrival to redelivery, and your side has one weekly report with photographs. How we run that is set out on our refit project management page.

Project manager reviewing luxury yacht interior refit using digital tablet – KRM Yacht

Superyacht Refit Services: What We Do and Who Does It

More than 300 marine professionals work in our own workshops and on board, so several trades can work the same yacht in the same week on one schedule. When a job needs a specialist we do not keep in-house, that subcontractor works to our schedule and reports to our project team.

Technical

Machinery overhauls and renewals, generator changes, electrical and automation upgrades, piping and HVAC. This work runs through our own mechanical and hydraulic, electrical and piping workshops.

Exterior and structural

Repaint and fairing, teak deck work, structural repairs and modifications. Full repaints run under cover, and steel and aluminium work is done in our own metalwork shop.

Interior

Accommodation and guest-area refits, layout changes and the systems behind the finish. Panels, furniture and fitted joinery are made in our own interior workshop. See yacht interior refit.

Class and Flag

Survey-driven worklists where inspection, approvals and documentation set the pace. Survey items are opened up and presented to the attending surveyor on site, so they are dealt with at the yard.

Each workshop has its own page under in-house workshop services.

Carpentry

Carpentry & Joinery

Painting

Painting

Interior

Interior & Redesign

Metal Works

Metalwork

Mechanic

Mechanical & Hydraulic

Electric

Electrical & Electronics

Plumbing

Piping & Plumbing

Engineering

Engineering & Design

Composite GRP

Composite & GRP

Glazing

Glazing & Acrylic

Insulation

Insulation

Machinery

Machinery & Equipment

Survey

Testing & Surveying

Safety

Fire & Safety

Lifting Day at KRM Yacht

Crew and Visiting Teams

A long yard period puts people on site for weeks: the captain, the crew, a surveyor, an owner's representative, an OEM technician. The yard is about 15 minutes by road from Sabiha Gökçen International Airport. Whether the crew live aboard depends on the worklist.

Around Tuzla: hotels, restaurants and local transport for the working week.

Istanbul Within Reach: the city, the coast and the Princes' Islands on days off.

Time Off: in winter, ski resorts within driving distance.

Frequently Asked Questions

1What does a superyacht refit include?
A refit is a planned yard period that brings a yacht back to the condition, compliance and specification her owner wants. A worklist can include class and flag survey items, repaint and fairing, machinery and systems overhauls, electrical and navigation upgrades, interior refurbishment, and structural repairs or modifications. Larger structural work, such as extending her length, is a rebuild. Our guides to what a yacht refit is and yacht refurbishment explain the terms in more detail.
2What do you need to look at a worklist?
Her main dimensions and lifting displacement, build year, class and flag. Where she is now and where she will be at the end of the season. The weeks you want her back in service. The work you have in mind, with any drawings, photographs or recent survey reports you hold. A rough worklist is enough for a first read.
3What does a superyacht refit cost?
It depends on the worklist, and we price the job after we have surveyed her and agreed the worklist. The biggest variables are usually how much fairing a repaint needs, what the survey finds once tanks and panels are opened up, the class items, and the lead times of the equipment being replaced. A budget should also carry a contingency for work that only shows once she is opened up. If you send her details and a rough worklist, we can give you a first read before any survey. Our guide to yacht refit cost explains what drives the figure.
4What happens if the survey finds more work once panels come off?
That is what the contingency is for. When a tank or a panel is opened up and the surveyor finds more, the extra work is written up as a variation. The variation shows its price and its effect on the date. Your side decides, and the schedule is updated with the answer.
5How long will my yacht be in the yard?
It depends on the worklist. Recent yard periods here have run from 12 weeks for a guest-area refresh with paint repairs, to 24 weeks for a full exterior repaint with a five-year class survey. A large interior and paint job ran to 9 months. The longest item sets the date, usually the paint or a piece of long-lead equipment. A rebuild runs longer: M/Y Newal, a 31.8 m Heesen, took 15 months from first drawings to redelivery.
6Can you lift a 60 metre motor yacht, and what if she is too heavy?
Length alone does not decide it: weight, beam and draft do as well. The 900-ton lift hauls out yachts to 70 metres, within a beam of 10.3 metres and a draft of 5 metres. A 60 metre steel motor yacht with full tanks can weigh more than 900 tons, so we work from her lifting displacement, not her LOA. If she is outside those limits, she stays afloat alongside at our quays, to 110 metres, and the same workshops do the work. Send us her lifting displacement and we tell you which way she goes before you fix dates.
7How do you run a full repaint through the winter?
Under cover. She goes into one of our fixed or covered hangars if one is free and suits her size. If not, our team builds a hangar around her on the hard. Inside, the temperature and humidity are held at the levels the coating manufacturer sets for the system going on. Environmental readings are logged before and during spraying, dry film thickness is checked as the coats build, and inspection is by FROSIO certified personnel. Rain and cold in an Istanbul winter do not stop a repaint. The method is set out on our superyacht painting page.
8Do you work with class, flag and third-party surveyors?
Yes. Where the worklist carries class survey items, flag requirements or third-party approvals, they go onto the schedule at the start and we work with the surveyors attending the yard period. Our team opens the items up and presents them to the surveyor at the yard, so they can be closed out with the surveyor at the yard.
9Can the crew stay aboard during the yard period?
In many refit periods, yes. It depends on the worklist. Alongside, the yard supplies shore power and fresh water to her, and takes her waste off through our connection. When the worklist takes power off the yacht or brings hot work, living aboard stops for that phase. In a rebuild, where systems and interiors are stripped out, the crew stay ashore for the whole period.
10How do customs and temporary importation work for a foreign-flagged yacht?
Temporary importation of the yacht herself is handled by her own agent, as is standard practice in Türkiye. Once she is in the yard, customs clearance for parts and materials arriving under ship-in-transit status is handled by our team as part of the yard period.
11Why bring a Mediterranean-based yacht to Istanbul for a refit?
Most yachts we work on run a Mediterranean season, and their yard period falls in the winter after it. From the Aegean or the Adriatic the passage to Tuzla is the lay-up move itself; from the western Mediterranean it is planned as the end-of-season passage. Here the whole worklist can go to one yard: more than 300 marine professionals in our own workshops, full repaints under cover through the winter, a 900-ton lift that hauls out yachts to 70 metres and quays that take yachts to 110 metres afloat. Tuzla's shipyard district supplies steel, equipment and specialist trades close to the yard, and the yard is about 15 minutes from Sabiha Gökçen airport for crew and visiting teams. In 2023 superyacht captains and crew voted KRM Yacht the Best Superyacht Refit Yard at ACREW's Superyacht Business Awards. Passage planning from European bases is covered on our yacht refit in Europe page.

Discuss the Next Yard Period with KRM Yacht

A refit quotation starts with three things: her main dimensions and lifting displacement, the worklist as it stands today, and the weeks you want her back in service. Send those to our project team through the quote form. Our project team reads the worklist, tells you what we would want to survey on board, and comes back with a first read on the work and the weeks. The quotation and the schedule to redelivery follow once she has been surveyed and the worklist is agreed.

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