I offer building plans for all my Diesel Duck designs and folks are building the boats themselves as well as hiring yards to build boats for them. However, Bill Kimley, owner of Seahorse Yachts in China, has taken a personal interest in the Diesel Ducks and made a few modifications to the concept that got my attention. As of June 2002 Bill has launched two 44s, and has another 44 as well as a 48 started for clients. Bills interest in the Ducks and photos of what he was producing sparked my interest in his company, so in mid May I flew to China to check the place out. To put it mildly, I was overwhelmed.
Seahorse Yachts has a fiberglass yard and a steel yard, with over 100 employees. At the time of my visit the fiberglass yard was building three 36 foot power cruisers and two 52’ motoryachts for American owners, and was just starting a 52’ motorsailor.
The steel plant is a shipyard. It has a huge dry dock, metal forming tools large enough to build a warship, and a wood working shop from which is produced the teak and holly cabin soles, steering wheels, and fine cabinetry of the Seahorse built boats. Their stainless shop produces beautiful parts of all description. Their upholstery shop does fine cushions. And their heavy duty custom built hatches and opening windows are incredible and shortly will be offered to the boating market as a separate product line. All their boats are built to the Chinese CCS specs, which is one of the standards internationally accepted by insurance underwriters. All steel used as well as all aspects of the construction including the welding procedures, are inspected by the CCS during the construction. The boats are absolutely top quality.
I do a lot of work with home builders. I like them, and I like their boats, be the results rough or perfect. But at the same time I've always wondered what a DUCK could look like when completely built and outfitted by a top yard and the two completed Seahorse Ducks I saw being commissioned answered that question!
I decided I'd get involved in marketing Seahorse built boats of my designs, hence this large section of the site devoted to them.

A recent (July 02) thing was to modify the stern areas of the hulls a bit. This discussed in more detail in the EVOLUTION section of this site. However, taking the 44 in particular, first, we've increased the displacement by almost 3 tons by adding a little volume to the aft sections. The original boats, when built to the heavy specs and then loaded for a long cruise, floated 6" or more below the DWL when built of steel. It isn’t an issue with the wood and aluminum versions. This makes no difference other than adding to the draft, but since draft is an issue some places, we decided rather than lightening construction, we'd increase her buoyancy. to learn details of the little changes check out EVOLUTION 1, a "button" you'll spot on the home page of this site.

Seahorse offers the boats in two configurations; “base price” which means a running boat with no electronics or outfitting (think typical “boat show” deal), and “turn key” meaning practically all the bells and whistles, ready to cruise anywhere.

6mm steel plate hull, heavily insulated to the waterline, sprayed with industry standard coatings to protect her from corrosion. All deck hardware is stainless and all chafe points such as hawse pipes are lined with stainless. Hull and interior painted to your choice of colors. Interior has teak and holly sole, teak cabinetry, opening ports in forward house and stern cabin, large opening windows in pilot house (3 in front, one opening, with windshield wipers and fresh water wash), heavy deck hatches, heavy welded pipe railings, 5” half round steel rub rail (to protect the hull wherever you dock!), 2 heads, shower, pressure water, propane range, 4” furniture grade cushions with your choice of fabric covers, queen bed in stern, two guest bunks in bow (or workbench forward if you want a “shop” or “play room.”), electric lighting and international running lights.
Power is a 4 cyl. 115 HP John Deere diesel with your choice of wet or dry exhaust (the wet exhaust is so quiet it’s practically silent). The engine is soft mounted with flexible mounts and coupling. There is a heavy duty house battery bank, and double fuel filters, hydraulic steering, emergency tiller steering, and all necessary engine gauges and controls.
Fuel is 900 gallons and water is 100 gallons.
The standard version gives you a fully functional boat at the best price, allowing you to add whatever extras you want yourself once you get her home.
The “turn-key” version has a Raytheon electronics (depth sounder, GPS, radar, autopilot, and VHF) package, fuel flow meter, 12 volt water maker, 2 anchors with chain and rode, anchor windlass, 3 bilge pumps, deck wash fitting, emergency back-up sailplan with aluminum boom and tabernacle mast, 10mm stainless standing rigging, halyard winches, jib sheet winch, heavy duty sails with reef rows, aluminum “trolling poles” with flopper stoppers, and roof top helm. There's also 8 life jackets, 4 mooring fenders, and dock lines.
An optional a diesel gen. plant can be installed. I think this is unnecessary given the propane cooking, high energy alternator on the propulsion engine, and the deep cycle batteries, Also, for under $1,000 you can buy a new Honda 2 kW generator. Although it’s gas, it is practically silent, and is very portable. You can keep it in a deck locker and put it on the swim platform if you want to use it. Many Rv’ers as well as boaters are using the Honda rather than the expense and maintenance of the built in gen. plant. I would rather have solar cells on the pilot house and the little Honda.
Prices change depending on suppliers and the exchange rates; please write for more info. The price quoted includes shipping and duty, delivered to any US port. You can deduct about $30,000 or more if you want to cruise her home yourself although we don’t suggest that with the base version as outfitting her yourself in China is difficult. So far, two 44 DUCKS have left on their own bottom. Don Wilson cruised his back to his home in Japan, and David Katz, a long time single hander, is on his way back to his home in Florida. He's taking a year doing it, visiting the south Pacific Islands, then west coast around Cape Horn and home.

I'm of course interested in the construction of the boats. If you like, I'm happy to serve as an "owner's agent" and make trips over during the construction and at the completion, and even meet the boat at the place of import if she doesn't drive home herself (as of 4/5 the 4 completed have and the 5th, living in Hong Kong, will come back to North America soon) and help with the commissioning. Me and Jim Rockford charge the same; $200 a day plus expenses. But of course the most interesting way for you is to deal with them direct. If you can take the time to visit the yard during construction you'll have a great time, and really feel part of the birth of your new ship!

In the interest of keeping this site from loading TOO slow, I've added the following pages as "links." Please "click" Interiors-1 to see photos of the interior. Or, click below to return Home.