Arksen, the British Adventure Brand Behind the Aluminum Arksen 85

A company that started on a Greenland sail

Arksen does not look like a shipyard because it is not one. The company says it began in 2016, when founder Jasper Smith and his son were sailing off Greenland and decided to build a business around ocean adventure. Today Arksen sells performance apparel, expeditions and overland vehicles alongside its boats, and Smith, a tech entrepreneur, is its CEO. He also founded the charity coalition 10% for the Ocean.

Instead of owning a yard, Arksen commissions its yachts. Naval architecture comes from Humphreys Yacht Design, interiors from Design Unlimited, and the welding and fit-out are contracted to Wight Shipyard at East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The first explorer range was unveiled in 2021 with the 85 at its head, and a 75 and a 65 were added to the plan later.

Where the 85 fits the Arksen idea

The Arksen 85, which our model page examines in detail, is the clearest expression of the brand: a welded aluminum hull with high recycled content, mostly left bare, and enough tankage for the company to claim about 7,000 nm between fuel stops. Buyers choose between conventional twin Scania diesels, as on the first hull, Project Pelagos, launched in May 2023, and a Praxis diesel-electric hybrid that lets the Project Ocean build run silently on batteries.

List prices have risen a long way since the 2021 launch, and the gap between sterling and US dollar quotes is covered on the model page. Many people meet the brand first through shared ownership or extended charter on one of Arksen's own fleet yachts rather than by commissioning a hull outright.

What a US buyer should weigh

Arksen is a young brand with only a handful of large yachts delivered, so there is no resale history to lean on and no US service network. Support runs through the builder, the shipyard and the equipment makers, notably Scania, Praxis and Humphree. That is normal at this size, but it means a buyer is underwriting the company's future as well as the boat.

The upside is efficiency. Even at 11.7 knots an 85 burns about 15.5 gph, a fraction of a planing yacht's appetite. The real costs are crew, insurance, yard periods and the systems that make long passages possible.

• Survey aluminum welds, galvanic isolation and the anode program.
• Go through the Scania maintenance history, or the Praxis system logs and battery condition on a hybrid.
• Inspect the fuel filtration, the transfer pumps and how the day tank is managed.
• Confirm flag, class and MCA paperwork against your intended use.
• Test stabilizers, watermaker and generators under load.