If you’ve just watched the full tour video on my YouTube channel, you’ll already have a feel for her: that vertical, slightly flared bow rising into a sheer line that climbs gracefully all the way forward, the Midnight Blue hull against a crisp white superstructure, stainless sea railing running the full length of the upper deck.
She has the look of a pocket explorer yacht that is built to go somewhere, not just look good tied up in a marina.
We will also take a closer look at her liveaboard credentials. After all, she has the looks, but does she also have the capability?
Of course, she is the Steeler Explorer 50 Pilothouse. Launched in March 2024, and currently lying in Sneek in the Netherlands, listed with Sjoerd at De Valk, with an asking price of €1,749,000, VAT paid (broker’s details below)
A Young Yard With Old Sea Legs
Steeler Yachts isn’t a name every reader will know, but if you live in Europe, there is a good chance you know the brand.
The yard was founded in 2010 by Hans Webbink, with two production sites at Steenwijk and Meppel in the Netherlands, both Dutch inland boatbuilding towns with generations of steel and aluminium fabrication behind them, even if Steeler itself is a relatively young company.
Steeler builds two distinct product lines. Aluminium hulls go into their faster, lighter, planing designs. Steel is reserved for boats like this one, the long-range, displacement Explorer series, where the extra weight of steel plating buys you strength, sound-deadening and offshore resilience.
Steel and aluminium are matched to what the boat is meant to do, not chosen on cost alone. Steeler putting steel under an “Explorer” badge tells you exactly what market they’re chasing with this design, and the rest of the spec sheet backs that up.
Built Around Living, Not Just Cruising
Here’s what struck me most when I first stepped on board, before I even got my camera out: this is a 50-foot boat with only two cabins. Most builders in this size bracket would find a way to squeeze in a third berth to widen the resale pool.
Steeler didn’t, and the reason becomes obvious once you look at what they did instead.
Both cabins get their own en-suite heads. The galley runs a full suite of Miele appliances rather than a compromise version. Underfloor heating runs throughout, the best answer to the damp cold of a North Sea or North Atlantic winter rather than an afterthought. A Northern Lights 16kW generator, a high-output watermaker producing 120 litres an hour, and four 375-watt solar panels give her real independence at anchor, not the token single panel you sometimes see bolted onto a boat’s brochure to tick a ‘solar’ box.
Put together, that’s a boat designed for a couple who intend to live aboard for extended periods, generating their own power and making their own water, rather than a boat designed to entertain eight guests for a long weekend. It’s a different design brief, and Steeler committed to it fully rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
For someone like me, married with two young kids, then this Steeler would be perfect if I decided to leave my home port of London and head down to the Med.
When it comes to her power, she is fitted with twin Vetus Deutz engines (from the DT66 family, rated 170hp/125kW each) with only 744.8 hours on them since launch, giving a cruising speed of 7 knots, a top speed of 10 knots, and a quoted range of 2,000 nautical miles at around 12 litres an hour combined.
She also carries Humphree zero-speed stabilisers, a stabilisation system worth understanding in a bit more detail: unlike traditional fin stabilisers that only work while the boat is moving, zero-speed stabilisation actively counters roll while she’s sitting at anchor.
Got a boat?
Know of a vessel, for sale, charter, or otherwise, that you would like me to feature in a future dispatch? You can send me a direct message or email me via john@yacht-buoy.com
So, if you’ve ever tried to cook dinner or sleep on a boat rolling gently in a swell at anchor, you’ll know exactly what that’s worth. It’s the difference between a boat that’s comfortable underway and one that’s comfortable to actually live on when you decide to drop the hook for a few days.
Starlink Maritime rounds out the liveaboard picture, meaning great connectivity wherever she ends up, which matters more than it used to for anyone planning to work, bank, or simply stay in touch while living aboard full time.
This article continues below, in “The Wardroom”; the premium section of this newsletter. It is thanks to my premium subscribers that I am able to pay for the travel costs associated with filming these boats so if you do become a premium subscriber, or, already are one, then thank you!
In the premium section, I cover:
- Engine maintenance costs: what the real Vetus service intervals are (not the 250-hour figure I originally assumed) and what a realistic annual bill looks like at her current hours
- Steel hull upkeep at two years old: what maintenance regime a near-new steel hull needs, and why “nothing’s gone wrong yet” isn’t the same as “nothing to do”
- CE Category A, properly explained: what the rating certifies and, just as importantly, what it doesn’t
- My honest assessment of shipping her to North America or Australia, and how her €1,749,000 asking price compares against a genuine same-builder sister-ship
What a Near-New Steel Hull Actually Needs
I think that there is always a temptation with a 2024-launch boat to assume the hull maintenance conversation can wait 3 or maybe 5 years down the line. In truth, it can’t, and it shouldn’t.
