History of the company

Fanatical yachtsman and experienced engineer Willie Deller wanted to give everyone a chance to try their hand at racing. With many lake races in Germany, the “trailer rocket” was a natural choice in the early 60s. After almost 60 years, Dehler is still not building large yachts, despite modern fashion.

Dehler Yachtbau started her career in the former cinema foyer in Dortmund. Using the then innovative fiberglass, Willy Deller and his brother were successfully building sports dinghies. In 1966 they built the first keelhouse trailer, the 21-foot Varianta. The success was stunning: even today it is the most successful model of a family cruiser! Only till 1982 more than 4000 hulls were built. The following models, Optima and Delanta, have made Dehler Yachtbau the largest yacht builder in Germany at the time.

In the 1970s and 80s, Dehler Yachtbau was the largest yacht builder at that time in Germany. Dehler Yachtbau was actively building both sports yachts and cruisers. At the 1976 Games, the Dehler 470 class boat won gold for Germany, while the keel IOR boats won many regattas.

The key year was 1986 when Willie decided to create a new yacht that would not only be a successful racer, but also a comfortable cruiser. A new niche in the market appeared and the first yacht named after the creator, the Dehler 34, was a huge success. Thousands of hulls of this model have been sold, which journalists have called “VW Beetle for Yachtsmen”.

Still, Willie Dehler was more of a dreamer than a businessman. Dehler Yachtbau did not survive the 1998 and 2008 crises. Fortunately, the brand was rescued, although it experienced difficult times after the death of its founder in 1999. Now, under the wing of Hanse Yachts, the shipyard is successfully developing while maintaining its identity. And Willie’s son Carl Deller has become a leading engineer at Hanse Yachts.

Model range

At the turn of the century, Dehler Yachtbau was one of the first to work with the “sports” design firm Judel/Vrolijk & Co, whose philosophy was best suited to Dehler high-speed yachts. After joining Hanse Yachts, cooperation with German designers has continued to this day. The current Dehler Yachtbau range consists of models of cruising yachts with a Mediterranean cockpit from 29 to 42 feet. Consistent with the philosophy of speed and comfort, the hulls of the entire Dehler range have a carbon fiber frame of extra rigidity. This allows you to go steeper in the wind and achieve high speeds.

Features

A unique feature of the Dehler range is that some of the models on the market today have been available for decades. For example, the 29th model was “Yacht of the Year” in 1997 and 1999, while the modern Dehler 34 is in fact the legendary “Volkswagen for Yachtsmen” of the eighties. Of course, many changes have been made over the years, but the classics have not become obsolete. As for new developments, the Dehler 38 has received an amazing set of awards, becoming “Yacht of the Year” in 2014 for the Cruising World, Sailing World and Voile Magazine, as well as the European Yacht of the Year at the Düsseldorf show. Like all other Dehler models, the 38th is built with the sporting rules of IRC and ORC in mind, which allowed her to become German Champion in ORC racing in 2014 as well.

Production .

Dehler Yachtbau is now based at the facilities of its parent company Hanse Yachts in Greifswald on the German Baltic coast.