Founding and rise Willi Dehler (1929-1999) was one of the first in
Europe, who recognized the capability of
GRP for boat building. In 1963, he started to produce small
dinghies in the former foyers of a cinema and had success. He took his brother Heinz in, and in 1966 they launched the
Varianta, their first sailboat. This 21 ft long cabin boat with keel centerboard and removable coach roof (design:
E.G. van de Stadt) became the most successful family cruiser ever, with a total production of about 4,000 units until 1982. Further cruising models like the
Optima and the
Delanta followed and Dehler Yachtbau rose to become a leading manufacturer of sailboats in Germany.
Sportive successes in the 1970s and 80s In the 1970s, Willi Dehler also began to develop innovative boats for racing. He launched the
Sprinta (design: E.G. van de Stadt/Cees van Tongeren), a Quarter-Tonner, whose sharpened version - the
Sprinta Sport - became a popular one-design class and could excel in
IOR regattas. As a licensed manufacturer of
470 class dingies since 1974, Dehler could record a gold medal in the
Olympic Games 1976 won by Frank Hübner and Harro Bode. In the
Three-Quarter Ton class the
DB-1 (1980) and
DB-2 (1981) made a splash (both designs: E.G. van de Stadt/Cees van Tongeren). In cooperation with the yacht design studio
Judel/Vrolijk & Co, a new range of fast cruisers up to 47 ft was launched. In 2004, Dehler was sold to the Dutch businessman Wilan van den Berg who joined as
managing director, appointed a cooperation with the yacht designers
Simonis Voogd and forced growth. In 2007, German private equity firm
Buchanan Capital Partners acquired a minority stake in Dehler. Few weeks later, Dehler acquired the Belgium yacht manufacturer
ETAP Yachting. In 2008, a
Dehler 60 was introduced, the largest Dehler ever which was too costly for the company at that time. Hull number one remained a single piece. During the
2008 financial crisis, Dehler Yachtbau had to file for bankruptcy again.
Etap was cut off, and the Dehler yard was taken over by German
HanseYachts AG in 2009. As a consequence, the cooperation with
Judel/Vrolijk & Co was renewed. In 2012,
HanseYachts announced the close-down of the Dehler factory in
Freienohl and relocated the entire production to
HanseYachts headquarters in
Greifswald (
Baltic Sea). In 2014, the
Dehler 38 was displayed as "European Yacht of the Year" in the category "Performance Cruiser".
Dehler 30 od (one-design class) In 2019, Dehler presented a one-design class focusing on short-handed offshore racing. The Dehler 30 one design has a water ballast system and a retractable shaft line with fixed propeller and 10 hp diesel engine ("Dehler Stealth Drive"). The initial plan of a retractable electric drive was discarded in the course of development. The Dehler 30 od has been awarded as "European Yacht of the Year 2020" in the category "Race Yachts". ==Current models (specs)==