A Finnish sauna built into a private superyacht
This is a Sauna Dekor project. We are a manufacturer first and a turnkey wet-area contractor second: cabins, benching, marble and mosaic are made in our own Istanbul workshop, then installed by our own crews. Founded 1987, 40th year, work delivered in more than 35 countries.
This project is a sauna built into a private superyacht, delivered with the shipyardTurquoise Yachts in Istanbul. The owner is not named. The zone listed for the project is asauna, and our photographic record runs to eight frames.
Scope of work: the marine Finnish sauna cabin, heater, control and yacht interfaces
A dry-heat cabin built into a vessel rather than a building: cabin structure and insulatedbuild-up, internal linings and benching, heater and control, glazing, lighting, and theinterfaces with the yacht’s own ventilation and electrical systems. The cabin was made anddry-assembled in our Istanbul workshop and installed in coordination with the shipyard’sprogramme.
Weight, motion and fixing
Three things separate a marine sauna from a domestic one. Weight is a design constraintrather than an afterthought, so linings and framing are engineered for the lightest build-upthat still gives the thermal performance — every kilogram above the waterline is paid forsomewhere. Motion means nothing can rely on gravity: benches, guards, the heater and itssurround are mechanically fixed for a vessel that rolls, and loose items such as buckets andladles need stowage rather than a shelf. And the whole assembly has to survive a hull thatflexes, so junctions between the cabin and the yacht’s structure are detailed to move withoutopening a gap in the vapour barrier.
Finnish sauna ventilation and the vapour barrier at sea
A yacht has no spare external wall and no tolerance for humidity escaping into adjoiningspaces, so the cabin’s air path is designed with the vessel’s HVAC rather than around it:supply low near the heater, extract low on the opposite side, both connected into the yacht’ssystem so warm moist air is taken away rather than pushed into a corridor. The vapour barriermatters more here than anywhere: a continuous foil layer with taped laps behind a ventilatedcavity is what keeps moisture out of the yacht’s insulation and joinery, and on a vessel thatinsulation is also acoustic and fire-related. Seesauna ventilation.
Timber, heat load and safety in a marine Finnish sauna
Timber is kiln-dried and low in resin with concealed fixings, so nothing hot meets skin, andmaterial selection is agreed with the shipyard because marine fire regulations govern what maybe used in a vessel’s interior — a decision that belongs to the yard’s certification path, notto us alone. General practice sizes a cabin at roughly a kilowatt of stone-heater output percubic metre of volume with additions for glazing; on a yacht the available electrical load isusually the binding constraint, so heater rating is confirmed against the vessel’s power budgetbefore the cabin is designed. Product page:Finnish sauna.
What we solved on site
A shipyard programme does not wait, and access to a fitted-out vessel is narrow in everysense. We built and dry-assembled the cabin in ourIstanbul workshop, confirmed every joint there,then dismantled it into pieces that would pass through the yacht’s access route and numberedthem for reassembly in sequence. Nothing was cut on board. Seeservices andprivate spa.
