- Founded
- 2016
- Headquarters
- Aberdeen House, South Road, Haywards Heath, RH16 4NG, United Kingdom
- Shipyard location
- Partner yards; the Adventure Series is built by Kewatec in Kokkola, Finland
- Official website
- https://www.arksen.com/
Brand Overview
British adventure company founded by Jasper Smith that builds aluminium explorer yachts and boats — the Humphreys-designed Arksen 85, 75 and 65 with ranges of 3,700 to 7,000 nautical miles, the Finnish-built Adventure Series 55 and 35, and the Discovery Series RIBs 10 and 8.
YachtCodex Analysis
AI-generatedAn independent reading of this builder written by AI. Unlike the specifications and descriptions elsewhere on this page, it is interpretation rather than a sourced fact — treat it as a starting point, not a citation.
What this builder is
Arksen says it began at sea: in 2016 founder Jasper Smith and his son Stormy were sailing off Greenland when the scale and fragility of the ice cap turned a sailor's conviction into a company, and the founder traces it further back to a seven-month voyage from Hong Kong to Alaska in 1994 aboard the 55-foot ketch Ardevora. Arksen Limited, registered in England and Wales, calls itself a marine-led adventure company — it also makes technical apparel, custom Land Rover and Unimog overland vehicles and expeditions — and names long-standing partners including Humphreys Yacht Design, Wight Shipyard Co., Kewatec, Design Unlimited and Aivan. The boats come in three series. The Explorer Series is aluminium, on a Modeshift hullform by Humphreys Yacht Design with interiors by Design Unlimited: the 27.4-metre Arksen 85 (7,000 nm, twin Scania diesels, up to 14 berths in six cabins), the 23.9-metre 75 (6,500 nm) and the 21.3-metre 65 (3,700 nm, a low fixed air draft for Europe's canals), each with optional serial-hybrid propulsion and solar arrays. The Adventure Series 55 and 35 — designed by Jarkko Jämsén, engineered by Arksen and Aivan and built by Kewatec in Finland — are fast aluminium cabin boats with a bow ramp for beach landings; the 55 runs on four Yamaha outboards as standard and is quoted at 50 knots. The Discovery Series are the 8-metre and 10.8-metre RIBs. Owners are encouraged to pledge sea time to science under the Sea Time Pledge, and the founder set up the charity 10% for the Ocean.
Who sails them
Arksen says it does not sell first boats: its owners tend to arrive after two or three others, knowing what matters at sea — families, explorers and people who use the water in every season, who want long range, self-sufficiency and safety over show, and who may lend their boat to researchers or share an Arksen 85 through the co-ownership programme.
Signature models
The Arksen 85 is the flagship: a 27.4-metre aluminium explorer yacht with a Humphreys Modeshift hull, 7,000 nautical miles of range and 180 degrees of positive stability, which the yard notes was a finalist for Best Naval Architecture in the 2024 BOAT International Design and Innovation Awards; the Adventure Series 55 is its fast, bow-ramped counterpart.
Strengths
Arksen is known for long-range aluminium explorer yachts with recyclable hulls and Humphreys Modeshift hullforms, 180 degrees of positive stability on the Explorer boats, optional serial-hybrid propulsion and solar for silent running at anchor, beach-landing bow ramps on the Adventure Series, Finnish construction by Kewatec, twelve months of Arksen Assured with every vessel, a guaranteed buy-back on First Edition 35s and 55s, and an ocean-conservation programme through 10% for the Ocean and the Sea Time Pledge.
Considerations
Only the 85, 55 and 8 have full Tech Spec pages; the 75 and 65 print short tiles that give engine power but not the engine maker, and the 65 shows two beams (5.3 m overall in the head strip, 5.2 m further down); the 85 gives lightship, departure and half-load displacement, the 65 a design displacement and the 55 a lightship figure; the 55 lists three engine packages without horsepower; the 35 page gives only length, beam, range and sprint speed; the RIBs print no draft or weight; the Explorer boats are coded to UK MCA rules rather than given a CE category; and the 85's price appears as 'from £9,950,000' on one page and 'on request' on another.
Analysis generated 10/18/2026
Part of
Fleet at a Glance
Calculated from the models in the YachtCodex catalog, not from the builder's claims.
- Models in catalog
- 7
- Length range
- 8–27.4 m
- Hull forms
- Motor Monohull 7
- Cabins
- 2–6
Models by this brand
7 models
History
Arksen's founder traces the company to a voyage in 1994, when he sailed Ardevora, a 55-foot Ron Holland ketch, from Hong Kong to Alaska by way of Japan, Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands, reaching Sitka in the autumn seven months later; after a decade of mountaineering and climbing, he writes, it was that trip more than any other that changed him, and the film the crew shot sat on a shelf for decades. The company itself, the about page says, began at sea in 2016, when Jasper Smith and his son Stormy were sailing off Greenland and the scale and fragility of the ice cap turned a sailor's conviction into a company; having spent years climbing and sailing with his other son Harper as well, they set out to share that experience. Arksen describes itself as a young company whose team has crossed every ocean, working with long-standing partners that include Humphreys Yacht Design, Wight Shipyard Co., Kewatec, Design Unlimited and Aivan, and building explorer vessels, performance apparel and expeditions; its founder also established the charity 10% for the Ocean, which pools charitable giving across a coalition of brands for marine conservation.
History written fromarksen.com/pages/about· Formed at searead 10/18/2026