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Riva Florida 354

In 1842 Pietro Riva, originally a fisherman, founded the Riva shipyard on Lake Iseo, in Italy. At first, the focus was on repairing ships, with this he built a good reputation for high quality workmanship. Soon Riva turned to complete boat building.

Serafino Riva, Pietro Riva's grandson, came to the helm of the company and began producing more luxurious, fast speedboats and yachts. Under Serafino's son Carlo Riva, the boat builder continued its success and Riva's yachts were among the best in the market. 

Last week, a beautifully gleaming and fully restored Riva Florida 354 speedboat managed to secure a spot in the showroom. Some 1137 examples of the Riva Florida were built between 1952 and 1969. The boat was named after the American state most associated with water skiing. The Florida had a cockpit and behind it a large sun deck. These were separated by a mahogany "bridge." 

The Riva in question was first sold new in France and is currently owned by its third owner. When the current owner took over the boat in 2011, he began a complete restoration totaling no less than 3,000 hours in which most of it was handwork. The special thing is that this Riva has not been in the water since the restoration. The beautiful chrome work was done in an authentic way specially done abroad. Here it was polished, copper plated and then dipped in a chrome bath. 

The exterior of the Riva was sanded all the way back to the wood by hand. Then, again by hand, it was put in 15 coats of clear varnish.

Then it was sanded back again and the final 6 coats were applied in the cabin, of which 3 coats are protection for the clear coat and 3 coats are a finish coat for the sun. 

The inside completely de-lacquered by hand and put in gray lacquer also original with Riva lacquer. This was a job of about 1600 hours!

A nice detail is that the tarpaulin is the original, authentic tarpaulin. So the owners did nothing to that. To keep the authentic character. For more information click here.

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