IBEX 365 News
Look Good, Feel Good All Day with the Teak Altura Luxury Helm
2025 IBEX Innovation Award Interview with Taco Marine
When it comes to choosing a helm, boaters no longer have to sacrifice comfort for aesthetics. The new Altura Luxury Helm, teak ladderback helm with an embedded stainless steel frame, blends classic aesthetics, structural integrity and elevated comfort. The frame allows for internal seat suspension and unique heating and cooling options. The Altura Luxury Helm is offered in single, double, triple and even quadruple bench variations. Thanks to the innovative design, the Altura is fully modular, allowing for easy serviceability.
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What problem was the Altura Luxury Helm designed to solve?
The Altura Luxury Helm was designed to give you the classic teak look boaters have come to love, without sacrificing any strength and durability. Other teak ladderbacks on the market are built using the teak as a structural component. Our Altura Helm redefines this category by integrating a full stainless steel frame inside of the teak. This eliminates any deflection or flex in the teak seen by the competition.Our Altura Luxury Helm is also built with a fully modular construction. This allows for easy serviceability in the teak and cushions, and in the optional heating and cooling elements. Thanks to the stainless-steel frame, the Altura Helm allows for an industry-first heating and cooling feature in both the seat back and bottom.
How is the Altura Luxury Helm different from what’s currently on the market?
Prior to the Altura, the common theme in the teak ladderback industry was structural teak, with foam cushions mounted to a board. The teak —mounted directly to the substrate — was bearing a large portion of your weight and had no uprights for back support. The Altura Luxury Helm redefines the norm by offering a full stainless steel frame embedded in the teak, internal seat suspension, integrated lumbar support, and no stress on any teak components thanks to a non-structural design. The frame also allows for an industry-first heating and cooling element in both the backrest and bottom of the seat.
Who is the target market for the Altura Luxury Helm?
The Altura Luxury Helm was designed for the luxury market within the categories of center consoles, sport fishing yachts, pleasure boats and more. It was built for the serious boaters who love the classic teak ladderback look, but don’t want to sacrifice comfort or durability. It is truly the most comfortable ride on the water.
Are they intended for use on lakes, rivers and oceans?
No matter where you spend your time on the water, the Altura Luxury Helm was built to give you the comfort and aesthetics you deserve. However, the Altura stands out when put to the test in the harshest marine environments, thanks to the stainless steel frame construction.
What feedback have you received?
Anyone who has experienced the Altura Helm has been blown away by the comfort and unique innovative design.
What builders are using the Altura Luxury Helm?
We have partnered with many OEMs, but recently Contender and Front Runner debuted the Altura Helms to the public at the 2025 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. There will be an even bigger debut for other builders at the 2026 Miami International Boat Show, and there are many others currently in the works.
What feedback have you received?
We couldn’t have asked for better feedback at FLIBS. Thanks to the debut on Contender and Front Runner, we have had many other OEMs reach out to offer the Altura and have seen many orders switched to us from the competition. We are now the standard teak option for multiple large OEMs.
Has Altura Luxury Helm affected the boat maintenance process, or the boatbuilding process in any way?
The Altura Helm is completely modular, allowing for easy maintenance. You can service the teak components, the backrest cushions, bottom cushion, frame and more without affecting other components. This has been a huge selling point for boatbuilders across the industry as damage while installing at their facilities is a common theme. This allows for much easier and cheaper maintenance and repairs down the line. This also allows for the storage of the teak and modular cushions during the off-season.
What obstacles arose during the R&D process?
While designing our version of a teak ladderback seat, the team at TACO wanted to make sure that we came to market with a unique solution. From the start we knew that we needed to improve on the structural integrity. Most of our challenges were on how to incorporate the embedded stainless steel frame while still maintaining the classic aesthetics.
Was there a connection to feedback from designers, builders, boaters and distributors that led to, or contributed to, the design?
We listened to feedback from our customers, and to complaints we’ve heard across the market. The great part about our design is that it can be fully customized and scaled to any specific OEM’s wants and needs.
What impact do you see the Altura Luxury Helm having on the boating industry?
The Altura Helm has solved the problem of not having to sacrifice comfort for aesthetics when it comes to teak seating. You can now enjoy a long day on the water looking good, while feeling good.
How will the Altura Luxury Helm integrate into boat building systems in existence?
We fully customize the seat bottoms to fit any boat builder’s needs for dimensions or mounting locations. We also supply drill templates to make the install as seamless as possible.
Is the Altura Luxury Helm product indicative of any boat building trends?
Teak has been trending for a long time. We understand we were late to the game, but we sacrificed no expense when it came to the Altura. We may have been late, but we took all the feedback we heard and designed the greatest ladderback helm in the industry.
What’s next for TACO Marine?
We have a lot of new designs in the works. We’re looking forward to another incredible IBEX debut for some of our new products in 2026.
