Build Report: Project Zero

We visit the fossil-fuel-free Project Zero sailing yacht under construction at Vitters Shipyard 

Build Report: 69m Vitters fossil-fuel-free Project Zero sailing yacht

Build Report: Feadship's Project 821

We visited the project at the Royal Van Lent shipyard in Amsterdam just prior to the launch of Feadship's Project 821. 

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Build Report: Feadship's 119m hydrogen fuel-cell yacht Project 821

Making Turquoise Yachts' 79m superyacht Toro

Team Toro breaks down the ins and outs of constructing the 79-metre Turquoise superyacht Project Toro. 

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Build Report: Crafting Turquoise Yachts' 79m superyacht Toro

Building 65m yacht Aquarius II

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Lessons Learned: Building Royal Huisman's 65m Aquarius II

Making the Cantiere delle Marche 44m superyacht Maverick

Maverick, a superyacht owned by Top Gun aficionado Tom Schröder, is fast approaching completion at the Cantiere delle Marche shipyard in Ancona. 

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Build report: The Cantiere delle Marche 44m superyacht Maverick

Build report Rossinavis yacht Akula

Behind the build of Rossinavi's first explorer superyacht Akula.

Building 59m Akula: Rossinavi's first explorer superyacht

Erik Spek and Onne Logger, owners of <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/37" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Azure Yacht Design & Naval Architecture (Company)">Azure Yacht Design &amp; Naval Architecture</a> in the Netherlands, are accustomed to combining the studio’s technical expertise and creative flair when engineering one-off superyachts. But 102.8-metre Project 1011 in build at <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/29" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Feadship (Company)">Feadship</a>’s De Vries facility has proved more challenging than most.&nbsp;When the experienced owner of the <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/18" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Amels (Company)">Amels</a> yacht <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Yacht/5732" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Here Comes The Sun89.0m (291'12&quot;)Amels2016">Here Comes The Sun</a> – for whom <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/37" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Azure Yacht Design & Naval Architecture (Company)">Azure</a> had worked on the yacht’s refit – came to Erik Spek and Onne Logger with an idea for a new-build project, they leapt at the chance. As the owner’s brief unfolded, however, they began to realise the complexity of what they had taken on. Not only did the owner want the 100-metre-plus yacht rated at a fraction under 3,000 GT to offer the volume and guest space of a vessel twice the size, the delivery schedule was dangerously tight. Nonetheless, the project got off to a flying start. <img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/234336/image/large-5a062dc250ad7649034227db73ff6744.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/234336">“We started at Easter time in 2020 and from April to September we created the layout,” says Spek, who was also taken on as the owner’s representative. “We went out to tender in August and signed the contract with <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/29" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Feadship (Company)">Feadship</a> at the end of October. So the contract process went very quickly – just four weeks from first pricing to signing.”One level or two?A key element of Project 1011&nbsp;is her single deck engine room that minimises the impact of the technical spaces and therefore maximises the guest spaces. “Under normal circumstances it would have been impossible,” says Spek. ”But because of the collaboration between <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/29" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Feadship (Company)">Feadship</a> and <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/37" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Azure Yacht Design & Naval Architecture (Company)">Azure</a>, ‘we said, ‘let’s see if we can make this work’. And we did make it work.”<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/286090/image/large-76f4d7605324b99f5aec8eb9050be49f.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/286090">The owner opted for conventional shaft propulsion with <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/1409" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="MTU (Company)">MTU</a> diesels after choosing diesel-electric drive with Azipods on a previous yacht, which had proved difficult to pack all the equipment in. The engine room is located a long way forward to benefit from the maximum depth of the hull, but the single-height deck and limitations associated with getting the right shaft line angles posed another engineering challenge.&nbsp;The answer was to place the engines facing the wrong way with the gearboxes forward and the drive shafts effectively doing a U-turn to run aft outboard of the engines and through the hull in the stern. This means the shaft lines are some 37 metres long – the longest the shipyard has ever installed.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/286091/image/large-41dd966f9bc8991467fc4498b93530cd.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/286091">Space – or rather the lack of it – also proved an obstacle when it came to the exhaust treatment systems and the fact that the engine room is under the waterline. Outboard on each side of the hull is a small technical space on the deck above inside which the SCR and particulate filter units are housed. The solution also creates an elbow above the waterline – good practice for preventing water backfill (an idea <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/37" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Azure Yacht Design & Naval Architecture (Company)">Azure</a> came up with during the concept development of 75-metre Kensho). Finally, proposed by the shipyard, the seawater inlet and pump are mounted in the double bottom of the yacht, thereby using the space in between for the cooling system. According to Spek, this has never been done before on a yacht.The idea of a single-deck engine room has caught on thanks to Project 1011. “It gives you so much more real estate to use,” says Spek. “Now there’s only a small technical area on the lower deck and the rest is all cinema and tender garage. It was a no-brainer for the owner and was also one of the key points to start the project.”<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/284055/image/large-cc8dd340130f32ce1cbe0692ee176838.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/284055">Fun and gamesThe decision to stay below the 3,000GT threshold was partly the result of the owner’s previous experience of larger yachts that were unable to access many harbours, often required a pilot, and were manned by more commercial-minded crew. He did not, however, want to forego the amenities and space associated with his larger yachts – and that’s where the fun and games lay for the <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/37" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Azure Yacht Design & Naval Architecture (Company)">Azure</a> team.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/286095/image/large-18578592344fd658ef514d939fce91f4.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/286095">The engineering and technical challenges extended to all aspects of the build. For example, the main deck guest cabins enjoy six-metre swathes of glass; the aft tender garage includes a 15-metre-long shell door (the largest De Vries has ever built) to allow for a 13-metre tender; there is extensive use of fully retracting glass doors; a state-of-the-art bridge on the wheelhouse deck; and a structurally complex glass staircase and elevator in the central atrium. Further, the requested build schedule was very demanding.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/286093/image/large-20a75abbe3f403d8c221d745ea91b80a.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/286093">“Three years and three months is an aggressive schedule for a very complex yacht of 3,000GT and almost 103 metres,” says Leo Boonstra, project manager at <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/29" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Feadship (Company)">Feadship</a> De Vries. “We really searched the boundaries spatially and engineering-wise, not only on the volume side but also because the number of sliding doors, the amount of glass and the central atrium made the project quite challenging.”<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/286094/image/large-999f5c3aea8253b31d388a5b19c93513.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/286094">Then there was the single-level engine room on the lower deck that had not been done before in this size category. Even the air conditioning system was unusual, employing the mandatory vertical fire zone amidships to run trunking from lower-deck fan rooms throughout the yacht – a solution that saved space and mitigated noise in the guest areas. Further, the owner made several major changes during the build that “made it quite interesting,” quips Boonstra.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/286096/image/large-72f6fb53c82a3ac55179fe1c4edd23bb.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/286096">To keep to the tight schedule, Boonstra worked backwards from delivery time, through the minimum fit-out time, and the hull and superstructure period, to calculate the time left for engineering. From that they developed a plan, together with the hull and superstructure builder, to do a lot of things in parallel to try to win back more time for the engineering process. Then there was the timeline for finalising the exterior and interior design by <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/926" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design (Company)">Sinot Yacht Architecture &amp; Design</a>.&nbsp;“Luckily, it was my third project with Zlatko Imamovic [<a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/926" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design (Company)">Sinot</a>’s senior designer and project manager], Boonstra points out. “Many designers would have said it couldn’t be done, but <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/926" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design (Company)">Sinot</a> really performed. The intense collaboration between <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/926" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design (Company)">Sinot</a>, <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/29" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Feadship (Company)">Feadship</a> and <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/37" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Azure Yacht Design & Naval Architecture (Company)">Azure</a> has been key to the success of the project.”<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/234429/image/large-12fa63a53b1c07f4de43df779d21309f.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/234429">Smart thinkingThe owner’s previous yacht was 6,000GT and his request to create the yacht under the 3,000GT threshold (2,999.8 gross tons to be exact) but with much the same amenities proved the biggest challenge for the <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/37" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Azure Yacht Design & Naval Architecture (Company)">Azure</a> and De Vries teams, and required some smart thinking when it came to space design and rule exploration together with <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/1452" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Lloyd's Register (Company)">Lloyd’s Register</a>. Some GT wins, such as creating recesses for the central atrium that could be deducted, were relatively straightforward. Others required more investigation and some smart interpretation.&nbsp;“The yacht has a covered mooring deck forward, but we found that if you make one-third of the height open, then you can deduct all the volume inside,” says Spek, “So together with <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/926" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design (Company)">Sinot</a> we created a feature with horizontal bars in the topsides and calculated the space between to make sure it was just over that one-third rule.”<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/234176/image/large-78b8c9702410a66a8afac4d88c71f517.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/234176">The winter garden on the main deck aft features sliding glass panels to open the entire area up. Other elements such as the rescue boat and life-raft recesses have also been designed to be excluded. In effect, this means the owner is getting a much bigger boat than other yachts of the same gross tonnage. In fact, Spek and Logger estimate that Project 1011 is equivalent to a yacht of around 3,700GT.The engineering went as far as shaving millimetres off the height of the overhead technical spaces above the deckheads. Spek roughly calculates that by reducing the height from 600mm to 550mm they saved at least 40GT throughout yacht. The flipside was that it posed a problem for the installation of equipment like drop-down televisions. “It certainly makes it harder for the shipyard fitters and it definitely requires more engineering time and flexibility from the yard,” says Spek. “I would say if you did this with an inexperienced shipyard it would be a nightmare.”<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/234433/image/large-31bb63e70c79d131a63ac125a1dde5dd.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/234433">Managing expectationsWhile Onne Logger represented <a data-gid="gid://syiq/Company/37" href="#managed-by-system" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Azure Yacht Design & Naval Architecture (Company)">Azure</a> as the project naval architects, Spek was retained as the owner’s representative. The project team was deliberately kept very small, essentially comprising Spek, Logger, Imamovic, Boonstra and, in the latter stages of the project, chief engineer Christian Dunn. Invaluable also was the contribution of fleet manager Jake Jacobson, who has worked with the owner for 15 years and was able to help Spek understand how the client uses his yachts on a daily basis.&nbsp;“I know from recent projects that you sit down to discuss things and before you know if there are 30 people round the table,” says Boonstra. “We agreed from the start to limit the size of the team for Project 1011, so there are only a few decision-makers. We decided to keep it only to the people who could say yes or no.”The fact that business partners Spek and Logger had potentially conflicting roles required a period of adjustment within the team. “It’s different and it’s new, and it took some time to get my organisation in the spirit of the project,” says Boonstra. “You need to win trust, and if we didn’t all have trust in each other then this project would have been impossible. And it was fun to see Onne and Erik arguing over things because Erik was defending the owner!”<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/234334/image/large-de778f35f930f0c75331c313f7869787.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/234334">For Logger, there were several advantages to the pair taking contrasting roles. “I think it brings a lot of efficiency,” he says. “And for sure we had some funny situations in the weekly meetings when Erik and I were fighting about some solutions and items, and the shipyard was like, ‘What’s happening here?’ But we always came up with a solution during the same meeting and not by doing all sorts of investigations that would take months and months.”The fact that&nbsp;Project 1011 is successfully on schedule despite all the engineering and timing demands placed upon the team by the owner, who has remained involved in every detail and pushed yard and designers on all aspects of the build, is testament to what can be achieved when naval architect and owner’s representative hail from the same core team.<img src="https://photo-assets.superyachttimes.com/photo/234335/image/large-c3382c8bc9e5629f04a9b19854df8a60.jpg" data-gid="gid://syiq/Photo/234335">“If a client wants to create his own masterpiece, his own dream, I think we have the in-house skills to create something that’s really unique but also feasible,” says Spek. “This was the starting point for Project 1011. We began with a clean sheet of paper and the owner saying ‘This is what I need’. And because I was involved in the development from the start, I knew every centimetre of the project.”&nbsp;This article is featured in the latest issue of the How to Build It technical magazine. Issue 3 of How to Build It is available for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.superyachttimes.com/yacht-news/how-to-build-it-issue-3-launched" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">free download here</a>.

Feadship's superyacht Project 1011

Erik Spek and Onne Logger of Azure Yacht Design & Naval Architecture discuss the technical challenges associated with Feadship’s Project 1011.

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Build Report: The story behind Feadship's superyacht Project 1011 

Tecnomar 44m power catamaran This Is It

SuperYacht Times took an exclusive technical tour of This Is It, previously known as Project Illusion, Tecnomar's radical 44m power catamaran.

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