Set at 180ft, this modern Vripack Explorer is designed with one primary goal: provide the guests that charter her an unforgettable holiday. To achieve this, the yacht is not only equipped with the expected toys. The architects have also touched all the vital areas from cabins to storage and from galley to comfort at sea.
Design Concept to please
With nearly one crew member to two guests, one can easily imagine the level of personal service on board. Obviously there is a professional open kitchen with the special chef’s cabin right next to it. Care for a movie, race the Monaco Grand Prix with your team mate on your Play Station or win the masters on your WII? Then enter the centrally located play room and enjoy. In any case there is no excuse for not cleaning your cabin since there is dedicated storage space for no less than 15 tons. Finally a place to put your suitcase!
She will carry a 6.5m RIB in her stern garage, an 8.5m limo tender, an 8.5m speedboat tender in her side garages and a 5m Hobby-Cat on her touch-and-go helicopter deck. Offering guests plenty of choice for exploring the environment in which she finds herself.
For those who prefer to stay aboard, the central staircase spirals around an elevator from top to bottom. On the lower deck there are four massive guest rooms. On the main deck forwards there are two VIP staterooms with separate WC/bidet, shower and bath cleverly designed around the man height windows which give a unique in-out side feeling. If the disco and dance floor is not enough exercise there is a health spa and fitness centre aft on the top deck, along with a stream pool. The interior styling is created by London based Evan K. Marshall.
Naval Architecture based on usage
Vripack Naval Architects focused on propulsive efficiency, comfort and controllability and safety during transit and low speed operations. By means of CFD calculations the hull lines are optimized in order to minimize the wave resistance. Taking into account typical crew requests concerning anchor handling and bow- and aft body slamming. This process led to a reduction of the wave resistance of about 10 percent, being about 6% in total resistance. A trim wedge has been optimized to reduce the required shaft power. A power reduction by about 5% was achieved and reduced the risk for aft body slamming due to the increased transom immersion.
Comfort
Ship motions, vibrations and related seasickness have a huge impact on the guest. Subsequently this is a strong focus point in the design process. Vripack optimized the hull form to avoid vibrations due to slamming and evaluated the roll response with active fin stabilizers. Model tests fine-tuned the anchored condition in a swell like environment triggering a resonant roll response. Also the comfort levels during transit in a moderate sea environment have been mimicked.
Controllability and safety
Good controllability of the yacht is required in both an offshore environment and in confined and congested waters. This important safety aspect is addressed in the design and verified with care by modeling the vessel with active steering and fin stabilizers with mimicking the real offshore sea climate. Special attention was paid to the controllability of the vessel when sailing astern in typical low speed harbor conditions.