Today we're going to do a technical tour of a really unique vessel. It's 68.7 meters,
225 feet with a 37 foot beam - that's 11.2 meters. This vessel was originally built as a
high-speed ice-class search and rescue vessel for a Scandinavian government. To visit this vessel, I
came to Vigo, Spain which is up in the north west corner of Spain, where it so happens I have been
before... in 1972, 50 years ago, I sailed on my father's Palmer Johnson/Swan 48 from Bermuda here
to Bayonne, Spain, which is a beautiful port just next to Vigo Spain. There's an amazing Parador
castle overlooking the harbor here where all the yachts tied up after the race. So let's head
back to Vigo and go aboard this search and rescue vessel that I think will convert into an amazing
expedition yacht. There are a number of features on this vessel that make it unique. It has
20 knot speed. It is ice class. It has a bulbous bow - which you don't see on ice-class and it has
retractable stabilizers which you have to have on ice-class. This vessel is diesel-electric with
Rolls-Royce motors and three MAN generators. Today we're going to have a tour of the vessel with
Xocas Cardama, whose family has owned and operated this shipyard for over100 years. We're starting
the tour up on the bridge, which is vast. It has 360-degree views through big glass and all of the
systems that you see here are redundant. There's a backup for every system on the vessel. It has four
different stations from which you can operate the vessel. It's got two wing stations and then aft,
it also has a full operational station. So looking at the plans here, what you always want to do on
a conversion is make use of the existing structure as much as possible. So the bridge deck is perfect
but what we want to do is extend the aft side of the bridge deck here and make a sky lounge. The
crane is going to swivel out of the way, so you can make a sky lounge all the way back to here.
And now you've got a sun deck that is quite vast that will go all the way from the beginning of the
bridge to this far aft. And you've got tremendous guest space here that is just ready to pop.
All the decks have heavy thermal and acoustic insulation. You immediately
get the feeling that everything is oversized. The ceilings are high, the windows are large
and it feels like they didn't quite know what to do with all the extra space they had. This
is great news when it comes to converting this to an expedition yacht because we have use for this
space. So we have to remind ourselves this vessel is 225 feet long and it can operate with only nine
crew. The accommodations that it does have for crew are oversized. The cabins are twice the
size of what they should be for crew cabins and this presents the opportunity in the conversion
that we can convert space and accommodate all our guests and the owners and still have
plenty of room for the crew. So right below the bridge you have the galley and the mess and the
captain and chief engineer cabins. Under them are the crew cabins. So that's about 75 feet of
accommodations there on two decks. This gives us a lot of leeway to re-purpose this existing
interior space and we don't have to add any more accommodation areas in the hull. We've got a large
office here. You've got the captain the chief engineer and another office over here plus another
utility space here. So this can all become an owner's suite on the foredeck with direct access
onto the foredeck. You've certainly got room here for large walk-in closets, his and her heads,
and even another cabin for staff or for children that is connected to the owner's suite. Going
down a deck you've got a hospital you've got a big engineer's cabin an officer's cabin and a locker
room. So the crew quarters can be consolidated, let's say, up here and you could have large guest
suites back here, or vice versa. You've also got a void space up here that's probably 30 feet by
25 feet Let's go back on board and have a look at these spaces. Here's an example of a large under
utilized space on the main deck it's currently configured as a gym, but it could be put to a
better use. There are two very large stairwells connecting the decks. It's already noted each of
these crew cabins are large enough to become guest suites and the hallways offer more width than you
would normally see on a luxury yacht. The galley is modern and state of the art with lots of light,
great ventilation and plenty of room for multiple crew members to work here at the same
time. There are four walk-ins for cold storage and as freezers that allow the vessel to have an
endurance of several weeks. Now let's get into the vessel systems- this is the engineer's main
control station. It's on the main deck - not below deck. And as the vessel is electric, you will see
multiple breakers and panels to distribute and control the electric currents. The electric
power plants generate 4.25 megawatts of power and they drive two 1800 kilowatt engines which deliver
4 900 horsepower to the propellers. It has active front-end drivers, blackout prevention system and
generator protection modules. All of this is redundant, so any of the power systems that go
down have full backup. It features an engine room workshop for repairs which is better equipped than
anything I've ever seen before. The vessel has ice-class rotary vane steering gear. The piping
is all insulated. The cable runs and the hydraulic lines are all extremely well organized and open
and accessible. The engine room is two decks high. It's completely insulated. There's lots of space
between the equipment for access and maintenance. All of the engines and systems are connected
with an integrated alarm monitoring control system that has over 1000 channels. This system
provides improved marine vessel supervision for safety and management. The microprocessor reads
and records engine output data and monitors all of the critical ship functions such as engines,
pumps and valves. This system complies with full marine classification by Lloyd's, DNV and other
class societies. Here we are looking down into the deepest part of the ice strengthened hull
which has stainless steel lining and it is spotless. There are some other
unique features that I want to point out here for this search and rescue vessel.
This looks like a helicopter platform but it is actually an evacuation point for a helicopter to
pick up an injured rescued person. It's a winch only platform and they winch the injured person
up to the helicopter. However it's situated where you would want to put a helipad and so
it can be rebuilt and reinforced as a helipad there on the stern. Now the other unique thing
that this vessel has- we can see it better down here; this is a emergency rescue tender
bay here which can be used for a yacht tender. And the unique thing about this kind of a ramp
situation is that the tender can be launched while the vessel is underway. That was important for
search and rescue, but it's also useful on a yacht because you don't have to stop the yacht, anchor,
get all stabilized, and then have the crew mess around with a crane. You can launch your tender
right away out of this tender garage or tender bay in the transom and that is a unique feature.
I think that that's something that adds value to this hull as well. So that's a quick overview of
this 68 meter search and rescue vessel. It's only got 400 hours on the engines. It's like new. It's
in Vigo, Spain at the Cardama shipyard and Cardama can convert this into a global expedition yacht in
probably 12 to 16 months because all the systems are there and ready to go.
All that needs to be done is a reconfiguration of the accommodations and also the
tender toys and heli deck. So this is a unique opportunity for the right person that wants
a 20-knot, ice-class, stabilized, diesel electric vessel that is just about ready
to go. It's a real opportunity as far as I can tell from all the boats that I've seen
in Europe and in the United States. If you're interested in this vessel, give me a call.