Fit out the phattest sea-ride…
Make your suggestions to the best, wildest fantasy ship, and see your ideas come to life
By Ryan Skinner for 59° 56′ N
Somewhere, at some time, someone probably said: "Yeah, this ship’s OK, but it’d be better if it had…." And anyone who’s ever seen MTV’s Pimp My Ride knows that all your dreams can be realized, as long as you have some cash, a welding torch and some know-how.
Now, anyone can propose any thing for the wildest ship imaginable! Pimp a ship! Whatever’s your thing – swimming pools, 3-D cinemas, mud wrestling, laser weaponry, whatever! – just propose it in a comment below or take part in the discussions at LinkedIn groups.
It can be a cruise ship, a tanker, an offshore ship, any commercial vessel, and any wild thing you’d like to put on board. Use your imagination! The results will be put into a series of illustrations by a colleague of mine, a designer who can make any thought into gorgeous visuals. And anyone who takes part will get co-credit for the design.
Send your suggestions »
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Tags: · Ship Design
Here’s my bunker barge moored alongside a pretty little ship. Notice the little hose snaked between us. This is a small hose used for transferring small parcels of diesel. The fuel oil hose is twice that size, and the 30-meter (100-foot) hose we use most often weighs several tons, even when empty.
Let’s say you’re going to spend… I dunno, between 15 and 75 Million US Dollars to build yourself a nice bulk carrier, or a handysized container/breakbulk ship… or even a reefer boat… whatever, you’re building a new ship. Congratulations.
Why would you design a ship that is completely miserable to fuel up? Wouldn’t you want your bunkering operations to be safe and fast, so that your crew can do the million other things to be done on board?
Now, chances are, unless the ship is being built for a highly specialized run between two ports, your first concern might be usability. You want your new ship to maximize profitability over the long term, and, aesthetics aside, this means being built to last, but at a low cost…
keep reading »
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Tags: · Ship Design
Austal’s next generation 102-metre high speed trimaran has had its unique three-engine layout successfully installed ahead of the vessel’s launch next month.
The vehicle-passenger ferry, which is being built at Austal’s Western Australian facilities and is currently available for purchase, is scheduled for completion by February 2010.
Unique to the vessel is a patented three engine layout that combines with the trimaran’s hydrodynamic hull form to deliver fuel efficiency across a range of operating conditions. Each of the three MTU 20V 8000 M71L diesel engines produce 9,100kW at less than 1,200rpm and offer the world’s highest power-to-weight ratio in their power range.
“A three-engine layout saves weight over the traditional four-engine layout, delivering improvements to fuel consumption and daily running costs,” said Dr. Tony Armstong, head of Austal Design. “Compared to other high speed craft with the same installed power, Austal’s next generation trimaran allows greater speed, and achieves lower fuel consumption when operating at the same speeds.”
Austal’s latest trimaran ferry builds on the company’s landmark trimaran Benchijigua Express, delivered to Spanish operator Fred Olsen S.A. in 2005. Since delivery, Benchijigua Express has demonstrated the benefits of Austal’s trimaran technology in commercial operation.
Others to recognise the unique benefits of Austal’s trimaran technology include the United States Navy, for which Austal is currently building two 127-metre trimaran Littoral Combat Ships.
Austal’s new 102-metre trimaran has a maximum deadweight of 700 tonnes, a speed of up to 39 knots and the capacity for 1165 passengers and 245 cars.
More on this can be found on Austal’s website HERE.
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Tags: · Ferry, Ship Design
Ever wonder how graphic designers create cutaway illistrations of ship? Khulsey.com clues us into the secrets HERE. Once you learn about the process click HERE to see close up images of the final product!
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Tags: · Ship Design
Back… Click HERE to read Part 1 of our Mega Engine Series
Never Sea Land brings us the largest engine ever built:
The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel ship engine is the most powerful and most efficient prime-mover in the world today. The Aioi Works of Japan’s Diesel United, Ltd built the first engines and is where some of these pictures were taken.
It is available in 6 through 14 cylinder versions, all are inline engines. These engines were designed primarily for very large container ships. Ship owners like a single engine/single propeller design and the new generation of larger container ships needed a bigger engine to propel them.
The cylinder bore is just under 38″ and the stroke is just over 98″.
The engine weighs in at 2,300 tons and is capable of delivering 109,000 horsepower.
The largest piston in the world!
More Enormous Piston Rods.
“DU-Sulzer 12RT A96C” translated to “One large MFD”
How it works. [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · Chief Engineer, Container Ship, emma-maersk, Engines, fire on the Emma Maersk, Interesting, largest, maersk, Marine Technology, marine-engineering, Photo, Ship Design, ship engines, ship-engine, Ships, Wartsila, Wartsila-Sulzer, world-record, world-records, worlds largest maersk
Completed in late 2008, the M/V Auriga Leader is the world’s first cargo ship to be partially propelled by solar power. The 656-foot, 60,000-ton car carrier will initially transport vehicles being sent for sale overseas by Japan’s top automaker, Toyota Motor Corp, and harness the energy of the sun in order to reduce fuel costs and cut carbon emissions.
Currenlty docked at the Port of Long Beach, officials from the port, Toyota and NYK Line are allowing visitors to come aboard and view the 328 solar panels on the M/V Auriga Leader as part of a demonstration project to help raise awareness about reducing diesel emissions from large ships.
The vessel, developed by Nippon Yusen K.K. and Nippon Oil Corp., is capable of generating 10% of the energy used while the ship is docked with its 328 solar panels on the top deck. Nippon Yusen has set a goal of halving its fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by 2010.
The panels themselves are not attached to the ship directly, but are rather installed on the ship’s car-carrier, which is capable of carrying 6,400 automobiles, and then connected to the onboard 440 volt electrical network.
The companies hope having the panels on the carrier will protect them from the stresses of the ship’s environment, including salt-water damage, wind pressure, and vibrations.
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Tags: · Environment, propulsion_system, Ship Design, solar power
I stumbled upon this while searching on, well, Stumble Upon, the tool that discovers web sites based on your set interests. In my search it referred me to Schöpfer Yachts, a new US based company that is “dedicated to the pursuit of advanced yacht aesthetics and technology.”
Now we have seen some interesting yachts in our day, including the 170 meter yacht that was just launched in Germany for the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, but this one (in concept) surely is in a class of its own in terms of forward thinking design and extraordinary style.
It is called the Oculus and it is a 250-foot vessel that was designed by E. Kevin Schöpfer, founder and owner of his namesake company. The design is the first “design launch” of Schöpfer Yachts LLC. Here are just a few of artist renditions for this bold new design. More images, including details about the vessel, can be found at SchöpferYachts.com [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · MegaYachts, Ship Design, yachts
How is a cabin is built in this day of containerization and commodization? Remotely of course. Eurodam News, Holland America’s blog showcasing the shipyard activities around their latest new build project, brings us photos of the stateroom installation.
Of potential interest to readers of this blog the method shown here is very similar to how accommodation blocks are built aboard modern commercial ships. In conjuntion with this trend is the movement towards equality among crew members, which means the Captain’s cabin is often identical to that of the most junior crew member minus the extra rack. This is in stark contrast to my first ship, a Wrecks Act tanker built in Japan, which contained bunkrooms for junior crew members and a four room (day room, office, sitting room, cabin) suite for the Captain. [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · Cruise Ship, Interesting, Photo, Ship Design, Shipyard
(Image: Popular Mechanics)
Ever wonder what it takes to construct the world’s largest passenger ship? Well, Popular Mechanicss takes a step by step look at the construction of Royal Carribean’s Oasis of the Seas, from massive chunks of metal to the 5,400 passenger luxury cruise liner that is set take the title of the world’s largest (and unique) passenger vessel.
Check out the great photo collection HERE
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Tags: · Cruise Ship, oasis of the seas, popular_mechanics, Ship Design
M/V SEACOR CHEETAH is a 170 ft. class Catamaran passenger/cargo vessel with the capacity to carry 150 passengers at a top speed in excess of 40 knots. It is designed to meet the specific demands of the oil and gas industry for crew transport in loop-style routes between high-traffic platforms and shore-base operations. The Cheetah aims to increase passenger comfort and safety, personnel transport reliability, and dramatically reduce costs.
M/V SEACOR CHEETAH details: [Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · cargo ship, deep_water, interesting_ship, Offshore, Ship Design, transportation_mode
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