It may seem strange to think of a 38-meter (125-foot) megayacht as a “dayboat,” but that’s exactly what Danish Yacht is building at present. The photos you see here are from the tank tests performed by SSPA, a facility in Gothenburg, Sweden, which both pleasure- and commercial-boat builders rely on.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with yacht construction, tank tests are quite helpful. Scale models of hulls are propelled through water under various simulated conditions, to help confirm a builder’s and naval architect’s expectations as well as to uncover any possible problems before the first piece of metal is cut or layer of fiberglass is laid for the hull.
And for those of you unfamiliar with Danish Yacht, this Denmark-based yard was responsible for building the 136-foot replica of the famous sailing racer Ranger. It also built the 115-foot motoryacht Moon Goddess.
As for this dayboat, the scale model was found to be quite stable at speed on resistance tests, which took wind into account, among other things; it also didn’t porpoise, another good sign. Equally noteworthy, the megayacht is designed to achieve high speeds, and the test results bore those out: There was reportedly little change to running trim from zero to 65 knots. Overall, “the report stated that the performance is ‘better than average’ when put up against the base data of tested vessels of similar dimensions and that the dynamic behavior in calm water regarding trim change, stability, and spray wetness is ‘superb.’ You cannot achieve better than that!” exclaims Jonathan McDonnell, a representative for Danish Yacht.
The project should prove to be interesting on other fronts, too. She’ll feature a carbon-fiber hull, which the yard claims will result in at least a 25-percent weight savings over traditional fiberglass hulls for similar-size yachts. And she’s from the design board of Espen Oeino, the famed stylist behind yachts such as Skat, Apoise, and Princess Mariana.
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