So yea we like the x-bow but after watching this video about Feadship's 72.80 meter yacht Predator, can you blame us? On top of that add Monaco Marine's awesome shipyard in La Ciotat France.
New York Boat Show
At the very beginning of the new year we had a chance to visit the NY Boat show recently and although it was a quick visit we got to see some new stuff. Of all the boats we looked at I think the wakeboard boats by Malibu Boats and Mastercraft where the best to look at.
They all had really nice color schemes while also being some of the only boats that an average person could own without going broke. Overall you seemed to get what you paid for and these things look like fun. Would love to try one of these out.
Of course you couldn't help but to stare at the Miss Geico OPA Racing powerboat. The carbon/kevlar construction and design is very impressive up close.
and the gas turbine engine is smaller then what you would think. You can smell the exhaust as soon as you walk up to it. At almost 3,000HP you wonder what it would be like to sit in the cockpit of this beast as its blasting down the water.
Another interesting design was the Sea-doo Spark. Apparently water and electricity do go together
Regulator Marine had some nice boats fishing boats on show.
All running Yamaha 4 Stroke powerplants.
Century Boats also had a nice center console 3200 on display.
Other companies that had boats available were Sea Ray, Meridian Yachts, Formula, Boston Whaler, Pursuit Boats, Cobalt and Monterey Boats. Engine supplies Yamaha, Mercury, Evinrude were all in attendance. No showing from Honda. While it was a good time to see what is out there it is hard to believe some of the prices these boats go for. When your standing next to them they all look really great but once you walk on board them its hard to look past the relatively simple molded fiberglass hulls and superstructures. It was the first attendance by us to a boat show. Learned a lot about how not to take pictures as well as how to battle the insane lines to get on board these things.
Edison Chouest and ULSTEIN's X-Bow
On Monday November 25, 2013 the Norwegian Company ULSTEIN announced in a press release they have been given the green light to go ahead with construction on their largest design yet. Through a joint company, Island Ventures II LLC, both Island Offshore and Edision Chouest Offshore Companies (ECO) have ordered a vessel built. One to be constructed at the ULSTEIN Verft facility and the other at the Edison Chouest LaShip yard in Houma, Louisiana. This will also be the first ULSTEIN design to be constructed in the United States.
ULSTEIN SX165 Rendering
The ULSTEIN Group is an internationally ranked Naval Architecture firm and ship building group headquartered in Ulsteinvik, Norway. While in the international arena they are very well known their patented X-BOW design it has been a relatively new development in the shipping industry. Since the first hull constructed in 2006 there have been over 40 more completed for different offshore applications. ULSTEIN also has other systems developed and continue to be on the creative front.
According to the press release by ULSTEIN the new vessel has been given the model number SX165. The vessel will be 147.5m Long and 28m wide. She will have 2 cranes having lifting capacities of 400 and 140 tones respectfully as well as having three moon pools in order to accommodate ROV operations. The largest pool of the three being 11.2m x 12m. The vessel will be built with triple redundancy having three engine rooms of course having catalyst systems to reduce NOx. She will also be built to new health safety and environment (HSE) international standards and have a total of 4 lifeboats. Total capacity of the ship is 200 people.
ULSTEIN SX165 Rendering
ULSTEIN's various offshore designs are very impressive and this one is no different. Pushing vessel designs and continually looking for new technological advances is exciting to see and we commend ECO on going ahead with this design. We will soon follow up on what the X-BOW is and how it actually works and continue to follow these designs as they progress and excited to see the first one leave an American yard.
Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78)
Name:Gerald R. Ford (CVN -78)
Builders: Newport News Shipbuilding
Operators: United States Navy
Displacement:Approximately:
100,000 long tons
Length:1,106 ft (337 m)
Beam:Flight deck: 252 ft (77 m); Waterline: 134 ft (41 m)
Draft:39 ft (12 m)
Propulsion: 2 A1B nuclear reactors
Speed: In excess of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
