Expedition Yacht

Another discovery at Seatrade earlier this spring. I’m not quite sure in which category to file this post . 

We’re talking about a German product, a hi-tech ceramic window film that reduces glare, rejects heat and practically stops ultra-violet light. So it’s better on the eyes, saves energy (keeping the bridge cool) and avoids the color fading of furniture & upholstery. 

Unlike the typical window films you find on cars which make your car dark inside and/or have this annoying reflection at the outside, Hüper Optik’s product line has almost no annoying reflection on the outside and is very clear.  Its ’ceramic’ line is especially suitable for the marine industry as it is free of any metals that might corrode and reduce the film’s quality and effectiveness.   I’ve seen samples and it’s really good stuff.

The film goes on the inside obviously and combined with Ritec’s ClearShield product that protects against glass corrosion on the outside I think we can’t do much more to improve the quality of our windows.

Check it out at Hüper Optik USA.

Last week I attended the Seatrade Cruise convention in Miami Beach.  While this convention primarily focuses on the cruiseship industry (quite a different dresscode than the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show !!) it has a lot of interesting product we can also apply on yachts.

To name a few, think low maintainance furniture, products to give glass new life, high-tech glass coatings that keep heat and UV out, waste incinerators, waste water treatment, coating and flooring systems including a really awesome incredibly good teak replacement from Bolith.  Also great info on sound isoloation and vibration damping.  Danish manufacturer Sika had a lot of interesting products on display.  And then there were lots of manufactures of bedding, fabrics, wall covering materials and items for interior design.  And if you want to impress your guests with a nice scent on your yacht, check out Microfresh.  Very innovative product.  Did I mention security and access systems?  Some very innovative systems out there that can also be used on yachts.

There are really a lot of beautiful materials out there that are safe (meet IMO guidelines) and easy to apply.  George Fisher piping systems was also present.  Awesome products that can replace most steel applications. 

We also had ample opportunity to talk with the folks at Lloyds Register and get all remaining questions answered. Pictured above is a garbage & waste oil incinerator from Teamtec in Norway.  Instead of carrying your waste along (and using valuable freezer space), paying fees to ’shore based facilities’ (who then dump it God knows where) this compact burns everything and is IMO-approved.  Another practical AND green solution. 

All in all a very worthwhile event.

Imagine saving 30-50% in fuel cost when crossing the Atlantic or Pacific or while cruising in the Caribbean! Skysails from Germany has the solution to achieve that.

m.v. Beaufort, an 800 ton expedition yacht conversion shown in the picture above – I actually saw it in Cartagena last December - is partly powered by a huge kite developed by the German company Skysails.     We can’t imagine a greener way to power our ship and this system is available now and in use at even bigger ships such as this  132 m (425 ft.) cargo ship.

The system can be operated from the bridge.  Launch & control is achieved with a push of a button.  During launch, a telescopic mast lifts the towing kite, which is reefed like an accordion from its storage department.  At sufficient height the kite then unfurls to its full size and can be lauched.  A winch releases the towing rope  until operating altitude has been reached.   The recovery process is performed in reverse order.

The system is designed for operation in windforces of 3 to 8 Beaufort.  The system can be recovered, but not launched, at windforces below Beaufort 3. 

Estimated cost for our particular vessel?  I’ll let you know soon.  Meanwhile, check out the very informative website of Skysails and the solutions they offer for yachts.

To learn more about how we plan to make this a ‘green’ ship see this blog’s  environment section.   Watch the video below and also check this one. 

One of our goals in this conversion is to be as green as possible.  There are many ways to accomplish this and the extra cost is really not significant on a project this size.

For instance, the floors inside will use FSC-approved (Forest Stewardship Council) wood.   And rather than using illegially harvested teak from Birma, we use a teak-look-alike composit material on our decks.  Our waste water is biologically treated with a plant that will meet the new 2010 Marpol guidelines.  That basically means you´ll be able to drink our waste water after it’s been treated.  Our vacuum toilet system will require just 1/4 gallon (less than 1 liter ! !) of water to flush, about 1/4 of a typical ‘water saving’ US toilet.

We use as little wood as possible.  Besides the environmental impact, there are safer materials out there.  Why use wood when you can use something that looks just like it so you don´t have to cut trees?  Take a product like Xorel for instance, offering sustainable wall covering.  Or those listed at ToMarket, listing many alternative materials for interior spaces.

Another way to go green on the environment is saving energy.  Using the hot cooling water of our auxiliary engines and heat exchangers, we can save up to about 100 KWh each day to heat tap water.  The same heat can be used to warm our ship when we are in cooler climates.  Our isolation will be extremely thorough which will allow us lower our air conditioning capacity needs.  Our huge 12ft prop is very efficient and the specific fuel consumption of our main main engine which turns only at about 600 to 700 rpm is beats any Caterpillar out there.  In our galley we will use induction cooking, providing great savings by avoiding heat loss.   80% Of our lighting needs will be met with extremely efficient LED illumination.

Our generators are dimensioned in such a way  that we have a lot of flexibility to meet our energy needs.  We always try to run a generator at 70% or more of its capacity. This avoid pollution of the auxiliary engine that powers the generator.  Depending on our power needs, we put a second generator online, or put the bigger one online and switch the first one off.  With 3 generators, all meeting the latest environmental standards we’ll be able to produce clean energy at all times.

Our paints will meet the latest IMO guidelines so the TBT-free antifouling doesn´t kill the sealife nor represents a hazard to the people applying it.

Wherever possible we make use of recycled materials and if we can re-use any material, we use it again (provided it meets the standards required by the Classification bureau).

All refrigerants we use on board will meet the latest European standards. Our HALON engineroom fire fighting system has already been replaced with a more environmentally friendly FM-200 system while in the guest accommodations we´ll use water.

When we carry guests, it will be following the standard of the ISO 14001 on environmental management practices.

Bottom line: it actually makes sense to be green.  With a little more thinking and investigative work it’s clear it doesn’t cost a fortune to be green but it does make a difference.

Being a vessel of over 400 gross ton, we are to have Marpol compliant bilge oil separator on board. The one onboard is quite old and not working very well and spare parts have become a problem so we’re considering a new one which will also make sure we compliant with the latest rules and get class approval.

Most machinery that could leak oil has some kind of pan below or other drainage system which leads to a 6 m3 dirty oil tank.  But you always end up with some oil in the bilge of the engineroom, mixed with water from cleaning.  The bilge oil separator will clean this water, put the oil in the dirty oil tank and pump clean water overboard.

The oil can than later be discharged ashore or, depending on the quantity of the oil and the fuel on board, be mixed with the fuel oil and be burned. After all, most of the ‘dirty oil’ is fuel oil.  We plan a separate tank to collect used lubrication oil which will also allow us to clean the lubrication oil.  We have a pretty good fuel cleaning system on board and these same guys make products to clean lub. oil.

One of our goals is to have an environmentally friendly operation.  Keep the clean water around us clean.   That means dealing with sewage and grey water (water from showers, sinks, etc.).  

A holding tank on a 10.000+ mile expedition yacht doesn’t make such sense.  So, the best way to deal with this is, is to treat it before it goes overboard.  Sewage treatment is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants. Its objective is to produce a wastestream and a solid waste or sludge also suitable for discharge or reuse back into the environment.

The purpose of disinfection in the treatment of wastewater is to substantially reduce the number of microrganisms in the water to be discharged back into the environment. The effectiveness of disinfection depends on the quality of the water being treated (e.g., cloudiness, pH, etc.), the type of disinfection being used, the disinfectant dosage (concentration and time), and other environmental variables.  Common methods of disinfection include ozone, chlorine, or ultraviolet light. Chloramine, which is used for drinking water, is not used in wastewater treatment because of its persistence

Chlorination remains the most common form of wastewater disinfection in North America due to its low cost and long-term history of effectiveness. But one major disadvantage is that chlorination of residual organic material can generate chlorinated-organic compounds that may be carcinogenic or harmful to the environment. Residual chlorine or chloramines is also capable of chlorinating organic material in the natural aquatic environment. And  because residual chlorine is toxic to aquatic species, in other words, not healthy for fish…, we don’t want to use chlorine.

Ultraviolet (UV) light can be used instead of chlorine, iodine, or other chemicals. Because no chemicals are used, the treated water’s taste is more natural and pure as compared to other methods. UV radiation causes damage to the genetic structure of bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens, making them incapable of reproduction.

Dutch company HMSA has developed an advanced biological sewage treatment plant.  It needs no chlorine.   Even better, it  uses a process that is inherent self regulating. There are no adjustments and the unit will handle black and grey water.  No pretreatment, maceration or screening is required.  There are no strainers, sludge return pumps, clarifiers or airlifts needed.  And the application of fixed media permits formation of much larger biomass volume than would otherwise be possible in conventional biological systems. The media itself is virtually non biodegradable. The biomass will easily survive a week without fresh sewage entering the system. Also change of salinity (in ports or rivers) does not influence the performance.

Sludge removal is a simple and clean job, that can be done within 15 minutes, by simple operating the valves and use of the installed discharge pump.

Operating principle
Waste water enters the system at the inlet (1).   The blower (2) provides air and causes the waste water to circulate through the submerged biofilter (4) by means of the airlift (3), a simple but reliable mammoth-pump principle.  The micro-organisms that grow on the surface of the media break down the organic particles in the waste water biologically.  Treated water flows to the disinfection tank (7) via the spillover (6). The disinfection pump (8a) gives out liquid disinfectant in precisely measured doses so as to eliminate any remaining bacteria and viruses, resulting in high-quality treatment coefficients and effluent suitable to discharge overboard but, UV disinfection reactor (8b) can be installed as an alternative to this disinfection pump. Grey water can enter the unit either through the grey water inlet (13) for disinfection only, or through the inlet (1) for biological treatment The discharge pump (9) and level switches (10) automatically maintain substance levels in the disinfection tank (7). A limited amount of sludge (11) settles at the bottom of the unit and can be released through air (12) and discharged by the pump (9).

Toilets on board of ships have some special requirements. Depending on the state of the sea, the discharge will be, let’s say “the wrong way” unless special equipment is used. The modern solution is a vacuum system just like they use on airliners.

Everything is collected in a biological sewage treatment plant and then discharged overboard or put in a holding tank when in port.

The company Jets of Norway and EVAC of Finland make the most commonly used vacuum system on ships. Triton Format in Germany (part of Triton Water now) is another big player.  Vacuum systems have a lot of installation advantages as well AND they save huge amounts of water. Instead of 2-4 gallons per flush (8-16 liters) we’ll only need 1/3/of a gallon (1.2 liters) because the vacuum is doing the work, not the water. 

We will get the wall mounted Triton-Format Silentium toilets as they have a design is very trouble free due to its straight discharge piping compared with the others, it’s very silent and it allows us to add a bidet seat to the toilets.   And they have a very professional and helpful sales staff!