One thing I'm curious about is the row of stainless steel rings in the hull sides about 2 meters or so above the waterline. They look like hawse pipes to pass docking lines through but they're way too small for the size of lines Octopus would need. Some of them are attached outside of accommodation areas, so I doubt they'd be passing dock lines into the crew quarters. Are they tie points for small craft and tenders?

Tank You

Nelson Piquet

The 40-ft 10 passenger submarine is a product of Olympic Submarine Technologies of Paul Allen's hometown Seattle, WA.

And thanks to Sven, a Spain-based spotter, who woke up this morning to see this sight in Malaga harbor:

Attachment: OctopusMalaga.jpg (87243 bytes, downloaded 8146 times)

I have just found this forum and all the picks of octopus blow me away
unfortunatly this means I also only just found out that there was a PDF file with pictures of her interior posted (now removed) to the superyacht societies website, would someone who saved the file please be good enough to email it to me, thankyou.

Name : Octopus, IMO Number : 1007213
Built : 2003, Lurssen, Howaldtswerke - Deutsche Werft Kiel, Germany, Yard No : 370
Flag : Cayman Islands (British), Georgetown
Class : Lloyd's Register

LR Specific Particulars

LR Hull Notation : SSC (Special Service Craft), Yacht(P), mono, G6, Ice Class 1A, DP(AM) except
during navigation in ice (Dynamic Positioning with automatic and centralised remote manual control system)
LR Machinery notation : +LMC, UMS (Unattended Machinery Spaces)

Dimensions

Length Between Perpendiculars : 109,95m
Length Over All : 126,2m
Draught : 5,5m
Max/min draught forward : 5,89m/4,70m
Max/min draught aft : 5,89 / 4,70m
Breadth Moulded : 21m
Depth : 12,5
Gross Registered Tonnage : 9932 mt
Net Tonnage : 2979 mt
Deadweight : 1570 mt

Crew : 54

Launched : 01/Aug/03, First Movement : 01/Jan/04

Managed by Fraser Yachts, Fort Lauderdale

Companies involved with the project

- Design : Jonathan Quinn Barrett Ltd., Seattle, Washington
- Naval Architects : Espen Oeino, Antibes
- Interior Design : Christian Grevstad Inc., Seattle, Washington
- Detail Planning of Crew Areas - Partner Ship Design, Hamburg, Germany
- 2 Inflatable Arches as helipad cover - Lindstrand Technologies Ltd, Shropshire, UK
- Windsock Assembly on Helicopter Deck - Holland Aviation, Lewedorp, Netherlands
- Functional Model of "Ship Integrated Marina" for submarine & tender - Alfons Winter 3D constructions GmbH,Lubeck, Germany.
- Supply of 1.068m2 Wall Panels Lolamat Material : in Crew Cabins, seamless walls, wallpapered, pre-assembled window boxes - CF-Systems GmbH, Bremen, Germany
- Electric Power, El(Electric?) Shaftline Propulsion, Automation - ABB
- Powerplant Design/Planning - Ingenieurburo fur Elektrotechnik Holger Krambeck und Klaus Gutke, Essen/Magdeburg, Germany.
- Tender "Man of War" - Vikal International - Perth, Western Australia
- Submarine - Olympic Submarine Technologies, Seattle, Washington


Modified by willawake at 8:29 PM 10/22/2004

There are some additional details known that were published at the Superyacht Society design awards nominees webpage before they were withdrawn:

Fuel: 224,400 gls / 849,446 ltrs
Water: 46,200 gls / 174,886 ltrs
Range: 8,000 nm
Max speed: 20 kn

Engines: Eight x MTU 16V4000 diesels 2,080kW/2,788bhp @ 1,800 rpm

Electric propulsion systems delivered by ABB Marine:
8 x 2300 kVA, 3300V Main Generators
Main Switchboard, 3300V, 60 Hz
2 x 6100 kW (0.. ±255 rpm) PWM Propulsion Drives
1 x 450 kW Azimuth Thruster Drive
2 x 350 kW Tunnel Thruster Drives
Integrated Machinery Automation System
Dynamic Positioning System

Although I have never seen it actually confirmed, to me it seems obvious that Octopus has diesel/electric propulsion using traditional propellers - not pods. Eight diesels of moderate power would make no sense if there is not diesel/electric propulsion.

The ABB reference list mentions "El Shaftline Propulsion" as willawake notes and I suppose it is the ABB way of saying diesel/electric propulsion.

Modified by Andy Lindy at 10:56 AM 2/3/2006

Yes it is interesting, ABB site notes Electric Power, El Shaftline Propulsion. It does not mark the boxes for Azipod propulsion. The LR site notes survey items for Screwshaft 1p and 1s. Therefore it is safe to assume that Octopus does not have pods for main propulsion but rather has two propellers. I was talking about this with an experienced friend and he said "Diesel electric power, that is great because you eliminate the shaftline" but in this case it seems they did not. The first thing that sprang to my mind was whether azipods are not good for ice but actually they are great for ice navigation and used on many icebreakers.

There is obviously a reason for the design of Octopus's propulsion system and also the inclusion of an outrageous number of as Andy says "moderately powered engines". Why not have 4 larger units like most fast vessels and minimise the maintenance costs.

Modified by willawake at 8:43 PM 10/22/2004

Modified by willawake at 8:49 PM 10/22/2004

Regards:

That way you may use any number of diesel engines depending on the situation: Idle at dockside you may use just one or two engines, cruising perhaps three or four and when maximum speed is needed you start up all the engines to generate a maximum of kilowatts.

In the case of Octopus I suppose that at least two out of the eight engines are kept in reserve on a rotating schedule making maintenance no big issue. What you may lose in added complexity by the large number of engines you win back in maintenance flexibility and of course reliability.

A severe problem with one of the engines while cruising in a remote part of the world is no problem onboard Octopus - you just leave the engine out of service until you reach a port where the problem can be dealt with.

Looking at Limitless you can note a total of six Caterpillar diesels: two 16-cylinder 3616 engines, two 16-cylinder 3516 and two 12-cylinder 3412. It's the same concept as has been used in Octopus - a single powerplant to generate all the power needed onboard.

Of course the ultimate "all electric ship" uses podded propulsion and why not gasturbines as boosters to generate power at top speed. The best example is the recent QM2.

ok but how about waterjets then? well waterjets are according to studies better than propellers in the 25+ knots range. Octopus with 20kn max is not a candidate.

Modified by willawake at 11:35 PM 10/22/2004

http://community.webshots.com/...NfqIN

So if you would like to calculate what a "fill her up" would cost for Paul Allen, it would be $370,000.
But ships never fill up the tanks from zero of course. They top the tanks when they are going on a long ocean crossing or when they happen to find some good price bargain on bunker oil.

Most yacht owners use fuel brokers who work with the yacht management companies. There are several fuel brokers in the market, here is just one:
http://www.yachtfuel.com

For those of you who want to study bunker prices there is one website giving all the information you will need about the world of bunker. Unfortunately the services are not all for free, you will need a subscription to get into the more detailed information:
http://www.bunkerworld.com/index_fs.htm

One thing you will have to know is that a metric ton of distillate marine fuel will be 1,100 litres taking into account a density of 0,90 at 15 deg C.
Market bunker prices are always quoted in metric tons.

Modified by Andy Lindy at 9:21 AM 10/23/2004

it is ever fantastic for me to read here these enormorus information.

From the site of an Dr.Ingenieur let me complete this information a little bit too:
"All electric ship" means an diesel (or gasturbine) electric drive, but this is much more. The energy medium on board is all electric: winches, propulsion and so on. Absolutly all (what is possible of course).

Limitless is an CODELAD (Combinated diesel electric and diesel) ship. The gensets drives an electric booster. He is able to move the yacht alone (in harbour or for slow speeds for example) and worked via gear on the same shaft with the direct diesel drive.

An all electric ship with gasturbine power is an expensive thing. The gasturbines are today much more easier to handle, but they are like an rich lady: expensive to buy, costly and need a lot of features for install. Compared to the diesel they breathe much more of fresh air, salt is an big problem, and you have to maintainence they earlier for more money.

Take a look to LE120 / Rising Sun for Larry Ellision. The Gasturbine powered design from Franics Design is offered at edminston for 200 Mio. US $. A big part is for the GT power! Larry choose the diesel stack while it's cheaper.

A podded propulsion is a weight problem too. The big ones (20 MW) weight 300t each! A shaft driven electric solution is more lighter. An interesting stack is the CODLOG (combinated diesel electric and gasturbine). You have economy power for slow speeds and handling and max. power direct for high speeds. Take a look to interesting all electric programs in the world: US Navy's DD(X), the british Type 45, Blohm & Voss Meko X, ...they will all inspire the yachting world with better and better solutions.

Why so much engines? The costs! These "little" engines with a power of 1000 hp or more are based on the truck engines. Firms like MAN or Detroit Diesel produced more and sold them much cheaper than the big ones. For example, you need 6000 hp. Your option is one engine with 6000 hp (big, heavy and expensive), two with 3000 hp, three with 2000 hp, four with 1500 hp, five with 1200 hp or six with 1000 hp, the six engines will be the better choice. They are small, cheap and easy to handle. For an diesel electric solution you could put them nearly wherever you want in the hull. A double deck engine room isn't require. This is more room for other things.
In the gulf of mexico opperating crewboats for the oilcompanies. The unbelievest option I ever saw was an 6 engine on 6 shafts option. Why? It is so much more cheaper than two or three big engines (Marylin McCall ?) !

Modified by mr.stohn at 2:21 AM 10/23/2004

I would assume that the main reason for not choosing podded propulsion for Octopus was concerns about the draft. Even with classic propeller and shaftline propulsion Octopus has a maximum draft of almost 6 metres.

Knowing the owner's interest for exploring remote areas of the globe I think that adding Azipods (Mermaids are too large) would result in a draft preventing Octopus from cruising interesting areas and from entering more ports than already is the case by her mere size.

The market price today for the MDO quality (marine diesel oil) is between $450 and $500 per metric ton depending on the port - more expensive in Europe than in the Americas. This means that you will get a US gallon of MDO for $1,53-1,70.

It is very pleasant to have a person like you on the forum, who brings its own yachting experience. Have you brought any modification to Pilar Rossi ? Because a yacht very similar to her, Pari, has been very much modified with two extensions. Do you still have the helipad ?

b.t.w. are you still into a form of racing?

http://www.signonsandiego.com/....html

About the Azimut 116', do you like the boat ?

Nice talking with you.