ULSTEIN designs bring the knowledge and experience from offshore vessels into the leisure market, to provide yacht and cruise owners with more comfortable and environmentally friendly marine platforms.
Ulstein Design
The Opportunities
An Ulstein cruise, yacht and yacht support vessels widen your opportunities for fun yachting. They carry all your toys and tenders without compromising the luxury and space of your mother yacht. Ulstein’s patented hull solution is offshore rough, developed from decades of real-life experience.
What sets Ulstein apart?
Ulstein develops vessels that are standing out from the ordinary, with exceptional seakeeping qualities. They offer stunning exterior designs, with or without the patented X-BOW®, cooperation with renowned interior designers, worldwide shipbuilding at high-quality, top-notch yards, and precise deliveries according to owner’s specifications.
The Solutions
X-BOW®
The IP-protected and patented ULSTEIN X-BOW® is a rounded but pointed bow, normally with no bulb. For ships operating at higher speed, an integrated or conventional bulb can be arranged to optimise the calm water resistance of vessels at constant draft.
Green
The lower resistance provided by the X-BOW® , together with lower motions, results in more sustainable yachting experiences.
Heli Hanger
Of importance to many cargo owners is also the protection and integrity of cargo and equipment carried on deck.
Safety First
Comfort is crucial, not only to crew and passengers’ welfare, but also when safety is concerned. X-BOW® reduces the movements and accelerations of the vessel, improving not only comfort but also reducing the risk of water on deck and consequently, damage to onboard equipment.
Smarter Solutions
The X-BOW® enables operations with heavy seas without major compromises to speeds. While many vessels need to adapt their speeds to the sea state conditions, X-BOW® designs can retain speeds to a larger degree than conventional vessels.
Configure Your Own: High End Cruise Yacht
The ULSTEIN expedition cruise ship designs have been developed to satisfy the modern explorers and travellers. Our vessels hold the highest seakeeping standards, and our designs can be customised for any customer specific wish.
X-BOW®
Instead of the traditional bow shape and design that punches through the water, the ULSTEIN X-BOW® hull, launched in 2005, is curved in a novel shape which has redefined marine engineering.
Stability
The X-BOW® vessel is right in her element when in the harsher environment. In rough head seas, the slamming is reduced.
Space
The wider space in the fore part of the vessel increases the cargo carrying capacity and opens up to more flexible vessel solutions.
Speed
The X-BOW® gets you to your destination in a timelier manner, reduces engine power while maintaining forward speed.
Strategic
The ship produces fewer emissions and overall lower fuel consumption, hence is a significant step forward in green technology.
“The overall comfort and quietness of the vessel is another real big plus. The comfort that the X-BOW provides is just incredible: I have not had a single bow slam the entire seaon! Also, speed is considerably less impacted in head-on seas. The Drake Passage is a much less dreadful place now.”
Cpt. Martin Graser, ‘National Geographic Resolution’
How does it work?
The X-BOW introduces the gentle displacer; a tapered fore ship shape with a different volume distribution as well as sectional angles, resulting in a wave piercing effect at small wave heights, and also reduces pitching and bow impact loads in bigger seas. When comparing fore ship volumes with more conventional, bulbous bow shapes, the X-BOW has more displacement volume starting from the waterline.
Instead of just rising on the waves and then dropping with colossal force, the X-BOW® is able to distribute the force more evenly across its surface – enabling the ship to remain more stable during poor weather conditions, increasing comfort for passengers and crew alike. And because it uses less fuel to get through the waves, it also helps to save energy. The X-BOW® makes a huge difference in sea behavior. It splits the wave energy and reduces the slamming impact. Successfully proven in more than 100 ships, the hull shape has recently become a game changer for expedition cruising.
Vessel Designs
Project Types
Ulstein’s yacht support concept designs, yacht designs and high-end cruise designs are developed according to your needs and visions. They are available as newbuilds or conversions, keeping high flexibility in mind. From starting with an idea to basic design, engineering, purchase, integration, construction, assembly, pre-commissioning, commissioning, testing, and after-delivery follow-up services, Ulstein’s professionalism is next to unrivalled.
Find out even more details regarding the X-BOW Design in the brand new ‘The Ulstein X-Bow Explained‘ video here.
For more information, click below:
