Ship Motion Group is a globally active network of companies, specializing in motion-related products as well as luxury customization of yachts. They have been focusing on the development of a lightweight Retractable Propulsion System (RPS) for several years. It was first installed in the 147-foot sailing yacht Visione in 2012.
Retractable Propulsion System by Ship Motion Group first installed in superyacht VISIONE
The Ouddorp based, highly experienced design teams of Ship Motion Group with many years of experience in the marine and aircraft industry are headed by Wouter Kloppenburg, Technical Director and Jan Bruggeman, Commercial Director. They have been focusing on the development of a lightweight Retractable Propulsion System (RPS) for several years and made this state-of-the-art product now achievable as a standard product, which will be customized to the specific design of the vessel. Over the years they have booked many successes in the Volvo Ocean Race, IRC72 and plenty other prestigious racing classes.
“There is a need for lightweight Retractable Propulsion Systems, especially for high performance sailing yachts and fast motor vessels as auxiliary propulsion. Most important consideration to place our Retractable Propulsion System in your yacht is the enormous reduction of the yacht’s total resistance. This results in vastly improved sailing performances in all sailing conditions”, says Wouter Kloppenburg. The Ship Motion Group RPS is suitable for carbon and aluminium hulls and is mainly manufactured of high-grade titanium and carbon reinforced fibres.
In 2012 this new type of Retractable Propulsion System was first installed in superyacht ‘Visione’, a 147 ft. generous sailing yacht with extreme high sailing performances. “This sailing yacht is using our system now for over 1,5 year and has competed very successfully in several major regatta’s. The owner is very satisfied with both the performance of our Retractable Propulsion System and his sailing vessel”, says Jan Bruggeman.
Luxury yacht Visione - Photo Credit to Baltic Yachts
Ship Motion Group field engineers just completed the installation of the next Ship Motion Group RPS in a new sailing yacht project at Baltic Yachts in Finland. This sailing yacht is designed for comfortable cruising with the minimum of crew or racing aggressively, fully crewed, in the major Maxi regattas and will be launched soon.
“Lately we have put a lot of work and effort in developing an animation of our prestigious Retractable Propulsion System. This way we can show our clients in detail what happens when they decide to place our Retractable Propulsion System in their yacht”, Jan Bruggeman reveals.
Most important features of the Ship Motion Group RPS are:
– Lightweight system;
– Proven reliability;
– Besides the lightweight system, the Ship Motion Group RPS is designed to have an extremely high propulsion efficiency, which makes it possible to reach equal boat speed with highly reduced engine power. Consequently it is possible to use smaller engine, fuel system etc. what will result again in displacement reduction of the entire vessel;
– Excellent maintainability, because the vessel can stay in the water during maintenance purposes;
– Suitable for carbon and aluminium hulls.
The Ship Motion Group RPS, which consists of the propulsion parts, including the flexible coupling and the retraction system, comes as a complete package which includes structural parts to integrate in the hull structure, hydraulic manifold and control system, support to the yard and installation by the Ship Motion Group field engineers.
The use of Retractable Propulsion Systems is an actual topic in the Super Yacht industry as the Super Yacht Design Symposium has put it on its 2014 topic list. The ‘drag reduction by using retractable propulsion for sailing yachts’ will be discussed during the Greener, Faster Sailing Specialist Workshop. The Symposium will take place in February in Kitzbühel, Austria this year.
