It all started with an Owner who dreamt about cruising all weather conditions; tropical or polar climates, calm or rough seas. Mega Yacht ENIGMA XK, then a 1988 Fishery Patrol Vessel called NORNA, arrived at the Atlantic Refit Center, boasting strong hull lines, notable funnels and top quality equipment, typical of survey vessels for the northern Atlantic area. FPV NORNA was a former patrol vessel owned by the Scottish fishery department of the British navy to control fisheries in the North Sea and North Atlantic Area. Today, NORNA has been transformed into a spectacular expedition superyacht, bearing a new name: ENIGMA XK.
Enigma XK ©ARC
Enigma before her refit
Owner’s requirements included converting a working vessel into a timeless luxury yacht, yet maintaining the key characteristics of the vessel. The new features included an uncluttered deck with a touchdown helicopter deck. Due to the vessels use in a tropical environment, more outdoor areas for dining and entertainment, without excessive sun exposure, were required.
Enigma XK SB side aft
Bridge ©Guillaume Plisson
Water toys and equipment, such as sea bobs, sea slides, a 9m limo tender, a 7m rib, as well as motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles needed to be stored.
One of the most challenging parts was the yacht interior, due to a complex transversal longitudinal camber and all decks having a low headroom of 2,50 metres. A layout for 12 passengers was needed, as well as a fitness room and a massage parlour. The Owner was also determined to keep the plumbing and the wiring in position, so the refit team needed to work around that.
Saloon ©Guillaume Plisson
Dinning and Saloon ©Guillaume Plisson
The Owner has approached Atlantic Refit Center for their exceptional references and their ability to tailor their design and project team to his specific refit project. The yard is capable of high flexibility, quick responsive approach and positive solution oriented thinking. The yard in collaboration with the Owner has selected Vitruvius Yachts and Philippe Briand for the exterior and interior designs, and McFarlane Ship Design for the naval architecture.
Owner Suite – ©Guillaume Plisson
While the original vessel represented a safe haven for 23 professionals with a rugged silhouette high freeboards, strong bulwarks and other features characteristic of working vessels, the new explorer superyacht was to be transformed into an open and comfortable vessel, without fighting her original identity. It needed to be refitted for twelve guests and MLC compliance for a crew of 21. The three most important challenges included: the very low headroom and camber, the absence of light and the absence of social areas.
Owner Bathroom ©Guillaume Plisson
Owner en suite bathroom ©Guillaume Plisson
NORNA was redesigned to allow more light in and create a more airy atmosphere on board, with a combination of light furnishings and accessories. The headroom and camber could not be changed, however, the yard did open up the main deck and added a very particular diamond on the upper deck. The crew deck was redesigned to accommodate a crew of 21, including a true yacht galley.
Guest Cabin 2 ©Guillaume Plisson
The main deck now boasts five spacious guest cabins, a wellness room and a gymnasium. The former officer’s mess has been transformed into the main saloon. Confronted with limited headroom and little or no port lights, the yard and the designers fitted 27 large port lights, 1,2m high, allowing more daylight into the cabins and common areas.
Guest Twin Cabin ©Guillaume Plisson
The main deck aft carries a 9m limousine tender, a 7m RIB. Both of tenders were custom constructed in aluminium. Furthermore, the aft deck provides space for two all-terrain vehicles and jet skis, all handled with a 9.5m reach, 4t capacity articulate crane. The upper deck forward, which used to accommodate the captain and the chief engineer, now boasts the Owner’s quarters, with wraparound windows and a huge skylight. The suite also features an office, en-suite bathroom facilities, an open shower, hammam as well as a private terrace.
Guest Cabin ©Guillaume Plisson
The socialising area is situated just aft of the owner’s quarters. This diamond-shaped sky lounge, boasts very large window panes, providing exceptional 360° panoramic views of the yacht’s surroundings. Originally, the prominent funnels were very much cluttering the deck space. However, they are a feature, a signature of the vessel. By rearranging the engine room ventilation and main exhausts, and modifying the shape of the funnels, the conversion team managed to create a large open deck boasting a lounge corner, dining table and a Jacuzzi. The helicopter pad is aft of the sundeck and becomes a lounge/party zone.
Guest Bathroom ©Guillaume Plisson
The geometry of the bridge deck remained pretty much unchanged, with only the captain’s cabin and a ship’s office was created aft of the bridge deck.
A marine look with a slightly modern touch has been achieved on board. Each cabin is subtly themed for a particular continent. The main deck palette includes wine tones, bright berries, fiery oranges and browns. Those colours change to whites and taupe at the upper deck level. Vitruvius Yachts did an excellent job. The end result that well exceeded Owner’s expectation.
Glasshouse ©Guillaume Plisson
The refit/rebuilt of FPV NORNA into Explorer Yacht ENIGMA XK was a fantastic opportunity for Atlantic Refit Center and Vitruvius Yachts to prove their capability in taking on a complex project and complete it with a smooth and comprehensive approach.
The 3 most important challenges for the yards in this 26 months refit-rebuilt project were: to perform all the works required in a short time frame, to change the vessel’s Lloyd’s Register class notation from cargo ship into Special Service Craft and to install all the new technical systems required, as well as to refurbish the ship, and in doing so converting a military vessel into a luxury yacht.
Glasshouse ©Guillaume Plisson
As soon as NORNA arrived at the yard, the Owner was keen to see the works onboard commencing as soon as possible. At that time, the project was only a white sheet and the ship a pure military vessel. The challenge was to set up a design team including Exterior and interior Designers, Naval Architect, Noise and vibration engineer, within one week in August!
Fortunately, the team have a good team of subcontractors yard are used to work with. After a couple of weeks with just a profile and a preliminary GA of the new vessel in hand, the decision was made to start scrapping and to remove straight away the tons of items of no use for the future project. At that time, in-depth studies started, just a few weeks ahead of the rebuild works onboard. As opposed to the classic way of building , where design studies are definitely upstream, this parallel process required responsiveness from all parties involved as well as a very short decision-making process on the part of the Owner and his representatives.
Beauty Saloon ©Guillaume Plisson
Previously LRS registered as Cargo ship *100A1, *LMC, UMS Unrestricted Navigation, the new notation is now +100 A1 SSC yacht Mono G6, +LMC. Anyone familiar with regulation knows that it has been extremely challenging to achieve this, especially on an existing military vessel. Outfitting the existing vessel with all modern systems for yachting purpose proved to be a challenge and required ingenious solutions as team was not only confronted with the headroom [distance between the steel decks] of a military vessel at 2.50 m but the vessel had a very significant camber.
The biggest accomplishment is that yard managed to hide all piping of the new vent & aircon system, sprinkler and fire fighting systems and through smart interior design the team managed to keep a minimum of 2,00 m headroom in every area. The Owner’s desire was to maintain the lines of the original vessel.
71m Enigma XK ©Sam Curson
The boat was sound and the construction by Richards is of high quality. Team of experts updated the lines of the vessel with a good new design of the superstructure and they believe that the end result, ENIGMA XK demonstrates a very good balance between the “old” and “new” vessel, from an aesthetic point of view, but also a good balance between the refit of the existing systems and the installation of brand new equipment within a reasonable budget. Key Numbers of the Entire Refit/Rebuild of
Fortunately, the team have a good team of subcontractors yard are used to work with. After a couple of weeks with just a profile and a preliminary GA of the new vessel in hand, the decision was made to start scrapping and to remove straight away the tons of items of no use for the future project. At that time, in-depth studies started, just a few weeks ahead of the rebuild works onboard. As opposed to the classic way of building , where design studies are definitely upstream, this parallel process required responsiveness from all parties involved as well as a very short decision-making process on the part of the Owner and his representatives.
Key Numbers of the Entire Refit/Rebuild of NORNA to ENIGMA XK
Labour = 280.000 hours
Weight of the steel handled [steel remove + installed] = 70 Tons
Quantity of sand used for sandblasting the entire vessel = 99 tons
Volume of filler on hull and superstructure = 13.000 liters
Total length of new electrical cables installed onboard = 35 Km
Extra electrical power installed onboard = 600 KW
Time frame for the refit/rebuild including studies = 26 months
