Sunseeker 116ft

To achieve maximum fuel efficiency at cruising speed (10 – 12 knots) while maintaining low noise and vibration levels, VEEM designed a set of propellers for the client. Vessel top speed was not critical for this application. VEEM were engaged to design and deliver a pair of fully classed RINA propellers before the next charter booking.

Built in 2019, the vessel featured 2 MTU 16v 2000 m96L engines and factory RINA approved propellers. The factory sea trial data provided information of the existing performance characteristics, including engine loading, fuel burn and speed at 200 RPM intervals. With the existing factory propellers enabled the Sunseeker to achieve 23.2 knots at 2459 RPM.

VEEM was able to reduce the annual fuel consumption of the yacht by 19,400 L. This resulted in a fuel saving of over $27,000 annually, quickly offsetting the cost of the new propellers. Over 500T of CO2 equivalent emissions will be avoided annually using the same typical operating profile. Given the size of the ever-growing super yacht market, significant reductions in marine CO2 emissions can be achieved simply by switching to more efficient propellers.

At 11.8 knots (1200 RPM) the efficiency and therefore, cruising range has been increased by 29%.This allows the boat to travel further on a given tank or operate with lighter fuel loads and compound the range increases.In the marine charter business, fuel is a major operational cost so the reductions have provided a profitability benefit to the owners.

The top speed of the vessel is now 27.7 knots at 2400 RPM, a 3.1 knot improvement over the factory propellers. A top speed of 23.2 knots was achieved at 2459 RPM with 91% engine load from factory. Now with 85% load, the vessel does 24.5 knots at 2200 RPM. This clearly shows the efficiency improvement is present throughout the rev range even though the design was focused at cruising speed.