Tim Ulrich, Beiderbeck Designs Sails will enjoy a renaissance and change, away from a sporty means of propulsion, to become a supplementary option for relaxed and quiet cruising on large and very large yachts. Noting the current trend towards ever-larger catamarans, a new type of superyacht might well develop like this.
Michael Leach, Michael Leach Design New yachts will struggle to match the second-hand ones (circa 500GT) when it comes to usable guest space due to increases in the size of green technology and crew cabins.
Greg Marshall, Gregory C Marshall Naval Architects The next big revolution in yacht design will be 3D printing on a large scale. This has already begun on a limited scale with limited materials. Large metal 3D printers are coming online right now that will be capable of printing an entire boat out of metal. This opens the doors for extraordinary design freedom and quality improvements. For example we are currently designing a 9m tender designed to be entirely 3D printed out of Titanium. Titanium is interesting for many of its properties, it is very light, burns at a higher temperature than steel. Traditionally it is too expensive but with 3D printing we can reduce the material by up to 80 per cent, making the best material affordable. As titanium does not corrode we do not require it to be painted. As it is 3D printed we can optimise all of the structure to suit specific loading and can then make the boat very light while making it stronger. We can also 3D print in hundreds of watertight chambers that we could never afford to manufacture – this will make vessels ultimately safer.
From the design side we can create normally mundane things – like engine room grills – any shape we want. We can make pipes within pipes within pipes, which then make the systems inside the vessel much less complicated. We can also 3D print the electrical wiring into the vessel itself, greatly reducing man hours.
On the environmental front, there is no wastage with 3D printing so the scrap amounts are greatly reduced. Because there is no heat applied to the metal we do not need to do fairing which is a big environmental disaster and takes a huge number of man hours.
Jim Schmicker, Farr Yacht Design The use of foils to enhance stability, comfort, speed and control will continue to be developed and deployed over a wide range of superyacht types. The benefit of significantly reduced heel angle alone improves the habitability and the whole sailing experience of owners and crew.
Guido De Groot, Guido De Groot Design Creating the space on board needed for more economical and environmentally friendly propulsion and energy supply systems.
Bill Dixon, Dixon Yacht Design Is the future sail-powered superyachts, that satisfy the vessel’s power requirements by the free generation of hydrogen from seawater?
Hans-maarten Bais, Diana Yacht Design I feel that a great disruption will be new regulations for emissions, so we have to invent new ways of propelling and powering yachts.
James Roy, Lateral Naval Architects Clients who are brave enough to take risks and invest in disruptive technologies and innovations, married with a lateral-thinking approach to design and engineering.