How would one refuel a large yacht at Sea?

[Caliber40]

Need to seek out a Caliber LRC for starters!

[boat driver]

wjhutchings- Sir, permitting the point that this discussion is far from the intended topic, I beg to differ with you.

Commercial alone- I personally spent a decade fueling vessels offshore the Asian rim. Not all where grey.
I spend time both lightering vessels, reverse lightering, fueling, and replenishment and none of them are heading to a local port any time soon. All are underway making way- often 60 plus miles out and beyond. There is no law that prevents or discourages offshore replenishment, fueling, or otherwise that is done by intent design. I believe you are referring to leaving in an "unseaworthy condition" as in cutting corners intentionally to fail or just negligent.
Drill ships by definition when NOT anchored are underway- and no determination permits otherwise. DP alone does not change this- a well in progress does -

and as far as fuel- then Natural gas ships are? since they use cargo burn off to augment fuel consumption.
And you suggest a supply vessel cannot fuel offshore? like an aircraft, fueling is often a balance to the cargo or route. Often offshore in the gulf the rigs will fuel a supply vessel if needed to get home. (based on the concept the rerouting)
So no one "dictates" a requirement to have sufficient fuel for a round trip -that is a very moving number. The economics and other factors could suggest that insufficient planning and gross fuel use error may be considered unseaworthy if you do not have a refueling in the plan but that takes a pretty big oops.

The logistics, cost, local pollution regulations, they play more into replenishment than anything.
If really questioning this- suggest looking into offshore oil storage today- ULCC tankers that hang in various warm waters for years- they dont come in- the fuel etc goes to them.

so now that we are way off the topic- fuel capacity is simply a bottom load vs time/miles vs cost to refuel.

When doing north Atlantic salvage work often our fuel was ferried out by fishing vessels with deck mounted tanks and pumps. Just trailed in behind, picked up hose, bolted on, and communicated. simple explanation.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Leishua

@Pelagic Thats good to know, I'm glad my school team's planning is on point so far haha. We were deciding how the yacht owner to tackle his situation being out of fuel short of shore.

Interestingly discussion and it can happen for a number of reasons...... Storm delays, fuel contamination, Fuel System leak, faulty sensors , bad chief engineer..etc....

As a Captain and Owner's Representative
.... For a Superyacht to have Oceanic Range, we specify 7,500nm @ 10knts with one Generator and that has worked well to take us anywhere on our own bottom.

To achieve that, a key design decision is the placement of the engine room (normally midships) to be shifted further aft so that the deeper midship area carries larger tanks.

Jet boats are planning or semi-planing hulls, so not really designed for range.

I would never allow a design that depended on fuel transfer at sea since you have no control of sea conditions and the logistics and risks would be unacceptable (Exception would be a specific repeatable route where the logistics and all weather solutions have all been solved)

IF caught for the reasons I mentioned above, odds are you may have other latent issues, so calling/hiring a standby salvage tug to assist making landfall would be the prudent decision.

[Kelkara]

For an (albeit rather unusual) example of a private yacht refuelling in the open ocean ... Virgin Atlantic Challenger II refuelled 3 times during it's Atlantic crossing in 1986 ... They just asked Esso to have fueling boats ready and in place for them ... Billionaires do indeed play by different rules.

Refuelling process briefly shown here at 3:15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAZht9gDolE

[wjhutchings]

I think this discussion should take place between ourselves, as I have much more than a decades experience carrying out the the actions you describe below and anyone who goes to sea deliberately with out enough bunkers to get to the intended port should never go to sea again.

You and I have the experience to carry out the evolution successfully not that many do, also I know that LNG carriers who rely on boil off for their fuel also carry enough bunkers to enable them to do the voyage without recourse to boil of again experience tells me this

Originally Posted by boat driver

wjhutchings- Sir, permitting the point that this discussion is far from the intended topic, I beg to differ with you.

Commercial alone- I personally spent a decade fueling vessels offshore the Asian rim. Not all where grey.
I spend time both lightering vessels, reverse lightering, fueling, and replenishment and none of them are heading to a local port any time soon. All are underway making way- often 60 plus miles out and beyond. There is no law that prevents or discourages offshore replenishment, fueling, or otherwise that is done by intent design. I believe you are referring to leaving in an "unseaworthy condition" as in cutting corners intentionally to fail or just negligent.
Drill ships by definition when NOT anchored are underway- and no determination permits otherwise. DP alone does not change this- a well in progress does -

and as far as fuel- then Natural gas ships are? since they use cargo burn off to augment fuel consumption.
And you suggest a supply vessel cannot fuel offshore? like an aircraft, fueling is often a balance to the cargo or route. Often offshore in the gulf the rigs will fuel a supply vessel if needed to get home. (based on the concept the rerouting)
So no one "dictates" a requirement to have sufficient fuel for a round trip -that is a very moving number. The economics and other factors could suggest that insufficient planning and gross fuel use error may be considered unseaworthy if you do not have a refueling in the plan but that takes a pretty big oops.

The logistics, cost, local pollution regulations, they play more into replenishment than anything.
If really questioning this- suggest looking into offshore oil storage today- ULCC tankers that hang in various warm waters for years- they dont come in- the fuel etc goes to them.

so now that we are way off the topic- fuel capacity is simply a bottom load vs time/miles vs cost to refuel.

When doing north Atlantic salvage work often our fuel was ferried out by fishing vessels with deck mounted tanks and pumps. Just trailed in behind, picked up hose, bolted on, and communicated. simple explanation.

[Pelagic]

Great Video Kolkata, which does go to prove that anything is possible if you throw enough money at it and have the RAF behind you.

But doubtful that it would ever become a popular solution .

I think the best design solution, if you were regularily operating within the range fringes, is a "Get Home" sail plan.

[Wildcoast]

I can only only comment on experiences I have had fuelling on anchor, in both situations a small workboat/tender came out to the vessels I was on
The tenders had a 1000L flow tank or IBC on board and pumped the fuel across with either an electric or petrol driven pump.

[boat driver]

wjhutchins- \Sir, when I respectfully said I had a decade of Asian rim work, the idea was this happens- regularly. The discussion for a first year architect was emergency fueling at sea. Not a fairly pointless argument about regulations and unique situations that have little bearing on the assignment.
The exercise by the professor is simple- design a mega yacht, jet driven, and think outside the box.
can refueling be done- absolutely. should it be anticipated? on a jet boat- why not? money permits, make the argument. having an emergency method? same piece of equipment. why label as emergency- market as capable alternative.
The purpose is design the vessel so it sells.

Unseaworthy is setting sail to the islands with no logical precedent procedure to getting there. Unseaworthy is having your hatches patched with red hand when sailing loaded into a noreaster. Unseaworthy is not in condition to sail on the sea. Fuel supply is no differential to communications, safety equipment, water, food, spare parts etc. Unseaworthy is simply a proven legal verdict.

To all- interesting and enjoyable discussion. Not exactly the original question answer- but for the first year student- good luck.If it floats on the lines first time- feel fortunate. If it sells because you design performs as anticipated, then consider yourself successful.

[Leishua]

Woah that is a lot of responses, i really appreciate it everyone, its definitely an eye opener! I'm really excited to be designing a yacht for school. I would probably have a few iterations down by the end of the week. We are learning how to use Substance Designer atm so we can get to painting

I saw someone in the comments saying you can refuel with Jerrycans at sea? I did see a video of this but the yacht it was refueling was a small one around 6 meters at most. I looked into the engine rooms of the larger yachts (24-40m) and didn't really see the same option present on them.

Quite a lot of engines too i suppose the company that assembles the yacht would outsource or purchase a ready made engine from a company if I understand the process right.

[CatNewBee]

Well, "Jerrycans" can hold up 5 gal / 20l of diesel. 10-20 containers can fuel up a 40ft sail yacht / catamaran with 200l...400l tank and you can motor another 100h...200h / 4-10 days with a 40hp diesel engine by 6kn speed, allowing a range extension of 600sm...1200sm. This would be enough to reach a shore and refuel there.

A 80ft jet power boat needs 20 times more fuel per hour at least. so you probably would burn the 20 cans in few hours and will need the next re-fill after 30..60 sm.

The tanks will be of course much larger than in a sail vessel, let say 1000l..2000l, so re-filling with jerrycans can take the whole day on the ocean (100 cans to be filled and emptied). You simply said do not want do do this.

[markpierce]

[Leishua]

Originally Posted by CatNewBee

Well, "Jerrycans" can hold up 5 gal / 20l of diesel. 10-20 containers can fuel up a 40ft sail yacht / catamaran with 200l...400l tank and you can motor another 100h...200h / 4-10 days with a 40hp diesel engine by 6kn speed, allowing a range extension of 600sm...1200sm. This would be enough to reach a shore and refuel there.

A 80ft jet power boat needs 20 times more fuel per hour at least. so you probably would burn the 20 cans in few hours and will need the next re-fill after 30..60 sm.

The tanks will be of course much larger than in a sail vessel, let say 1000l..2000l, so re-filling with jerrycans can take the whole day on the ocean (100 cans to be filled and emptied). You simply said do not want do do this.

Makes sense, for those 40 ft yachts though, are they refilled in the engine room or externally?

[CatNewBee]

They have fill inlets /openings on deck for water, fuel and also an inlet for discharge black tank by a pump.

The fuel inlets on a Lagoon 400 are on the transoms aft on each side, they can be opened by using a winch handle, there are 2 fuel tanks under the aft beds. There are 2 x 200l tanks.

There are no fuel tanks in the engine rooms (fire safety)!

[Leishua]

Originally Posted by CatNewBee

They have fill inlets /openings on deck for water, fuel and also an inlet for discharge black tank by a pump.

The fuel inlets on a Lagoon 400 are on the transoms aft on each side, they can be opened by using a winch handle, there are 2 fuel tanks under the aft beds. There are 2 x 200l tanks.

There are no fuel tanks in the engine rooms (fire safety)!

Ah gotcha
If I understood it right the red circle is where the pump is inserted?
https://i.imgur.com/gehcMp2.jpg

[CatNewBee]

Yes, unscrew and remove the lid and insert the fuel hose or a funnel or what ever into the hole and let the juice drop in... Same procedure like re-fueling a car.