New, State-of-Art Stabilizers Enhance Guest Comfort and Ship Stability On Poseidon Expeditions’ Sea Spirit
Poseidon Expedition’s 114-passenger vessel Sea Spirit embarked earlier this month on a series of summer adventure cruises of the Arctic retooled with new stabilizers installed in late April while in dry dock in Portugal.
Sea Spirit guests booked on a polar adventure to the Arctic this summer or to Antarctica this fall or winter may not be aware of this advanced technology applied to the 4,200-GRT vessel. Sea Spirit has been retrofitted with Rolls Royce Zero Speed Stabilizers that allow safe, stable navigation through icy waters of the Greenland and Barents seas.
The operational benefits of the new retractable fin stabilizers include:
– Reducing the ship’s roll when anchored, moored or drifting;
– Reducing dynamic drag when deployed while underway;
– Eliminating vibration and noise.
“The new system uses a computer-based programmable logic controller (PLC) that develops different algorithms depending on conditions. The result will be a ride for our passengers as comfortable as aboard any new expedition ship currently coming into the market,” said Poseidon Expeditions’ Senior Director of Cruise Operations Nikolay Zakharov. “At the same time, they look to the future with safeguards to protect the polar ecosystems. The stabilizers are fully compatible with environmentally acceptable lubricants (EAL) and feature quad main seals for additional redundancy.”
This new design, when fully housed into the customized fin box, results in no protrusions from the hull form and reduces the ship’s roll. The stabilizer fin also incorporates the tested optimized trailing edge designed to eliminate vibration and noise.
The new reduced fin area and optimized lower fin angle meet performance requirements even as they help reduce operating costs by decreasing the amount of fuel needed. Using less fuel also assists environmental goals. With the environment in mind, the stabilizer machinery is fully compatible with an extensive list of Environmental Acceptable Lubricants (EAL) for Simplex Stern Tube Brushes and Seals that are available worldwide and incorporate a quad seal arrangement for additional integrity of sealing.
Sea Spirit has also been re-certified for new IMO Polar Code requirements. Currently, the vessel has all valid technical and international certificates complying with IMO conventions to provide tourism activities in polar waters. Along with the technical improvements, more than $2.5 million in refurbishments to passenger areas – all cabins and public areas – have been made over the past several years to the Sea Spirit.
