Royal Huisman Turns its Largest Hull Ever
Another milestone at Royal Huisman: the hull of the three-masted schooner under construction since June 2017, has been turned at the shipyard’s facilities in Vollenhove. With an impressive overall length of 81m and a sturdy plumb bow – making her not only powerful but recognisable the world over – Project 400 is the largest yacht built by Royal Huisman to date.
Upon her delivery in 2020 this contemporary schooner will be the world’s largest aluminium sailing yacht. This new project for an Asian client was unveiled at the 2016 Monaco Yacht Show by the joint team of Royal Huisman, Dykstra Naval Architects, designer Mark Whiteley and the yard’s Asia-Pacific representative, Bart Kimman. Within a year, Royal Huisman completed the design phase in close interaction with the owner, his team and the architects, allowing the assembly of Project 400’s aluminium hull to begin in June 2017.
To facilitate the huge hull construction, Royal Huisman’s largest shipbuilding hall was semi-permanently extended and upgraded. Simultaneously, the in-house specialists are working on Project 400’s superstructure, interior accommodation and board systems, while the production of the Panamax carbon rig and sail handling system has been started at neighbouring sister company Rondal. Now, the milestone anticipated by all involved parties has been achieved: the massive aluminium hull of Project 400 was wheeled out of the construction hall unveiling her immense scale. Four cranes performed the seamless manoeuvring routine, turning this work of art while she was hanging mid-air over the canal adjacent to the shipyard: the largest single piece ever lifted and turned by Royal Huisman. Before the end of the day the upright schooner hull was placed on a cradle and moved back into shipbuilding hall 2, which will be her home until completion in 2020.