Second Birth
30 March 2021 - By Vladimir Strignin
A project centred on 42-meter 1954 Feadship beauty, Istros, can hardly be called "Rebuild" as work is so huge to breathe new life in a classic yacht.
According to Feadship, the whole project revolved around the love of a common maritime heritage - both for the shipyard team and the captain and owner of the yacht Tristan Le Branagh. All project participants were proud and happy to resurrect the yacht from God with the story, which at the time of the start of work was in a deplorable state, although it won industry awards back in 2001.
The original steel frame had to be completely replaced with a new one - made of aluminum. The original engines weighed 38 tons - almost 15% of the total displacement. Replacing them with new environmentally friendly motors entailed the completion of the superstructure and the installation of lead ballast. The updated Istros is now lighter than in 1954, and at the same time much more stable. Build a new hull for Istros would have been less time consuming, the original has been meticulously restored instead. After six and a half decades of operation, it has earned a fair amount of the amount of deformation, so engineers and designers could not rely on drawings: each measurement was done by hand and rechecked three times. Housing and the new superstructure ideally fit each other in size, while the superstructure accurately reflected the historical silhouette of the yacht.
The recreated Istros may feel like a 1950s guest, but in fact it is equipped with every imaginable 21st century superyacht. Istros uses the first microturbine in history as a generator, approved by Lloyd's, which is completely silent, maintenance-free throughout the season and eliminates contamination environment. The water treatment system allows you to wash the boat with a minimum of soap, the sewage treatment systems are also the most modern, as well as air conditioning systems, heat collection, thermal insulation. The rebuilt Istros was brought into line by Lloyd's Register and the commercial requirements of the 2020 model, which also entailed a lot of work, including moving the watertight bulkheads, strengthening the frame and updating the fire protection equipment.
