Dominator Yachts opens its doors to the shipyard and launches a masterpiece in engineering and design with the Dominator 800.
Dominator, a bold name and product, “yet we are one of the more discreet shipyards in the industry” as Alex Langhein, CEO of Dominator International puts it. Dominator opened their doors to experience a day in the life of a customer. This coincided with the launch of the Dominator 800 hull No.2. The first 800 was launched in Miami yet the second is vastly different.
“With each yacht, each customer is also unique, therefore we spend a lot of time with every single client going beyond any standard offering and resulting in every yacht being built as an individual commission”.
Having produced over 130 yachts through a strong 16 year reputation, Dominator does not rest on its laurels and constantly seeks improvements and updates.
“For each yacht we produce, we always seek to perfect, improve and update. We don’t build 10 of the same specification and then try to find customers for them. When a customer chooses a yacht from our range, we sit down with them and discuss the latest technology. This means that every Dominator launched is not just up to date but is a forerunner in technology”.
The D800 is the evolution of the D780 and is a new example of Dominator’s tailor made philosophy. Alberto Mancini, designer, describes the work he undertook on the interior:
“I created a new custom layout requested by the owner. The customer’s main wish was to provide space with a large galley/dining area. Interior styling and materials were selected over many months in close contact with the owner and his wife. My personal choice which was accepted and which we worked on together was to develop a nice warming and elegant atmosphere, not big contrasts but tone on tone colors, a shade of beige, taupe and grey. The brighter oak brushed painted parquet with the oak painted bulkhead gives immediately a welcoming perception of elegance”.
The charismatic owner who was also part of the event helped choose a wonderful array of luxurious materials creamy Botticino marble with matt furniture, match very well to the ambient and give a sense of richness but with never being too opulent.
The Minotti sofa brand created 2 custom sofas, placed in the main saloon, an ostrich leather colour matching in unison with the Venetian leather blinds behind the sofa in a slightly darker gradient of colour.
Alberto Mancini goes on to explain further:
“Each cabin has been designed together with the owners spending a lot of time on the project and the result is full satisfaction for all. I would say that the interior design is a nice mix of class with warm minimalism. The modern Boiserie of the owner cabin furniture is the perfect example how to use clean lines in wooden surfaces yet can give a very elegant and relaxing atmosphere. In the owner’s bathroom, the matt Botticino marble is the perfect bath top to fix chrome polished taps specifically designed by the CEA brand.
The owners of this beautiful yacht are a perfect match for Dominator, as they were not only fully engaged on all design elements but as they like to take the controls themselves, they with their captain also worked hand in hand with the technical office.
Federico Brumat and Stefano Mondini comment on the build:
“When it was time to start with the build, we strived to adopt a fresh approach and to opt for any solution that could improve the quality. The hull was entirely built by means of vacuum infusion technology. Structures were re-arranged in order to maximize the inner space, this allowed the chance to accommodate different interior layouts. To seek a reduction of weight both hull sides and the bottom were made up in sandwich laminate, with fiberglass. From the main deck upwards, a carbon and glass hybrid fabric was used and rising up the superstructure the hard top is made entirely of carbon fiber”.
A new propulsion system from Reintjes, the Fortjes 4000 has been adopted. This compact and reliable propulsion is made of an upper reversing gearbox coupled with a new, advanced gearbox with CR propellers. The hydrodynamic advantages in efficiency are based on the counter rotating propeller concept in combination with an especially shaped strut of the gondola allowing for the best possible recovery of the swirl energy. This concept also involves the distribution of the power to two propellers, significantly decreasing the ration of power to blade area. This system is combined with a specially designed and constructed rudder application for excellent and stable maneuvering. The Rudder design and position in relation with the pod has been researched with the help of CFD calculations. Early sea-trials already proved that a higher vessel speed can be reached and that turning circles with an impressively small diameter can be achieved. Compared with other pod systems that are mandatory to be installed closer to the transom, Dominator was able to install their system in a more forward position (where usually the engine room is, in the V drive option) keeping unchanged the independent access to crew quarters from the aft platform, separate from the owner and guest living areas for mutual privacy.
Together with Profjord, a company skilled in high level hydrodynamic solutions, a new compact main engine exhaust gas outlet was developed, enhancing engine room clearance whilst still respecting all of MAN’s back pressure requests in order to retain the Gold Standard warranty that MAN the engine manufacturer provides.
Dominator’s commitment to enhance the comfort on board faced an enthusiastic response from the owner when it was the time to answer the stabilisation system request. Two brand new Seakeeper 9 gyroscopic stabilisers took place in the engine room for optimum roll motion stabilisation at anchor. This clever solution for enhancing comfort on board also when at speed, (since during speed increase the efficiency of a gyroscopic device vanish), was to rely upon an advanced full motion damping system capable of roll and pitch motion reduction, the so called Humphree Active ride control. This was an easy choice having already decided to move from traditional trim tabs to Humphree interceptors that guarantee the lowest possible resistance is achieved for each speed, increasing speed and lowering fuel consumption.
As result of a very intense collaboration with the owner’s captain, all systems on board have been revised and improved. Even if Dominator is used to put extreme care on safety and often adopt back-up systems, redundancy has been furthermore enhanced and dedicated solutions have been identified according to the specific requests of the captain. To cope with the final destination environment some expedient has been adopted e.g. an independent fuel cleaning system, redundant air conditioning pumps and chillers, additional fresh water filters, a UV steriliser and a water softener system to completion of the water maker installation.
With the crew and captain perspective also in mind, all deck fittings were revised to be readily and easily used when needed especially in time pressured situations. As usual, navigation and entertainment systems were tailored to the owner and captain requests. Further superior equipment was added such as: sound quality components from Sonance, a high performance integrated gS series navigation system from Raymarine and many add-ons such as the Flir thermal night vision camera.
The Dominator 800 truly is state of the art: bespoke in every way whether it be the interior or the technical specification. Initial results are already very encouraging with the innovative propulsion system proving less consumption, more efficiency and more power due to the propellers being in line with the hull versus an angled conventional shaft system.
The shareholders of Dominator who are successful in many other industries, return all of Dominator’s company profits back into the business to further enhance research and development. They are very happy with the results. Dr. Pernsteiner, one of the shareholders and who had the idea to build the hull No.2 with the innovative propulsion system explains:
“Dominator strives for perfection in everything we do. We find the best components and systems and put them altogether in an outstanding package whilst also allowing the customer to relax in the highest levels of luxury. We had a winning combination of our team, the customer and his captain, together we can all be very proud of what we have achieved”.
Dominator also presented the virtual reality experience for their forthcoming yacht, the game-changer Ilumen. The real construction data was used in order to allow users the ability to literally walk through the yacht by wearing special shoes and walking on a large round disc which picked up movement. This in combination with the Oculus rift headgear allowed the user to walk and look in every direction viewing the entire 26M yacht as if they would in reality. Further to this, the interior fixtures and furnishings and colours could all be changed with an instant at the choice of the user, going back to Dominator’s philosophy of building only in accordance with what the customer wants.
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