Ecstasea has a huge gas turbine, about 2.5-3m diameter and then must have two shafts. Obviously the majority of power will go through the turbine once out at sea but in port would have to run through the shafts. Maybe 40,000hp through two shafts is just too much.
afaik, the turbine is a separate unit, and i think there were problems with the amount of heat it generated when they tried it in August. I don't think they "engage monster turbine" as soon as they feel like it (esp with the fuel it uses) - mostly it's pootled about on the diesels.
Certainly something to steer clear of when the turbine is functioning. That must suck a fair few things up .But whilst in the rodriguez yard at Golfe Juan i knoticed the jet intakes for the mangustas were not protected, therefore leaving them free to suck up debris. Surely that could do some damage to the props?.
erm, i am into speculation here, but do the big 108's use props? I think it's waterjets cos the props couldn't gettem to 60 knots - isn't it waterjets.
Air intakewise, the gas turbine blades inside thhe quite small turbine engine are hugely strong, and air wd only need to be filtered against birds and sticks so praps they have slight filters further down the line.
However...i dunno how ectasea is actually powered - there's a big fan thing halfway in the water at the stern. It can't be a semi-submerged jet engine.
It was on a 105, i've got some really close up shots of the intake and prop. Also got really close up shots of ecstaseas gas turbine and it does look like a semi-submerged jet engine with 50 heavy duty bolts, bolting it to the stern.
Ecstasea was delivered in 2004 and its just gone in for modernisation works!! Either the old interior designer was living in the past or the owner is bloody fussy.
This repair job is kinda old news Alex. The boat is Abramovich's, it's a Feadship, the only one of his 4 mega boats that he commissioned from himself (as opposed to diving in and nicking someone else's near-finished project, ie Pelorus, or buying secondhand, ie LGB and Sussuro). All that work last winter was officially to do things with the accommodation but was-according to street info- to fix turbine problems. She was back in commission early summer and was in IYC Antibes pretty much all summer, mostly nailed to the dock but occasionally out and about. By general observation he seems to use Pelorus much more than Ecstasea
The pershing 115 nearly had the same problem. When travelling at 15knots the wake is so turbulent that if the boat lost its engines it would be engulfed by its own wake.