Diverse Projects Launches Refitted Support Vessel

Auckland-based refit specialists, Diverse Projects, has just launched the support vessel, Advantage, after an extensive transformation that took place in under four months. 

The project was a comprehensive conversion of a 54m Damen Sea Axe vessel, which saw changes such as the construction and fitting of a submarine garage, reconfiguration of the deck and the installation of Quantum stabilizers. A slick new paint job was undertaken to give the craft a superyacht-worthy finish.

The 54-metre vessel has also undergone lengthening with a new transom platform housing a stern anchor. The transformation included the removal of 60 seats and the installation of three new guest cabins, a captain’s cabin, a mess area and an office on the main deck. The lower crew area and galley were further upgraded with the addition of a fit-for-purpose cool room.

Diverse Projects was pleased to bring the project to New Zealand, where work was carried out in Whangarei by Oceania Marine. The addition of a custom-made submarine garage rounds out the vessel’s ability to provide comprehensive explorer services to the mothership.

The submarine garage was created whole offsite, and lifted and installed on the yacht in under ten days. Crew areas and galley were stripped, reconfigured and upgraded, while the main deck underwent a full Bolidt application resulting in a vessel with a dramatically different appearance to the one which entered the yard when the refit began in August 2015.

“A phenomenal amount of work has been done in a short period of time” says Diverse Projects director Lars Bjorklund. “This is an absolute credit to the yard and all involved, given the wide ranging and very specific compliance requirements entailed in a refit to this scale. This is yet another refit managed by Diverse Projects that speaks to our ethos of precision scope delivery and outcomes.”

After the final addition of a Heila crane, further testing of the stabilizers and classification testing, Advantage will leave New Zealand to join the mothership in Tahiti.