Saltwater Engineering delivered the design and structural engineering for a 25 meter tour boat which will sail between the windmills of Kinderdijk and restaurant “de Krom” in Oud Alblas. The project is called “Glasshopper”.

The work is contracted for Leeuwenstein Scheepsinstallaties BV.
The exterior design was done by Gerard Petersen of Scheepsbouwkunst.

Length:	24.90	m
Beam:	4.20	m
Cruising draught:	0.75	m
Passengers:	55

The design incorporates a special feature. The tourists sit high above the waterline to have a wide view over the surrounding nature and landscape. During the 3 hour trip the boat will have to pass under three bridges with a clearance height of just under 2.0 meters. To overcome this problem the boat can sink an additional 75 cm from the normal cruising draught. This is accomplished by filling of water ballast tanks in just 2 minutes with the large capacity ballast pumps.

Furthermore the design is environmentally friendly with electric pod propulsion for silent sailing. Electricity is stored in a large battery pack with a backup generator.

The flat deck design and accommodation layout makes the vessel also accessible for wheelchairs.Saltwater Engineering has performed following jobs:

· General arrangement
· Tank layout
· Weight calculation
· Loading conditions
· Stability calculation
· Construction calculations
· Construction plan
· Section drawings

The vessel will be built at MLV ALUbouw in s’Graveland and will be in service prior to the tourist season of 2008.