The UT 787 CD is 86.5m long, and has the broad beam of 22m. The deck area is about 750m².

The Rauma Brattvaag 64 bar hydraulic main winch with a 400 and 500 tonne pull and 600 tonne brake load is unusual in its design. It has three drums, one extremely large, plus two independently driven smaller drums side by side each with its own cable lifter almost on the ship's centre line. There is also a large secondary winch with a drum for chain, wire or rope and a separate compartment for special wire.

On deck, work is made less labour intensive by two cranes running on top of the bulwarks, capable of moving equipment to or from any part of the working deck and also working over the stern. With specially developed tools they are also used to hook the pennant wire and move wires and chains into the right position to be captured by the towing pins and shark jaws. In view of the high wire loads encountered in deep water anchor handling, a split stern roller is used, of the new design using water lubricated bearings.

Two Bergen BV12 long stroke main engines each rated at 6,000 kW drive controllable pitch (CP) propellers in nozzles. A tunnel thruster and a swing-up azimuth thruster are located aft, and the same forward. These azimuth units can be used to supplement the main propellers to give a bollard pull in the region of 235 tonnes. An unusually large electric generating capacity is installed. In addition to two 2,500kW shaft generators there are two diesel gensets of 1,800 kW each and one of 600kW. The philosophy is to operate as a diesel electric vessel in dynamic positioning (DP) mode using thrusters alone, without requiring the main engines to run, and there is the redundancy required to comply with IMO DP2. When in transit, the main engine can be run at reduced revs. By this means the propulsion plant can be run in a flexible manner to give the lowest fuel consumption in all the operating modes.

An unusual but practical feature is the A-frame mounted over the moonpool almost amidships, instead of the more conventional stern position. The influence of vessel movements on the load is minimised, while the broad beam gives ample stability when moving heavy equipment. When not in use the frame stows out of the way behind the superstructure. All types of offshore supplies can be carried on or under deck. Tankage is provided for special products, low flashpoint liquids and bulk powder cargo.