You could wait for the 2017 Edition of VIII-2 and specify a Div 2 Class 1 vessel.

Depending on your materials of construction, it may prove to be right balance between

you other two options: VIII-1(2015) and VIII-2(2015).

In the 2017 Edition, VIII-2 is going to introduce two classes of vessels: Class 1 and
Class 2. Class 1 will have allowable stresses based on UTS/3.0 and/or YIELD/1.5,
whereas Class 2 will have allowable stresses based on UTS/2.4 and/or YIELD/1.5. Both
will require a UDS, but only Class 2 will require the UDS to be certified by a Certifying
Engineer. Class 1 will also not permit Part 5 (Design-By-Analysis) to over-rule any of the
rules in Part 4.

From my perspective, any and all future engineered vessels (as opposed to mass-
produced vessels) should/ought to be designed and fabricated to Div 2 Class 1. Other
than jurisdictional operating/repairing issues (which we, as an engineering community
should be trying to fix), there is no technical advantage to using Div 1. It is a
cumbersome and outdated Code, with more and more rules being removed with
references being provided to Div 2. In Div 2, Part 4, we have very robust rules that are
superior in every context to the Div 1 rules especially as they generally have a strong
technical background.

Feel free to contact me directly to discuss off-line.