We just returned to the office after a quick field trip around the top of Penobscot Bay, to the immaculate shop of French and Webb, Inc. of Belfast, Maine. The occasion (as if one needs an excuse to get outside on a crisp Maine March morning after watching the walls close in all winter long) was the rolling over of our latest design, the 29' hybrid launch mentioned in the last entry.
When we arrived, the boat had been pulled out of the shop, and a crane was positioned with a pair of slings under the sheer of the upside-down boat. The strip-planked hull has been sheathed with vacuum-bagged unidirectional carbon. The high-tech matte-black carbon was then hidden under fairing compound, which was sanded fair with hours of manual long-boarding before an epoxy primer was applied. Even the low gloss of the primer shows the fairness of the hull, which will need only a scuff of sandpaper and a spray of glossy topcoat to gleam like a piece of furniture.
With a few last-minute tweaks of slings and blocking, she was ready to roll. Here Peter Webb fine-tunes the braces placed to prevent damage to the sheer from the slings.
The actual rolling was accomplished in less than three minutes, with no drama.
There was barely enough time for the designers to reassure themselves that the shape they had created in the cyberspace of their 3-d modeling program looked even better in the flesh, before she was dropped onto a hydraulic trailer and slid back into the building shop for the next chapter in the story of her creation. However, there was time for a quick trip around the block to a nearby truck scale to confirm that her weight is meeting the design targets.
The slippery nature of this low-resistance hull is evident, as is the shapely stern and rakish bow profile. This bodes well for her success, whether pushed by the silent thrust of 7 kW of electric power or sliding along with no fuss at 15 knots under diesel power. Can't wait for launch day!
Stay tuned for a discussion on how this type of hull design can pay big rewards in efficiency for larger yachts.
Hybrid boats are the latest innovations in the yacht industry. It's great that you will be able to finally try this boat on water. I really like the design and structure of this boat. It's one of those fast crafts. The performance will also be superb if you used materials that passed standards of ce marking services. I'm looking forward to reading more updates about this boat that you designed.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your hybrid boat!