carbon composite yachts

ASPEN Carbon Cat

Light weight.

• High-tech Carbon Fiber Composite Construction
• Great Tracking Under Power and Rowing
• Stable, Smooth, Dry Ride
• Not Inflatable! No Punctures, or Leaks
• Optional Wheels for Easy Beach Landings

A tender to last a lifetime

Carbon cats are rugged, versatile and amazingly stable to drive.

The efficient design means Carbon Cats require less horsepower to achieve the same speeds as other tenders. Lightweight durable construction means you can carry more weight in the boat without overloading it. 

Three Models to Choose from — T9 (9’2′), T10 (10’2″), T11 (11’2″).

Ultra Light Weight Durable Tender

Splash Free – Adventure Ready

Unique hullform

Our hybrid cat hull cuts through the water with a narrow entry forward but is remarkably stable and efficient with a wide catamaran section aft.

Easy Loading

The stability of the hull makes it easy to load people, pets, and gear without excessive healing and rolling.

Quality Carbon Fiber construction means the boats are durable and light. Pull them up on a beach or ramp or stow them onboard. (wheels and davits optional)

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Khalilah: on board the golden 49m all-carbon superyacht

When Khalilah hit the water in 2015 she was a sight to behold. Not only was she the largest carbon-composite-built superyacht in the world, with a beam comparable to that of a 70 metre, but she was also gold - very gold.

There is no doubting the hottest topic of conversation in Miami Beach in February 2015. The boat in question was not part of the showcase event but her abstract sculptural quality, her golden pearlescent finish and black radar arch made Khalilah indisputably the star attraction – even tied up at a private home on the Indian Creek Waterway, a stone’s throw from the show. Craft of all sorts milled about as passengers craned their necks for a better look at the golden goddess.

One man was keeping his cool amid all the hullabaloo. Timur Mohamed, owner of American boatbuilder Palmer Johnson , which produced the 49-metre SuperSport Khalilah. “This,” says Mohamed, sweeping a hand towards the huge aft deck by way of explanation, “is what this is all about.”

Her goldness is not what sets Khalilah apart. Nor is the fact that Khalilah ’s the largest private yacht built entirely in carbon composite. Rather, it’s that amazing aft deck, formed by its 11-metre beam. “This yacht has the beam of a 70 metre,” he says proudly.

And Mohamed can rightly feel proud, knowing as he does the amount of effort and the degree of innovation that has gone into creating the SuperSport series. In 2010, Mohamed came across a concept that served as the starting point for a yacht to shake things up, in what he considers the conservative world of yachting. It came courtesy of a designer called Berkeley March, a finalist in BOAT International’s 2008 Young Designer of the Year awards, who had started working for Palmer Johnson.

What Mohamed wanted was a yacht without compromise and, with March’s design, he had it. “We wanted to tick all the boxes of what owners want,” Mohamed says. “The design intent had a clear and bold goal from the start: to create superyachts that did not compromise speed, efficiency, comfort and space. Once we had exterior elements we liked, along with the new hull form, the next [goal] was that design, technology and performance had to be woven seamlessly into the essence of the yacht. We were aiming to capture the hearts and imagination of the discerning and knowledgeable.”

The first designs were produced in late 2011. A contract for the first yacht came a few months later. “It was a high-risk project,” says Mohamed, who admits he likes just this sort of challenge. 

“Innovative is when you change something fundamental,” Mohamed says. And the first SuperSport vessel did just that: a displacement yacht with no fin- or gyro-stabilisers, capable of reaching 30 knots and of providing the space of a multihull. “Thirty knots on a displacement hull simply does not happen,” he asserts. Shortly before heading to Florida, the yacht’s GPS registered 29.9 knots. Further fine-tuning inevitably followed.

Palmer Johnson, founded in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, in 1918 is no stranger to innovation. In the 1960s, the yard began building fast sailing yachts in aluminium. It expanded into the superyacht market, where it carved its niche with alluring and sporty yachts developed in co-operation with Italian design firm Nuvolari Lenard .

It was the company’s SportYacht series, launched in the mid-2000s, that first caught the attention of Mohamed. The first PJ120, Cover Drive , (now Ascari )was built for him. “It’s all part of the PJ story,” he says. “From Fortuna (a 30.5 metre built in the late 1970s for King Juan Carlos of Spain) to the SportYachts to the SuperSport series, PJ has always bred performance yachts with dynamic styling ahead of the market.”

It helps that the builder has like-minded clients. Palmer Johnson built the first SuperSport for a repeat customer who, in 2007, took delivery of another head turner: the golden, Nuvolari Lenard-designed 46-metre named O’Khalila (now Aquanova ). Unlike her predecessor, which was built in aluminium, Khalilah is entirely carbon composite: carbon fibre sandwich and vinyl ester.

Khalilah oozes the best of automotive styling with a soupçon of later-generation Palmer Johnson genes. On the water the 49-metre, despite her wide body aft, is sleek and sporty, with a long foredeck ending in what appears to be a reverse bow. 

Above deck, nothing is revealed: no tenders or cranes, no anchors, winches or mast clutter that foredeck; there is no towering superstructure, as Palmer Johnson eschewed such features many years ago. A wave-piercing element designed to part the water is visible only below the surface. Waves may rise occasionally to the level of side deflectors that also serve as interesting styling elements.

Seen from land, Khalilah offers a very different perspective and reveals her imposing scale. But even as Khalilah towers above, when you stand quayside (she is 16 metres tall from the waterline to the top of the mast), little prepares you for the space that she offers. The aft main deck sits on top of the widest part of the hull, courtesy of two sponsons that are designed to give stability. On closer inspection, these thin appendages have doors built right above them to allow the crew to unload tenders and toys.

Seen from the inside, they expand the storage space significantly. Twin side garages, one with a fuelling station, hold a seven-metre tender and three Jet Skis, and frame a large beach club protected from the elements by a wide glass door. With at least three functions, the sponsons are an integral part of the design and, when Khalilah is at anchor, they contribute to the feeling of space on board.

The aft deck’s size – 110 square metres – is closer to the space you’d expect on a multihull. Compounding the effect of that 11-metre beam, and the almost 12 metres from the transom to the saloon door, is the extensive use of glass, which opens up views everywhere you look. Seated or sprawled on the large outside banquette, or lying on enormous sunpads, you still enjoy uninterrupted views. Shapely railings support glass panels that break the wind effectively but don’t spoil the view.

More glass is inset in the carbon supports framing the main deck’s outdoor dining area, with the largest panes found forward at the main saloon level. “They are the biggest glass panels aside from Steve Jobs 's boat [ Venus ],” says Mohamed. In fact, at the time, they were the largest windows installed on a superyacht in the United States.

Thanks to the slender naval architecture and carbon composite construction (which represents a weight saving of about 20 tonnes, according to PJ’s own estimation), the SuperSport 48 requires relatively modest power to reach her noteworthy top speed of 32 knots. 

The engines are twin 16V MTU diesel M94s from the 2000 series, with a maximum 5,200hp output. As a result, total consumption at top speed is about 1,000 litres per hour. Consumption, says the captain who took the yacht from Wisconsin to Florida via Montreal, goes down significantly with speed. With an extra tank extending capacity up to 41,600 litres, and a consumption of 159 litres per hour, the yacht has a transatlantic range of 15 knots.

To build Khalilah entirely in carbon composite, Palmer Johnson selected a Norwegian shipyard well-versed in the material. Brødrene Aa, which specialises in fast ferries, built the first DNV-approved vessel in GRP sandwich panels in the 1970s and a few well-known yachts marketed under the Norship name, including the 36.5-metre Moonraker , once the world’s fastest yacht, in the early 1990s.

The assembled hull and superstructure, with engines and drives in place, made their way from Norway to Wisconsin in late 2013, and the PJ craftsmen installed the mechanics, electronics, a complex network of lights and built the custom interior to the owner’s requirements.

This owner wanted a simple but playful interior. A spiral of LED lights inset in the ceiling above the entrance foyer, a glass octopus, and low-lying colourful seats on top of wide-beam parquet flooring set the tone. But it is not long before the eyes wander towards the floor-to-ceiling windows that frame the saloon.

PJ’s standard layout calls for a larger main saloon, a galley down and a palatial master suite, sprawling full-beam forward on the main deck. Khalilah has a different layout, according to her owner’s wishes. 

The galley, a contemporary and alluring space with windows, stainless steel appliances and lacquered orange cabinets, looks as though it came from a Boffi showroom but was designed and built in-house. It was installed on the main deck at the owner’s request. Two similar-sized owner’s suites occupy the space forward, benefiting from great views through vertical portholes.

The guest cabins, including a comfortable VIP, are on the lower deck. Each has a different colour scheme, highly personalised décor and beautiful marble and colourful mosaics in the showers. The crew cabins (four twins and one single for the captain) are forward of a pleasant crew mess. A clever use of skylights allows light to stream belowdecks and the space is both practical and comfortable.

The pilothouse, up a few steps from the main deck, mirrors the progressive styling of the yacht herself. The modern bridge at the centre of it all was designed, assembled and built at Palmer Johnson, with control panels from Praxis Automation Technology. The wide windscreen offers a surprisingly good view despite the pronounced slant. A second, smaller helm station, or “skybridge”, is on the sundeck above. 

Modern Edge, an industrial design company based in Portland, Oregon, worked with Palmer Johnson on the design of this stainless steel and GRP console, which fits perfectly with the yacht’s exterior styling and integrates neatly with the Praxis control panels. Wing stations are on fold-out balconies, usually framed by removable stanchions and rails. Like many of this yacht’s design features, they are revealed only on closer inspection.

The yacht does have a forward navigation mast, but it disappears into the bowels of the vessel when not in use. The only indication of something there is the round shape of the teak detail forward of the sunpads. A system brings the mast up from below. Opening the trap and descending a rather steep ladder reveals a massive and perfectly finished mooring room where several crew can stand fully erect to supervise docking operations. Two anchors drop vertically from the bottom of that room, a system the yard chose to avoid unsightly anchor pockets that distract from the styling.

Practicality dictated most of the choices that the yard made on the technical side, from the sound damping material (Dynamat, a product commonly used in automotive and architectural applications) to the fixed Kohler generators and the conventional diesel power plant included. Most, but not all, of course. When you seek to provoke an emotional reaction and create a strong attachment from an owner to his or her yacht, the details count.

The owner of Khalilah clearly has a thing for gold, which is found at the heart of the engine room as a custom finish on the two MTU engine blocks. Gold suggests glamour and confidence but also courage and passion. It took all of that to imagine and build the first SuperSport. 

Khalilah is available for charter with Fraser .

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New Boat Construction Techniques

• By Capt. Ken Kreisler
• Updated: October 2, 2018

Boat construction and materials have come a long way since ancient mariners first hollowed out a fallen tree and floated downstream. Many of us remember the early builds from Hatteras — think back to the 1960 introduction of Knit Wits; at 41 feet in length, it is considered to be the first fiberglass production boat over 30 feet, and one that is still running to this day. But did you know that the use of composite materials dates back to antiquity?

In the Beginning

According to scholarly research, the earliest record of composite use is generally attributed to the ancient Mesopotamians around 3400 B.C. Using their own homegrown sticky stuff, they glued strips of wood placed at different angles to one another, and voilà : plywood was born.

The use of composites grew by leaps and bounds, and by around A.D. 1200, those rascally Mongols figured out that by using a combination of wood, bamboo, animal tendons and bones, all wrapped in silk and bonded together with pine resin, their bows were much more effective. So effective, in fact, that the weapon ruled their world in both hunting and warfare well into the 14th century, when firearms first appeared.

Fast-forward to the 1930s, when resin development took a giant step forward, paralleling the introduction of fiberglass by the Owens Corning company. Fiberglass-reinforced polymer was given a patent, and it would only be a matter of time until the automobile industry designed and produced a totally composite car body. After the introduction of the 1953 Corvette, the marine industry caught on.

In the next decade and onward — with the patent of carbon-fiber material for commercial use, technologically advanced resins and epoxies, new fabric weaves, better strength-to-weight ratios and the advent of Everett Pearson’s Seemann Composites Resin Infusion Molding Process (SCRIMP) system of vacuum bagging — other innovations have brought us right up to today’s high-tech, state-of-the-art construction methods, ones that have given us some of the most beautifully built and functional fishing machines known worldwide.

To get a handle on just how all this has affected high-level tournament-ready sport-fishing boats from the custom sector, I went right to the source with several well-known builders to get their input.

A Flair for Innovation

“We put a lot of engineering into our boats, and each one, from a 60-footer to a 90-footer, gets the same attention,” says Gary Davis, superintendent of new construction at the sprawling Jarrett Bay Boatworks facility in Beaufort, North Carolina. “You can’t just add more horsepower to make the boat go faster. The only way to skin that cat is to look for ways to improve the hydrodynamics and eliminate weight. Those are the challenges that new technology addresses.”

We put a lot of engineering into our boats, and each one, from a 60-footer to a 90-footer, gets the same attention.

The Jarrett Bay approach looks at the whole build to ensure all of the critical structural parts, as well as all of the boat’s systems, work in harmony in order to exceed expectations. “For example, with our 90-footer, the owner wanted the boat to be not just fast but as quiet as possible,” Davis says.

With the research done, they determined that while a full carbon-fiber package would yield the best speed, with the level of sound-dampening material needed to achieve the desired decibel levels, the weight savings would be eliminated, and the boat would actually be heavier. “We came up with a hybrid method for the hull skin, sides and transom by building them out of the relatively same lightweight material we have been using over the past 15 years — a cold-molded product made out of plywood and epoxy,” Davis notes. “The wood acts as a fairly good sound insulator too.”

After that, the similarities go away. For example, all the stringers, bulkheads, decks and everything from there on are foam-cored, with carbon-fiber-infused skins. “In the case of all the topside stuff, we’ve taken the E-glass out and replaced it with carbon fiber,” Davis says. “On the hull itself, we do have the E-glass laminate on the hull, inside and out, but after that, and with a few exceptions, everything else is a carbon-infused lamination.”

Carbon, research and manufacturing for the production of cars and aircraft

As far as mounting those new high-horsepower engines, one of the headaches with carbon fiber is the absolute need to isolate it from metals to prevent galvanic corrosion. The main stringers where the engines sit have a higher-density foam core and an overlay of carbon fiber. Over that is a welded aluminum cap that is properly sized to accept the motor mounts. To isolate it all, a layer of E-glass was applied before the paint. And to make sure the through-bolts would not come in contact with the carbon fiber, a compression sleeve was inserted. “Everything you see mounted on that boat, and everywhere that particular material is used across the board, we use a compression or grip sleeve to make sure there is no chance of any contact with a screw, bolt or metal component to set up galvanic corrosion,” Davis says. “This does complicate the build, but we made it happen.”

With the blessings of technology and new materials come a host of ills that must be addressed. “With the new processes, we are always looking for weight-saving opportunities, and in the final analysis, it all adds up. To make it happen, everybody involved has to be in the same mindset,” he adds.

The Bayliss View

“We are big believers in the triple-ply Okoume hull, and I think, universally, everyone can agree that nothing compares to the sound-deadening capability, the ride and the performance of this hull,” says John Bayliss, whose boatbuilding facility in Wanchese, North Carolina, bears his name.

While the hulls at Bayliss Boatworks are glass inside and out, and use epoxy resin throughout the build, the construction process will vary with the building materials used. During wood construction, for example, a specific West System epoxy will be applied. “When we get to the cabin, superstructure, flybridge and console, we use Core-Cell foam that is glassed on both sides,” Bayliss notes. “We still use Philippine mahogany for the framework in the overhead of the cabin, which provides room for air ducts, wiring bundles, lighting and so on.”

Bayliss and I discussed the all-important notion of being weight-conscious throughout his builds. While that is essential in today’s horizon-chasing fishing boats, his personal stamp on every boat that leaves the facility also comes with a pedigree that pays special attention to the ride. “I believe there is such thing as getting too light and high-tech, where a solid glass or core boat tends to resonate the sound more. That’s why we stick with cold-molding and the wood hull,” he says.

Learn more about The Anatomy of a Modern Sport-Fisher .

To further weight savings, Bayliss has replaced his decking material with a very durable 3M honeycomb core, and all bulkheads are a combination of marine plywood and Core-Cell, glassed on both sides. “Our boats are really quiet, ride very well and fish like they are expected to,” he says. “As far as all these new materials are concerned, and while we’ve adopted some of them into our builds and construction process, like CNC [computer numerical control], in-house design and the use of carbon fiber in certain areas for stiffening, we like to think that we have the kind of consistency to keep doing things the way we’ve always done them.”

Spencer’s Take on Tech

“We’ve been on the forefront of new technology for some 18 years now, with resin infusion, composite construction, Core-Cell, Divinycell and incorporating carbon fiber,” says Paul Spencer, of the Wanchese, North Carolina-based Spencer Yachts . “And we’re always looking for new ways to make things lighter and stronger on our boats.”

We’ve been on the forefront of new technology for some 18 years now, with resin infusion, composite construction, Core-Cell, Divinycell and incorporating carbon fiber.

The formula of horsepower plus weight equals speed and performance is the well-accepted math for serious sport-fishing boats, and while Spencer and the other builders seek to push the limits of their builds, they all must keep something very important in mind: The boat must still withstand the rigors it will be put through at sea.

To that end, when Spencer first began with composite construction, the company engaged structural engineers to supply most of the data. In addition, with the all-important resin companies, the builder also consulted on which were the best formulas to use for resin infusion, given the higher temperatures. “We use post-curing for our builds, and will actually cook the whole hull, cabin and bridge in an autoclave oven in order to gain the full benefit of the product,” Spencer says. “When we cure at 200 to 250 degrees, the result is a harder, more stable outcome, without any of the post-cure issues like print-through. This way, we are able to take full advantage of these high-tech resins.”

When it comes to carbon fiber, Spencer notes a lot of good uses for the material. “In our bulkheads, for example, it’s great because it won’t be abused there,” he says. And while carbon fiber does have its drawbacks — the aforementioned need for isolation, for example — there are many other uses where strength and weight savings are needed. “We don’t do the hull, but with the bulkheads and decks where you would need, let’s say, 20 ounces of E-glass, it only takes 10 ounces of carbon fiber and half the amount of resin to saturate it,” he points out. “The weight savings can be significant.”

Spencer’s main focus is its continued use of composites in a jig-built boat —incorporating any new technologies that can strengthen its builds and make them lighter — after strenuous research and testing, of course. For this builder, it’s not any one thing but a series of innovations that result in the boats you see coming from their facility.

Willis Owns His Turf

Building with high-tech materials is where Mark Willis’ Stuart, Florida-based Willis Marine finds its comfort zone. “From the initial conversation with the customer, we know right from the start whether it’s going to be a high-tech build or something a bit more mainstream,” he says. “And it doesn’t matter whether it’s one of our custom flats boats or a complicated build like the 77-foot Uno Mas , we approach everything in the same way.”

In order to get things going, Willis and his team start with computer studies and a full CFD (computational fluid dynamics) analysis, which shows the characteristics of an object as it interacts with water. Along with weight studies, this allows Willis to develop an idea on paper of what the best build platform is, way before any construction begins.

Anybody who wants Willis Marine to build them a boat wants something that sets them apart from the others. I’m always looking for that particular challenge.

“While the design process remains the same, using materials like carbon fiber will affect the weight studies since they are significantly lighter than the traditional glass composite or wood structure,” Willis says. “When we go this way, tracking the weights during every phase of the build becomes an integral part of the plan.”

With a somewhat visionary approach, Willis is also taking a new slant when addressing the running gear on his boats. And while the technology has been around for some time, having roots in the military, the weight-adapted methodology considers the struts, shaft, props and rudders as one system — what Willis calls an engineered drivetrain. “They are analyzed through CFD to be as slippery as possible, given the weight of the water passing through and by them,” he says. “It’s this kind of stuff that is bringing the marine industry well into the 21st century.”

Willis and I discussed the approach he used for Uno Mas , working with an owner who came to them with a cutting-edge idea that would push the envelope right from the start. “We really worked on the styling for many months, using models and 3D computer programs, until everyone was happy with how it was going to look,” he says.

Willis is comfortable with his niche in the market and prefers to use high-tech materials in his builds. “For me, anybody who wants Willis Marine to build them a boat wants something that sets them apart from the others,” he says. “I’m always looking for that particular challenge.”

ACY and the Need for Speed

Dominick LaCombe likes to go fast, from his motorcycles and cars to the boats that slip down the ways at his American Custom Yachts facility in Stuart. “It’s all about the weight,” he points out. “Lighter means faster. We were building light, strong boats when the horsepower wasn’t there. When the engine horsepower started to get higher, our light, strong builds were already there performance-wise,” he says.

Back in the 1980s, LaCombe began using carbon fiber to reinforce the deck beams, as well as replacing the fiberglass fabric with Kevlar for added strength and reduced weight. “The Kevlar was really good for collision bulkheads,” he notes.

LaCombe’s take on working with carbon fiber echoes everyone else’s concern about the material: “Think about it as being a sheet of steel,” he says. “If you put a screw in it, you’re going to have to isolate those two metals.” And with that in mind, ACY makes absolutely sure that whenever carbon fiber is used, special attention is given to protection and isolation.

Being a custom builder, ACY uses limited production tooling molds for the house and flybridge; the former has Core-Cell foam beams in the overhead for the bridge deck. This is one of the places where they use vacuum-infused carbon fiber along with Pro-Set epoxies to prevent any print-through. “We own the whole infusion pump system and are able to make sure the resin-to-weight ratios are kept right where they belong,” he points out.

With technology delivering new resin chemistry, ACY has taken advantage of the advances by integrating the advanced formulas into its builds. Everything in the design and building process that technology has provided to make things a little bit lighter and more user-friendly, LaCombe says, has been incorporated into the boats that bear the ACY name.

Looking Ahead

As technology continues to advance, it will be interesting to see what comes down the line and how that will affect our industry and, in particular, the custom builders. There are radical designs already showing up, and new ideas about propulsion options and building materials that will see the next generation of boaters looking back at what came before, just as we do with the first fiberglass boats. Time will tell.

• More: Boat Building , Sport Fishing Boats

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By SuperyachtNews 11 Sep 2019

Carbon fibre: the bittersweet wonder material

There is no denying that carbon fibre is a revolutionary material, but there are also challenges to consider….

The use of carbon fibre has been pivotal in the development of many industries, from aeronautics to motorsport, enabling pioneering feats such as the Maclaren MP4/1 and Boeings’ 787 Dreamliner. In the superyacht industry, the composite material has facilitated a wealth of innovative developments including the DynaRig, high-performance race yachts and even furniture. But what are the real benefits of this so-called ‘wonder material’?

Notable initial applications of the material include the McLaren MP4/1 in the 1980s – the first car to feature a monocoque design wholly constructed in carbon fibre composite. Its application revolutionised Formula One car design offering unprecedented levels of rigidity, weight reduction and driver protection. In the superyacht industry, a number of shipyards and tender manufacturers have used the material in the name of performance, with notable projects including S/Y Pink Gin VI, S/Y Comanche and 49m Khalilah.

There is no denying that carbon fibre has been a revolutionary material for the superyacht industry, but there are also challenges to consider.

Having created the largest carbon fibre sloop in the world, 54m S/Y Pink Gin VI , Finnish shipyard Baltic Yachts is one builder focused on superyacht construction through the use of advanced composites. “Weight is the enemy of performance, so from the outset we knew lightweight, versatile carbon composites were ideal for yacht building,” is the builder’s ethos. “Advanced composites have become the materials of choice for construction, making our yachts lighter, stiffer and faster. We not only seek performance from our yachts, but also want them to be innovative, making them easier, safer and more exciting to sail.”

Magma Structures specialises in the development, design, manufacture and testing of innovative free-standing yacht masts and Dyna-Rig systems. Referring to its application and development of the Maltese Falcon’s DynaRig, Magma Structures states that, “The high strength, lightweight and fatigue-resistant nature of modern advanced materials (carbon fibre) has been the key enabler”. The free-standing carbon spars stand 200ft tall and support nearly the same bending moment as the wings on a 767.

According to the Composites Market Report 2018, the global demand for carbon fibre is on the rise, with an 11 per cent annual growth year on year.

There is no denying that carbon fibre has been a revolutionary material for the superyacht industry, but there are also challenges to consider. Carbon fibre is costly, intensive to produce and very difficult to recycle. A report conducted by the Green Alliance in 2017 suggested that carbon fibre is among the “novel materials [that] risk disrupting the [circular economy] system and creating a new generation of products destined for landfill”.

According to the Composites Market Report 2018, the global demand for carbon fibre is on the rise, with an 11 per cent annual growth year on year, a figure that is predicted to grow exponentially between now and 2022. With this in mind, recycling options for carbon fibre has never been so important as the circular economy concept continues to gain momentum and become a core focus of the superyacht industry.

Thankfully, end of life options for composite materials are becoming an increasingly viable option, aiming to elevate the inevitability of carbon fibre ending up in landfill sites. British company ELG Carbon Fibre is the largest carbon fibre recovery plant, optimising a reclaiming process for carbon fibre, while aiming to industrialise the conversion technologies to manufacture recycled carbon fibre products that can be reintroduced to the composites and compounding industries.

For the superyacht industry, this is an important option as the use of carbon fibre continues to rise. The benefits of the material, of course, offer reductions in weight, thus reducing energy consumption on yachts as a result. But, every construction and engineering industry needs to be aware of the repercussions of carbon fibre if there are to be pivotal developments in recycling the material.  

The benefits of the material, of course, offer reductions in weight, thus reducing energy consumption on yachts as a result. But, every construction and engineering industry needs to be aware of the repercussions of carbon fibre if there are to be pivotal developments in recycling the material.

An example of the circular economy in action, Land Rover BAR (Ben Ainslie Racing) is working to significantly increase the application of recycled composite materials. Through a partnership with ELG Carbon Fibre, Land Rover BAR aims to ensure that the carbon fibre process waste and end-of-use components from the team are recycled as far as possible to promote the most economic and environmentally efficient use of the material.

Awareness is on the rise, and thankfully industries are responding with recycling options arriving around the world, including ELG Carbon Fibre in the UK, CFK Valley Stade Recycling in Germany and Carbon Conversions in the US. There is no denying that carbon fibre is a wonder material, but its bittersweet nature is one that hasn’t gone unnoticed and thankfully is being managed and worked on accordingly.

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The Pauger composite manufacture was founded in 1990 by Dénes Paulovits. After more than a decade of e-glass boat building, the main focus of Pauger has switched to carbon composites and mast building.

Dénes Paulovits – the brain behind the name Pauger – was a keen Finn sailor. He has translated his sailing experience into hulls and rigs development creating high performance oversized dinghies, composite rigs and keelboats. Building on the success of its rigs, the team at Pauger has developed innovative solutions and built a production facility with a special oven for masts as long as 30 meters. Pauger Carbon appointed as official builder of the Russell Coutts 44 in 2006, Pauger is proud of the contribution and constant development of the unique RC 44 project.

After realizing several beautiful carbon composite projects during the last 20 years, our main focus is now on the mast production.  However, we are always open to the most challenging and unique sailboats of the future.

Check out the most spectacular yachts of our recent history.

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Speed, Performance and  the Carbon Composite Superyacht

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been making waves across multiple industries over the last decade. Used in buildings , automobiles, aerospace, hydraulic structures , and utilities, boating has also made the list.

Superyacht made with Carbon composites

Pic Credit: Palmer Johnson - Composites Manufacturing Magazine

FRP composites can be seen in many different types of marine applications. One of the coolest uses for pultruded products comes in the form of a superyacht.

The 48M SuperSport

Built by a Norwegian sub-contractor and launched by Palmer Johnson, the 48M SuperSport is being called the largest superyacht to be constructed out of carbon composites. The yacht’s hull stretches 150-feet, and it also supports a 36-foot beam that gives the overall design more stability and a larger living space inside the cabin.

Building the yacht’s hull out of FRP composite materials cuts down the overall structural weight by two-thirds. Not only does this reduced weight enhance the yacht’s performance, but it also optimizes the transport’s fuel efficiency by 50%. Since it is significantly lighter, the power needed to push the boat through the water has been drastically reduced.

Another benefit of using carbon fiber is the material’s resistance to corrosion. At sea, it’s impossible to protect traditional metal materials from moisture. Everything is at risk of getting wet when you're out on the ocean. Using FRP composites for the hull prevents rust, corrosion, and any other type of water damage.

This superyacht can hit speeds up to 32 knots (36 mph), and it has plenty of room for passengers to roam on board. It has three decks and available space for nine crew members and 12 passengers. Even at a high speed, the bow was designed to pierce the incoming waves and reduce pitching and slamming. That makes for a much smoother experience for passengers and crew members on board.

Sailing Yacht A

Another remarkable feat for FRP composites in the boating industry comes in the form of the world’s tallest superyacht. Dubbed the Sailing Yacht A , this luxury yacht traveled from Germany to Russia to be with its billionaire philanthropist owner, Andrey Melnichenko.

A trio of 300-foot masts constructed out of carbon fiber is what makes this particular superyacht so special. Not only are the three carbon fiber masts the tallest freestanding FRP composite structures in the world, but they are also able to withstand double the weight of a Boeing Dreamliner commercial aircraft wing. Although the 468-foot hull was primarily constructed out of steel, it also had some FRP composite materials mixed in to lighten the overall weight.

Some of the other special features on this superyacht include 40 security cameras, bomb-proof glass, eight decks, an underwater observation area, a pool, and even a helicopter pad. It can transport a 54 member crew and 20 guests. Using a hybrid diesel motor and controllable pitch propellers, this superyacht generates 4,800 horsepower and has a maximum speed of 24 mph.

Boating and Marine Markets in 2020

Last year, the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) in Chicago reported that sales for powerboats had increased by 4%. Recreational boating was at an all-time high since 2007. With such a great increase, boat manufacturers have turned their focus to creating lightweight, fuel-efficient boats for fishing, cruising, and water sports. As a result, the current boating and marine trends we are seeing in 2020 are bigger models with outboard engines and increased use of FRP composites.

As we saw with the two aforementioned superyachts using FRP composite materials can allow manufacturers to produce larger boats that don’t weigh as much as their predecessors. One powerful and effective combination for boats is carbon fiber and epoxy resin.

Resistant to heat, corrosion, impact, and even exposure to the elements, FRP composites can go a long way in creating more durable boats. In general, the carbon fiber and epoxy resin combo is used for luxury boats. However, we have also seen boats priced in the mid-range that are made out of fiberglass and vinyl ester resin. As for the budget-friendly boats, polyester resin is the most commonly used FRP composite material.

With the current outlook on 2020 boating trends, our experts expect to see carbon fiber composites used in boats priced at the mid-range in the near future. You will most likely find boat accessories such as hard tops and hull stringers that are made from carbon fiber. These add-ons tend to be more expensive, but they are certainly worth it in the long run.

Looking Towards the Future

For the last 50 years, FRP composites have been used in the boating and marine industries. The very first FRP composite boats were manufactured in the 1970s using fiberglass and polyester resin, which is still used today in more affordable models.

Over the last 15 years, the use of composites in boats has expanded due to the need for high-performance, lightweight models. By simply replacing aluminum with carbon fiber, manufacturers can increase the rigidity of the boat while also reducing its weight by up to 40%.

Whether pultruded products are used in commercial, competition, or leisure nautical crafts, FRP composites are here to stay.

Research is now underway for pre-impregnating boat parts such as the hull, bridge, rudder, keel, and bulkhead with epoxy resin. Also in the testing phase are main decks and other superstructures that have been infused with carbon fiber materials.

In the future, we can expect to see FRP composites being used in all sorts of watercraft from the most affordable models to the luxurious superyachts.

Customize Pultruded Products

For over 22 years, our team here at Tencom has been an industry leader in fiberglass composites and specialty resins. We work with polymers such as standard, polyester, vinylester, epoxy, phenolic, and polyurethane.

Our pultruded products are lightweight and high strength, have superior dimensional stability, electrical and thermal insulation, corrosion resistance, and electromagnetic transparency, with consistent color throughout.

If you would like to request a quote or speak with one of our experts, you can easily get in touch with us today.

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The quest for eco composites.

By Hans Buitelaar , Dec 2, 2020

Working with eco composites, the build crew at Innovation Yachts in Les Sables d’Olonne, France, applies Filava fiber to the balsa-cored hull of the Open 60 Ant Arctic Lab, a racing yacht intended to be fully recyclable.

Boat yards and design offices embrace new fibers and resins that promise to reduce pollution, consume less energy in production, and yield composite boats that can be recycled.

“It is going to be a big eight,” said skipper Norbert Sedlacek describing his planned solo nonstop sailing journey to prove the durability and go-anywhere quality of his new brand, Innovation Yachts. The Austrian sailor and filmmaker plans to sail from France through the Northwest Passage around Canada and Alaska, head south over the Pacific Ocean, go left around Cape Horn, circle Antarctica, come around Cape Horn again, and set course north to return to France over the Atlantic Ocean—a 34,000-nautical-mile world-record attempt.

His first attempts at this route around the Americas and Antarctica in 2018 and 2019 ended when equipment problems forced a return to France. His 2020 attempt was foiled by the COVID-19 lockdown when Canadian authorities denied permission to cross through the Northwest Passage, so Sedlacek again postponed. Fortunately, our primary interest is really in his boat, not the voyage.

Ant Arctic Lab under way. The boat has yet to make her ambitious long-distance voyage a reality.

Innovation Yachts’ First Builds with Volcanic Fibers

The boat he plans to sail on this challenging trip is the Open 60 (18.29m) Ant Arctic Lab , which he designed and built to be fully recyclable. It is Innovation Yachts ’ first build in cored-composite construction using balsa-wood panels for the core and volcanic-rock fiber—basalt and solidified lava—for the skin laminates. (The resin is a purpose-engineered epoxy.) The result is a yacht that required less energy to build and employs natural and renewable materials as much as possible. And at the conclusion of its useful sailing life, all the yacht’s composite materials can be separated and processed for reuse in another boat or some other composite construction. (See also Butterfly 46: A Yacht for 2050 )

Besides his own quest as an ocean racer, Sedlacek aims to illustrate that yacht building can be sustainable. “To start something new, you need to gain trust. I want to prove that building yachts from natural and recyclable materials results in better boats. If I can complete this immense trip, rounding the Americas and Antarctica, that will show the ruggedness of the boat,” he said.

Sedlacek and his partner, Marion Koch, founded Innovation Yachts in 2016, in the French harbor town and yachting hot spot Les Sables d’Olonne. While informed by some idealistic thinking, their plan to build ocean­going yachts from natural materials is also powered by a surfeit of practical building and sailing experience. Sedlacek’s first solo circumnavigation was in 1996 on the 26 ‘ (7.92m) composite boat Oase II he built himself. His next challenge was building an aluminum yacht to circumnavigate Antarctica through ice-fouled waters. He completed that in 2000 on Oase III . In 2009, he became the first Austrian to finish the Vendée Globe, the iconic French solo nonstop race around the world. Before he could compete in that race, he engineered modifications to the aluminum and composite construction of Austria One to bring her into compliance with International Monohull Open Class Association (IMOCA) 60 design rules.

Next, he created the concept and design and then served as project manager for the 91 ‘ (27.74m) aluminum luxury cruising yacht Bellkara , a sloop with a lifting keel built in 2016 at the Conrad Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland.

Ant Arctic Lab’s lightweight structural core of FSC-certified balsa wood from 3A Composites also provides a measure of sound and thermal insulation to the hull.

Innovation Yachts’ plan since 2016 has been to prove the concept of quality yacht building with a low carbon footprint and fully recyclable materials. Technical Director Marion Koch had written her master’s thesis on the hydromechanics and material properties of IMOCA 60 ocean-racing yachts. Together with Sedlacek and working with her company, Yacht Construction Consulting in Altlengbach, Austria, they introduced volcanic fiber into boatbuilding. The first marine application of the laminate was in the 4.9m Open 16 sloop Fipofix . Sailing this small boat in 2013–14, Harald Sedlacek, Norbert’s son, claimed three world records crossing the Atlantic from Europe to North America and back. (Fipofix, or Fiber Positioning Fixation, is a patented method of processing volcanic fibers into unidirectional fabric, explained below.)

Eco Composite Products and Processes

While modern, the design of Ant Arctic Lab is not dramatically different from other ocean-racing yachts. Recyclability comes largely from its materials. The hand-laid hull is a conventional balsa-cored composite structure. Balsa is super-lightweight, with good strength, stiffness, sound-dampening, and thermal-insulation properties. Innovation Yachts’ balsa supplier, 3A Composites , harvests from Forest Stewardship Council–certified plantations in Ecuador. Because balsa trees grow to 98.43 ‘ (30m) high and 3.28 ‘ (1m) in diameter in just five years, the planting-to-harvest cycle is so short it causes no measurable deforestation, making it a sustainable and quickly renewable resource. As it is absorbent, it also provides an excellent bond with the fiber and resin layer.

The innovation comes from the fiber, a laminate textile called Filava, made of volcanic rock and produced by the Belgian company Isomatex . Volcanic rock is melted at high heat and drawn into fibers, resulting in a strong, water-repellent, lightweight material that resists high temperatures and chemicals. Filava is available as unidirectional fiber tows and as woven fabric. Although the largest European production facility in the town of Gembloux, southeast of Brussels, opened in 2008, volcanic rock fiber has previously been used in composite windmill blades, airplane and car parts, and sports gear.

Cutting the woven Filava fiber from Belgian composite supplier Isomatex. To produce the fiber from basalt and lava rock, the raw materials are melted at high temperature and drawn into fibers that are then processed as unidirectional fibers or woven roving

Volcanic fiber has a melting point of 2,516ºF (1,380ºC), meaning that walls and doors made of Filava can be applied as fire-protection barriers. The fiber also absorbs vibrations and is highly shock resistant. Innovation Yachts considers laminates from volcanic fiber comparable in strength to carbon fiber but at a lower cost, which would make it a desirable boatbuilding material.

Made from basalt rock and other natural components, Filava’s fibers compare favorably to other more common fibers in composite construction: high impact resistance like aramid or Kevlar, better elasticity than fiberglass and carbon, resistance to acid and alkaline environments, and no galvanic corrosion where it’s in contact with metals.

In Isomatex’s proprietary process, raw materials are carefully mixed in a computer-assisted blender and transported by a pneumatic conveyor to the electric induction furnace to melt and refine the lava. The complex process requires high temperatures. The electric furnaces operate two to three times more efficiently than oxy-fuel or gas-fired alternatives. While Filava consumes less energy to produce than do most carbon fibers, it requires more than flax or glass fiber does.

Recognizing that the main dis­advan­tage of raw volcanic fiber is its fragility, Koch’s Yacht Construction Consulting and Norbert Sedlacek, in collaboration with the Austrian telecommunications and logistics company Kapsch, developed a patented process called Fiber Positioning Fixation, or Fipofix. The technique processes the brittle, touchy volcanic fibers into rugged unidirectional fabric purpose-built for marine applications. Other conventional assembly methods (weaving, stapling, and sewing) damaged as much as 40% of the roving filaments, decreasing the product’s performance under compressive and tensile loads. Fipofix bonds the positioned fibers to the respective matrix in the mold for final processing without using foreign materials such as yarns, clamps, or other adhesives that additionally weaken the part. The Fipofix proof of concept was Harald Sedlacek’s record-breaking Atlantic crossing in the Open 16 of the same name.

Custom Epoxies

The composite’s third and final component is the resin. Innovation Yachts chose the resin supplier bto-epoxy (Build to Order, in Amstetten, Austria), an innovative company producing custom epoxies since 2012. The resin shows no shrinkage, contains no harmful solvents, and is intended to remain with the fiber and balsa beyond the end of a yacht’s life, allowing all three materials to be reused. Koch: “We will not heat the epoxy, as it will take a lot of energy to heat all of the materials to the melting point. A lot of the material will then be burnt, so will not be available for recycling anymore. Yet the remaining fibers will be shredded and only need a bit of epoxy to be applied again.” Innovation Yachts has tested the reusability of shredded fibers recovered from composite test panels for the Ant Arctic Lab by incorporating them into non-load-bearing components for new boats, including the dashboard of a yacht tender.

As bto-epoxy is processed from fossil oil, Sedlacek explains this somewhat counterintuitive choice for a yacht largely built with renewable components and materials: “We do not want to use any material that is not developed for yacht building. Yes, there are ‘green’ epoxies available, but they do not have the same properties yet as the resins made out of fossil oil. We do not want to use any construction materials in the hull that are not specially produced for maritime use, or that don’t outperform the ones commonly used in maritime applications.” In some parts of the interior, Innovation Yachts uses epoxy made of vegetable oil, but Sedlacek says it lacks the material properties to have the endurance, water resistance, and impact absorption that the bto-epoxy offers. “As soon as an epoxy resin is developed out of renewable resources that does have the right properties, we will use it,” he said.

Sedlacek is confident of his vision and the leading role his company intends to play: “When an Innovation Yachts hull comes back to the yard after its 30-year lifetime, or even longer, the owner should be getting money for the materials that can be derived from the boat. They have value because of the reusability.”

Sedlacek says he’s looking for long-term investors, because it “takes time to develop something new.” He is convinced that Innovation Yachts is on the right track ushering in an era of more sustainable materials in boatbuilding. “Our new technology is better and cheaper, and recyclable. Massproduction yards will follow. I am convinced they will need to.”

Scaled Up at Amer

Amer Yachts , builder of motor­yachts from 20m to 30m (65.6 ‘ to 98.4 ‘ ) in San Remo, Italy, chose Filava for their composite hulls. As the super­yacht industry requires class society certification, the yard has started a cooperation with the Italian composites company GS4C to test and further develop composites from the recyclable fiber. Class societies ENEA (the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) and RINA (Registro Italiano Navale, the Italian class society for ship safety certification) are studying Filava’s properties to assess durability. As this certification takes time, the Amer yard will introduce the new fiber in small steps. First, it will be used in nonstructural components. Following successful application, more parts may be constructed from the volcanic fiber.

A rendering of the proposed sailing beach cat for La Bella Verde charter company. The final boat is intended to be sailed by a professional captain and as many as 11 guests. Auxiliary propulsion and onboard power are provided by electricity from solar panels.

An Eco Composite Beach Cat

To provide the most sustainable boats possible, the founders of the yacht charter company La Bella Verde tapped Innovation Yachts to design, engineer, and build their new 10.6m (35 ‘ ) sailing beach catamaran. The boat accommodates 11 guests and a professional captain, with ample space to relax on the trampoline. There is a head in one of the hulls, a fridge, and a sound system—requisite items for beach-hopping in the Bal­earic Islands, where these new catamarans will be chartered at waterside locations on Ibiza and Formentera.

La Bella Verde set out to prove that ecologically benign boating can be a modern, fun luxury experience. Maarten Bernhart, one of the three founders, explains how the company started in 2014: “We bought one open catamaran and converted it to electric propulsion for getting out and into harbors. We continued to convert more open catamarans to green electric-propelled boats [and] sold about seven refitted beach cats.” In search of a suitable day charter catamaran, Bernhart said he found a Rush 10 (32.8 ‘ ) owned by a former builder, and the company bought the molds to build and sell these cats.

Looking for a boat with an even smaller environmental footprint, La Belle Verde teamed up with Innovation Yachts’ Sedlacek and Koch. With a new design ready, the first boats started being built at the Innovation Yachts yard in 2020. They are a sandwich composite of FSC-certified balsa core—made with Filava and bto-epoxy skin laminates. “We offer the La Bella Verde cat to small charter companies that want to stand out with a nonpolluting boat,” Bernhart said. “And we will expand our own fleet with those catamarans.”

A deck detail of the port quarter of the Judel/Vrolijk-designed Flax 27 illustrates the superb aesthetic qualities of the sustainable building materials— clear-finished flax-fiber composite and cork decking—that Green- Boats (Bremen, Germany) selected for the performance daysailer.

Flax Fiber and Linseed-Oil Epoxy

Friedrich Deimann, founder of Green­Boats , a start-up boatbuilding company in Bremen, Germany, calculates that it takes five times as much energy to produce glass fiber rovings, and 20 times as much to make carbon fiber, compared to growing and making fibers from flax. “It is really not nice to work on the construction of composite yachts built in the conventional way,” he said. “The glass fiber or carbon fiber is invasive to the body. The resins and solvents are toxic. Still, after having built a lot of handcrafted wooden sailboats, I was attracted to the possibility of building strong and lightweight in composite. So, when I found flax as a possible fiber, I was eager to use it.”

The high resin absorption rate of the flax fiber makes hand lamination challenging. Resin infusion at GreenBoats allows for better control of the ultimate resin/ fiber ratio.

Next, researching a sustainable core material for sandwich composites eventually led him to cork. It is lightweight, does not absorb water, and has good impact resistance. The hardest ingredient to find was a nonpetrochemical resin. Linseed-oil-based epoxies are available, but most of them do not generally yield the watertightness, durability, stiffness, and shock absorption required in yacht construction. But after extensive testing, Deimann found the right linseed-oil-based epoxy to bind a unique composite of flax fibers and cork core together. In that quest, he said he has tried numerous epoxy resins. The tested epoxies range between 20% and 80% bio-content and are produced by multiple resin manufacturers. Some are better optimized for hand layup, while others are best for infusing, he says. In short, the best resin depends on the material qualities of the fiber and the structure it is being applied to.

The most recent tangible manifestation of Deimann’s research, the Judel/Vrolijk-designed Flax 27 daysailer, is also the boatbuilder’s most complete natural-fiber composite project to date. Finding just the right combinations of flax cloth and linseed-oil epoxy provided the solution for that build. Because flax fully absorbs the resin but is lighter than glass, the resulting laminate can be quite dense. Together with a good core material, the flax/epoxy laminate yields a composite Deimann says is good for building boats. He warns that the high resin absorption rate makes hand lamination of flax material a challenge. He prefers to use resin infusion which better controls the resin/fiber ratio. But he depends on using tightly twisted flax fibers in a dense weave that has high surface density and leaves little space for extra resin to pool between the yarns.

Because the fiber naturally absorbs wet resin, a dense textile weave of tightly twisted flax strands is best for most composite uses.

When they started building the first flax composite boat by hand in a shed with a group of friends and no budget, Deimann and his co-workers had to prove that natural materials could result in an even better composite boat than those made out of petrochemical sources. They’ve come a long way with the 2019 introduction of the much-praised daysailer Flax 27 (8.2m) weighing just 2,645.55 lbs (1,200 kg). GreenBoats offers a choice of core material: cork, or foam from recycled PET soda bottles.

While boatbuilding and sailing remain its focus, the company’s production use of natural-resource composites reaches many other industries, including power generation, automotive, architecture, and outdoor sports. “We do a lot of prototyping to introduce other companies to the use of natural-fiber-reinforced composites,” Deimann said. “The materials selected and the manufacturing process depend on the requirements for the product: life expectancy, quantities, mechanical requirements, etc. This is where the journey with our customers begins, and together we work out various options and compare them in costs, performance, and sustainability.”

GreenBoats has conducted extensive testing to determine the structural properties and the best combinations of sustainable fiber, resin, and core material, such as this flax/cork sandwich composite.

Big Companies Invest in Eco Composites

While the first yards to explore the practicality of building boats from recyclable or sustainable composite materials had to search for the right resins, the large resin manufacturers—often petrochemical companies—are now developing and introducing recyclable and bio-based resins. While I was writing this article, the French chemical company Arkema gave me a questionnaire about the need for eco-resins and the demands boatbuilders would have for such a bio-epoxy. Within weeks, the outcome of the poll and the company’s answers were shared. Arkema has been working to improve its Elium thermoplastic resins to make them recyclable. The resin, though still fossil-oil based, can be separated from the fiber and core material at the end of a boat’s service life.

In practice, composites recycling can be done in two ways: mechanical and chemical. Mechanical is grinding the composite into small pieces and reusing them as a filler material that can be bonded by adding new resin. The chemical approach is to heat the composite so the Elium resin will melt out of the fibers. The resulting crude recycled monomer can be distilled into pure recycled monomer, which can be used as a resin to build new composites.

The Flax 27 daysailer is an effective proof of the materials and build process for the flax/epoxy boats. It’s also an attractive hull and rig design that performs well, which is vital for a model intended as a production-built consumer product.

Global composites supplier Gurit has been working with Swiss high-tech start-up Bcomp, which produces flax fiber. Products now sold through Gurit’s broad distribution networks are Bcomp’s ampliTex and powerRibs. The latter is a structure of flax fibers inspired by the veins of tree leaves to create extra stiff structures at minimal weight. Gurit also sells foam-core material from recycled PET soda bottles; and in its Ampro epoxy resin line, the company offers Ampro Bio, a plant-oil-based epoxy containing roughly 40% plant oil and 60% fossil oil. While none of these fibers, core material, and epoxies are designed for recycling, after being shredded at the end a boat’s service life, the composites may have a second application as material for nonstructural parts—much like the reuse of Filava composites described by Koch.

About the Author: Freelance journalist Hans Buietlaar, who lives in The Nether­lands, specializes in yachting and the maritime industry, focusing on technology and sustainable innovations.

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Carbon Fiber Boatbuilding

• By Chris Caswell
• Updated: July 14, 2016

Like the word stealth, carbon fiber has crept into our modern language, and you’ll find its distinctive black diamond pattern on everything from clipboards to refrigerators. It is an absolutely crucial material in the F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft, but probably not so essential in the glove-box door of your SUV. Carbon fiber has become a trendy decorating item.

Fiberglass was once heralded as the miracle material for boats, and it did, indeed, take a bite out of wooden-boat construction. Though it revolutionized boat construction, it didn’t quite prove to be the no-maintenance material originally promised (laughter in the wings), but it was a major step forward. There was a time, more recently, when Kevlar was touted as the be-all and end-all for composite boat construction.

Today, the magic words are carbon fiber. You’re going to see them bandied around by builders and dealers (and a few snake-oil salesmen) as the material hastening a new revolution. But is it really one?

Well, the absolute definitive answer is yes — and no. Carbon fiber has some wonderful properties, but it also brings higher costs and a few downsides. We got to experience it firsthand aboard the Paragon Super Sport 28 from Carbon Marine. Here’s what we found.

The Carbon Upsides We all know that fiberglass is a composite made from strands of glass that are woven into fabrics and reinforced with resin to create hulls and decks. Carbon fiber simply replaces those glass strands with filaments of carbon. On the chemical side, carbon crystals are shaped like honeycombs, and they align naturally into long, flat ribbons, which are then woven into a matrix much like a coarse fiberglass cloth is.

In the case of the Paragon Super Sport 28, the carbon-fiber matrix is bonded with high-quality vinylester resin, which is essentially what aircraft (Boeing) and car (Lamborghini) manufacturers are using in their high-performance products, as do high-end boatbuilders such as Viking Yachts.

Why carbon fiber? This is a three-word answer: lighter, stronger, stiffer. These are the qualities that have endeared carbon fiber to the aerospace, automotive and military industries. Here’s a breakdown of those attributes.

Lighter: In simple terms, if you can build an object in carbon fiber — whether a boat, car or airplane — that is lighter than a similar object in fiberglass, you’ll get more speed and better fuel efficiency. Carbon fiber has a strength-to-weight ratio about twice that of the S-glass used in most boats. That translates into the same strength at half the weight of fiberglass, or twice the strength at the same weight.

Stronger: Carbon fiber is stronger than fiberglass, so it adds extra strength to the equation, which is why the driver of the first McLaren carbon-fiber Formula One race car walked away from a major crash when the car’s surrounding “tub” saved him. A material that is stronger also allows builders to use less of it to achieve the original strength, and once again, lighter is faster and more efficient.

If you build a boat that is lighter with equal strength, you’ll spend less time at the gas dock and more time fishing or doing whatever it is you like to do while boating. Running the Super Sport 28, we saw 2 mpg at 51 mph, so Paragon owners shouldn’t count on Christmas cards from their fuel suppliers.

Stiffer: Stiffness is the last trait of carbon fiber, which has a modulus of stiffness about six times that of E-glass, an upgraded fiberglass used in boatbuilding. In real-world boating use, that stiffness translates into a hull that doesn’t “oil can” (flex at high speeds) or warp when it sits on a trailer.

Strength is obviously desirable, especially when it comes with the bonuses of lightness and stiffness. All these features are valuable assets when building a boat and make carbon fiber the new buzzword. You already see it in accessories.

Taco Marine launched a new line of carbon-fiber sport-fishing outriggers, which promptly won an Innovation Award at the 2016 Miami International Boat Show. Product development manager Jose Chao notes there was a learning process to take advantage of the material, but he adds: “Carbon fiber outriggers are an easy choice — they’re lighter, stiffer and stronger. We don’t need to use spreaders to support them, and with the growth of electric reels and big teasers, fishermen put a bigger load than ever on the riggers, and they handle it easily.” Taco makes 16- and 20-foot outriggers but, due to the spiral wrapping design, Chao adds, “We have to educate our clients as to what proper carbon fiber looks like.”

The Downsides Every silver lining has a dark cloud, and carbon fiber has a few, the first being higher cost. One manufacturer estimated the price of commercial-grade carbon-fiber composites to range from $5 to $20 per pound, depending on the variables, while fiberglass ran from $1.50 to $3. Some of that cost differential is mitigated by the fact that you use less carbon fiber (by weight) than fiberglass to build a boat, but the hard reality is that carbon fiber is a considerably more expensive material.

Do you need that extra cost? For a Formula One car, speed is measured in ounces saved, so it clearly makes sense — for a boat to take your family on an afternoon outing, perhaps not so much. However, you can’t disregard the “cool” factor. Those thousand-dollar rims on your SUV don’t make one iota of difference in speed — but they look great, and so does a carbon-fiber hull, as long as the builder uses clear gelcoat like Carbon Marine does. With colored gelcoat (as used by Yellowfin Yachts on its carbon-fiber models), you need to look places, such as under the gunwale, or in the bilge or engine bay, to see the black-fiber pattern.

Carbon fiber is also fairly inflexible, which makes it unsuitable for products that need to flex such as skis and helicopter blades. Baseball bats and boat bottoms are another thing, however, and you want these to be rigid. That inflexibility leads to one issue: Fiberglass will often warn of an impending failure by fracturing, whereas carbon fiber has a reputation for what engineers call “catastrophic failure.” That means that everything is fine right up to the instant when it breaks. That, of course, is not as much of an issue in a well-designed boat, but it’s still something to consider.

Another surprising downside to carbon fiber in boats is that it conducts electricity. Hook a battery to the stern of a carbon-fiber boat, wire up a lightbulb at the bow, and the bulb will light without wires. That makes construction more complex for builders because they need to insulate everything from the carbon-fiber structure.

It’s an issue also faced with steel yachts, so it’s easily manageable, and the American Boat and Yacht Council addresses carbon fiber in a technical bulletin (E-11) that essentially says to insulate anything that has power coming or going. Insulation should be used with everything, from electronics to something as simple as a switch panel, to prevent electricity from reaching the carbon fiber. That includes special care around through-hull fittings in salt water because salt water becomes an electrolyte that can lead to damaging corrosion and electrolysis.

Communication is another thing. While fiberglass is transparent to wireless signals, carbon fiber (like steel and aluminum) can reduce a Wi-Fi signal by up to 95 percent, according to Raymarine, which suggests taking care to separate electronics from carbon fiber by at least 4 inches to eliminate any ground effect that would inhibit the signals. It also recommends testing each area before drilling holes (which is good advice to heed anytime).

Carbon fiber also requires more skill in craftsmanship simply because of its color. Carbon fiber is black, so when a crew lays up carbon fiber, they have to be alert to spot any bubbles as the resin wets out, which can easily be seen in white fiberglass materials.

So there you have a look at carbon fiber. With it, you’ll get a boat that is faster, more economical, stiffer and lighter, plus has a better cruising range. And, if Carbon Marine is the new standard, an all-carbon-fiber boat also gives you an edge in having the newest and coolest boat around.

The Carbon Marine Paragon Super Sport 28 The Paragon Super Sport 28 from Carbon Marine is fast (high 70s in mph), super-strong, light (4,500 pounds with fuel) and drop-dead gorgeous. At the launch ramp, two men in a hot Tahoe stopped to take pictures, a guy in a new Corvette pulled in to scope it out, and even the Fish and Wildlife guys came over.

But here’s the thing: With the carbon-fiber fabric plainly visible under the clear gelcoat, everyone had to run their fingers along the hull. Owners of hot offshore powerboats with $30,000 paint jobs will be mightily irked that a Paragon gets more attention.

Pushed by a Seven Marine 627 hp supercharged outboard that looks like Darth Vader’s helmet, we hit 74 mph in early tests, even though we were seeing lots of propeller slippage despite changing props. This boat is so light and strong that no one knew how much prop bite was needed. Dialed in, I’d expect this boat to hit the low 80s.

A beautifully handcrafted center console, the Paragon is spare-no-expense first class, from the electric head in the spacious helm console to the gorgeous bright-red upholstery and more JL speakers than I could count. Where the gelcoat isn’t transparent to show the carbon fibers, it glitters silver from the aluminum powder in the gelcoat, and the SeaDek flooring provides traction and a cushy surface.

Underway, this is a waterborne rocket ship with impeccable manners. A touch of engine trim (on the Uflex wheel with paddle controls), and the boat runs fast and hot. We found a big trawler digging a hole and ran through its tall wake at 70-plus mph. Nothing happened — no slamming, noise nor sore knees. We went back and turned in the wake without chine-walking or control issues. We threw it sideways off the wake. The Paragon landed flat and soft and arrowed away. Even better, we were getting an astounding 2 mpg at 51 mph. At 74 mph, we recorded 1.2 mpg.

This boat ain’t cheap, but neither is a Lamborghini. This is about speed, looks and uncompromising quality. I loved it.

High Points *Drop-dead gorgeous from the carbon fiber visible in the hull and console, plus the silver shavings in the gelcoat that added sparkle. *Grab rails are everywhere for safety, along with padded coamings, bolstered seats and SeaDek flooring for comfort underfoot. *Incredibly fuel-efficient — even flat out, it gets better than 1 mpg. *Super-strong Armstrong outboard bracket is perfectly braced on the transom.

Low Points *Trim tabs are too high for good “bite.” (The builder is moving them.) *Expensive, although much of the price is the $100,000 Seven Marine outboard.

Price: $345,000

Cars, Planes and Boats Carbon fiber is not new to performance vehicles. Check out some of its uses in other forms of exotic transportation.

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Measures & weight.

• Length (LOA ): 12,70 mt
• Length (LWL): 11,50 m
• Beam (Bmax): 3,99 mt
• Draft: 2,70 or 3,00 mt
• Displacement (Light): 5200kg
• Ballast: 2245 kg
• Keel: 2500 kg
• ORC GPH: 528/533
• IRC TCF: 1.185/1200

WATER & FUEL

• Water Tanks: 200 lt
• Fuel Tanks: 100 lt

ENGINE / OMOLOGATION / CREW

• Engine: Saildrive 30 hp
• CE Category: A ‐ Ocean
• Crew Max: 10
• Sail Area Upwind: 105 m2
• Sail Area Downwind (Gennaker): 230 m2
• Main Sail Area: 60 m2
• Jib Area: 45 m2
• Assymmetric Spi Area:170 m2
• Concept: Neo Yachts & Composites
• Builder: Neo Yachts & Composites
• Designer: Ceccarelli Yacht Design

THE LOFT VERSIONS

• An innovative solution for maximum living space under sail
• Long sailbags can be stored on the side of the centerboard case
• 3 pivoting beds allow comfortable sleep to the windward side for max stability when sailing in strong wind
• The front dinette allows great dining space for 10 people
• It is ideal when dropping sails during the race
• It can be transformed in a comfortable double bed big cabin

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• 1 front owner cabin
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• 2 bathrooms
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• 1 extra large service room/locker
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SPC VERSION

Supercomfort fast.

• 2 large guest cabin
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SMART SOLUTION

• Fast yacth need deep draft for stability and upwind sailing ability
• Cruising yachts need low draft for easy mooring
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• Speed and comfort while sailing and easy anchoring also in shallow waters
• Weldox keel fin and lead bulb all CNC machined to perfection
• Carbon hi aspect ratio rudder to improve upwind ability

PIVOTING BERTHS

More space outside than a bigger boat.

• 3 people can comfortably sleep to windward in the back part of the yacht even when sailing in rough seas

COMPOSITE INTERNALS

• Easy to clean
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INTERNAL DETAILS

• Low profile cabin is well integrated in a modern design concept
• Flush, curves, continuous windows
• Reverse bow emphasizes virtual water lenght keeping boat dry
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• Composite stanchions and pulpits maintain outline clean and light
• A deck plan designed by people who know what racing means
• A wide cockpit comfortable while cruising, ergonomic while racing
• On deck mast, on deck manouvers, make Neo 400+ safe and dry
• Waterproof bulkheads give Neo serious offshore sailing attitude

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STATE OF THE ART FULL CARBON CONSTRUCTION

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• Multiaxial and unidirectional carbon fibers
• A light and strong structure allows a light displacement yacht with 52% of the weight in the keel
• Category A yacht engineered by "Ceccarelli yacht design and engineering"

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CY55 Yacht for Sale

Not for sale or charter to U.S. residents while in U.S. waters.

Custom built to be a sportfishing day boat, the CY55 was designed for speed. Hull #1 was completed in all Carbon and Kevlar and powered by twin 2000hp MTU M96L's. If built utilizing traditional fiberglass laminates and with half the horsepower, she has a predicted 40 kt top end. 

An excellent platform for family fishing or entertaining, the aft cabin windows retract to compliment the open, airy layout. Three zones of climate control and gyro stabilization help provide a comfortable environment.

Fully Custom, so we're happy to discuss your ideas for your build. 

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High-performance materials for yacht and boat building

Our high-quality materials based on carbon fibers make components considerably lighter and yet more resilient. They can withstand extreme conditions of the seas. Yachts with carbon composite reinforcement can thus be sailed faster and with less effort. We have extensive know-how in the field of fiber composite technology and offer the entire range of carbon composite products required in yacht and boat construction ranging from continuous carbon fibers and textiles to pre-impregnated and thermoplastic materials.

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The SIGRAFLEX HOCHDRUCK sealing sheet meets the highest demands for sealability, making gaskets extremely safe and reliable. This is possible due to our unique HOCHDRUCK technology, creating a high-strength, adhesive-free composite of graphite and stainless steel foils.

The sheet is also available in a TA Luft compliant PRO version. Standard sheet dimensions are up to 1.500 mm x 1.500 mm (59” x 59”). For larger gasket diameters two-layer structures with segmented sections and staggered joints are recommended.

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In high-tech applications requiring high strength and stiffness combined with light weight, our carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) components are indispensable. The properties of CFRP materials bring to bear precisely when other materials reach their limits. CFRP is considerably lighter than aluminum or steel, while being extremely durable.

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PGB Boat Composites

One off carbon fibre and fibreglass parts for your boat

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PGB Boat Composites works with you to create the perfect one off carbon fibre and glassfibre components for your boat. 

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