Saturday, February 1, 2014

Super Yacht Trend. The Design of a 40M. Sailboat.












- Why do I show "Epilogue" when the title of this essay is "Trend"; Let's see.
Trends tend to say: the latest, new, modern, brand, etc. The fact is, with boats and many other things, Epilogue
was trendy under the pen of L. Francis Herreshoff, she still might be because different venues are attractive to
different people. I always say that Yacht Designers are in the fashion business, searching and anticipating the next
ingredient to advance a career or break one. With this project, I venture into the segment of yachting attributed to
large sailing vessels with a phrase borrowed from the PBS show Downton Abbey.
                                         
" Future has no resemblance to the past".

TREND.
   L.O.A 133'-0"   40.53M.
    L.W.L 131'-3"        40M.
    BEAM 28'-3"       8.61M
Draft Hull 3'-0"    1M.
          Draft Keel 13'-10"    4.20M.
                  Displacement 212800Lbs.  95T.




- I am starting with a Length of 40 meters. About, where I want to be nowadays. Large enough for a Sailboat
to have many of the attributes associated with Motoryachts; the comfort, the toys, but also with the added
a pleasure to glide with the wind.
I also want to keep the whole project under control. Not necessarily about cost; who is counting at this stage?
But with a vision about streamline, elegance, efficiency, ability to be acknowledged for a long time to come, until the
next trend surfaces.

  " Les mots font exister les choses". Fanny Deschamp.



- One particularity about the Lines Plan. I have spent many years designing steel and aluminum boats, from way
back at I&P and later for Carter Offshore. Nowadays, we can design "fair metal boats" thanks to the technology
enabling us to develop the shell in such a way that the plating can be laid like a blanket without wrinkles and
distortion. In this case, the whole round bilge hull has been designed in such a way. I know finally, Chines are in
fashion and I can introduce them at any time. But I like the idea of this 40 meters sailboat designed and built to potentially save hundreds if not thousand men/hour of building and fairing the hull. The resulting shape is very wide at the maximum beam and narrow at the hips. I kept to a minimum the canoe body depth, in relation to the preliminary estimated displacement weight.
                               
" The way to deal with the world today is not to ignore it". Downton Abbey.


- A deep keel is important for stability and particularly for performance going to weather. For the rest of the sailing
spectrum, depth is detrimental. What is the point of not being able to reach a favorite anchorage, or even enter a
harbor if the draft does not allow for it? These are the reasons why, on the large modern sailing vessels we are
talking about, the fin keel with a bulb at the bottom is made to be retractable. This seems to be a problem, and not
an easy one at that. Hanging ballast at the end of a thin blade and working on systems that raise the center of
gravity does not sound good to me. I have a different approach, one has rarely seen on such large vessels. 
Twin keels.



- Les "bi-quilles" are designed to rest on the bottom of tidal areas. With this boat, this is not the objective, but the mean to reduce the draft to the same depth of a retractable keel when raised. The lateral plan is similar in wetted surface to a single keel and the volume above the ballast is used for tankage; an option not available with a thin blade and a big bulb, even though a bulb at the bottom could be considered.
The goal of course is to achieve the same stability but in a different way. The fins are blended with the hull and angled to present a vertical plan at a normal sailing angle of heel. At this stage, the lead ballast is estimated to be at 30 to 33% of the displacement. With two keels, twin rudders became obvious. 
The system has the advantage to clear a central garage in the stern of the boat for all the toys we were talking about.





- I have started the Interior Accommodation plan with a standard layout of a Master bedroom, and Guest cabins aft; with the saloon in the middle over the engine room. I have mentioned earlier that what is needed on a boat of that size, is a large garage for the 24' Rib boat and everything else, launched through the transom. The Tender is the job of a footman and chauffeur, very handy for guests and crew. Besides the utilitarian, I want an efficient layout where the integration of comfort and efficiency are of my prime concern. Further work will show another guest cabin forward doubling as a crew delivery cabin with a flow through the Galley and carried all the way forward to the crew cabins.



- Working on the Deck Plan. Sleek is good, but I want to open the idea of different floor plans for the upper level. The combination of a water view from below to a flybridge above became irresistible.
But let us start at the stern. You have seen garage before, this is an open one for a 25' rib, sliding through the transom. I got the idea from a 38M. Patrol boat. It might be why the boat is a 40M. lethal weapon. (to be continued).

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