Anatomy of a Boat Builder: Five Day European Tour

A recent five days visiting some of Europe's key boat building factories for the catamaran yacht broker group said the important design innovations and new directions in technology from leading European builders such as Lagoon, Yapluka and Alliaura Marine.

travel permitted Yacht broker and staff to see firsthand how the catamarans, such as the Lagoon 500, Lagoon 420 and 70 Yapluka are put together using a combination of latest technology and well trained labor specialists.

PART 1: Lagoon - blending art and science to perfection

Nick Harvey, Lagoon America president, provided that the depth and insightful tour of the Lagoon of objects that all have gone through incremental and sometimes revolutionary changes in four key areas of shipbuilding: design, cutting, assembly and expedition / completion.

During the past 20 years, the lagoon is constantly tweaking and revising process involves the use of robotics, template design and fast time speeds up the process proizvodnje.Vrlo skilled and mobile workforce provides a high-end processing with up to three separate quality control before the boat leaves the factory .

One of the Lagoon leading figure in guiding the design and implementation of the Bruno Belmont, graduated from the Naval School at Southampton who helped introduce new compositional techniques that have saved up to 50% of the cost when applied to new models, such as the Lagoon 500 and 420th
Construction of the factory Bordeaux III emphasizes the growth of production and engineering requirements that take place within the lagoon at this time.

Situated between Bordeaux I (aluminum) and Bordeaux II composite workshop, Bordeaux III will cumulatively occupy more than 15,000 square feet of space. This includes the assembly area 120 meters;. 25 meters wide

The facility will house 2,500-square-meter pre-assembly platform, offices overlooking the river, shops, a variety of workshops and company restaurants for the entire Bordeaux site.
Outside the buildings in particular will include 6,000 square feet of space outfitted for pre-launch preparation of the boat, bevel drives from the landscaped area highlighting the operational integration of its coastal environment.

Bordeaux III will focus on the strong brand and the Lagoon Lagoon 500 in particular. Advanced construction techniques currently being applied to the Lagoon 500 and Lagoon 420 which are outlined below under the molding section.
Inside the building process

What follows is a brief description of the Lagoon boat building process which helped establish the French yard of one of the dominant catamaran builders in the world today.

molding

construction gets underway in the molding department, where the female mold is sprayed with gel coat resin.
This is followed by a hand lay fiberglass, cloth and more resin.

All fiberglass used in the mold room has been cut, labeled, and delivered the mold room team for the construction of the hull, deck, and rešetke.Isporuka fiberglass kits ready for use for a precise fitting and correct quantities.
With each layer of fiberglass resin coat is applied, a process of hand rolling fiberglass layers begins. Each layer of glass carefully prepared with the use of small slots and rollers, which will remove trapped air and excess resin. Once this process is complete, then the next layer of fiberglass can be applied.

The above-ground receivers are used for securing bulkheads, as well as places for hatches and access areas for deck-mounted hardver.Nadzemne ship also provides a place for power lines to carry out electrical installations and wiring for the instruments.

Vacuum Bag-infusion with vinylester resin

This technology is less than 10 years and is revolutionizing the construction of modern catamarans such as the Lagoon 500, Lagoon 420 and Lagoon recently 570th
After a comparative laboratory testing, provided that these techniques excellent results engineering. These results are equal to or better than pre-pregnancy as fabric compaction is achieved without any possibility of air trapped in the composite.

the fabric of the same precision used in pre-con. This technology also allows you to build the Lagoon while the outer skin, core and inner skin, as well as the structure (in the case of female mold construction). Using glue between each layer is unnecessary.
For each hull made​​, the sample can be stored for engineering and chemical ispitivanja.Tg collected at least 80 ° C (110 ° C in vinylester ).

crop

Some cleaning and adjustments in this objektu.Prozori, ports, hatches, lockers and other openings are cut and cleaned. Each cavity, low center or imperfections are ground out and repaired at a central inspection station. Bridgedeck From here he moved into the production line in which a modular interiors are attached.

before assemly
Preparing booths house carcasses prior to delivery to the assembly line and help streamline the process and maintain high organizational level in the process.

ASSEMBLY

All the pieces of the puzzle begin to fit together in the assembly bay. This includes the installation of pre-cut wood interior made ​​in wood shop.

"moving" assembly lines are characteristic of all Lagoon factories. This method made ​​pieces of places where workers and their tools are very effective in reducing wasted man-hours that occurs when the conveyor belt is employed.

Raised assembly lines and mezzanines are other design features that are not seen in many major boat manufacturing facilities. This design feature provides a secure platform for Lagoon workers and easier access to and from vessels. These rolling assembly lines allow yachts to move from station to postaje.Alata and craftsmen remain in place.

Partition Installation

barriers are installed and bonded to the hull (and later on the deck) for stiffness, and all wiring is in pre-designed port and desno.Motora raceways, tanks, hoses, thru-hulls, cabinets, windows, port and all hatches are installed on this line.

Once the entire interior is assembled, the deck is then placed on the hull using the same poly-sulfide adhesive and sealant to the screws for a strong, waterproof obveznica.Pregrade are connected to all 360 degrees to hull and deck area.

deck hardware, including winches, hatches, paper cups, blocks, cleats and toe-rail are attached. Each piece of deck hardware is installed, teams of two, one on deck, and the other under the sheets and tighten every nut and bolt.

Touch wood

interior furniture kits are produced by Beneteau wood shop and shipped to various manufacturing facilities in France and in Marion, South Carolina stranice.Drvo completely finished with varnish and ready for installation. Beneteau's furniture factory for 3 shifts producing over 6,000 finished pieces of furniture per day and completed wood kit every 15 minutes.

This speed is achieved using a lot of huge computer controlled cutting and processing machines. Interior furniture is pre-installed in duplicate mold mold trunk network, before the final installation in the yacht. This extra step allows a precise answer all indoor furniture and ensures the efficiency of assembly outside the hull.

Ultrasound machines are used to cure the resin laminated wood that are joined together in three layers.
Higher speeds are acquainted with the inclusion of four CNC routing machines that work with coded templates and quickly punch out grooved interior wood finishing for the latest models of Laguna in the product line, including 420, 500 and Lagoon Power 44th

Furniture is protected with clear plastic film and foam held in place by straps.

woodshop identifies processes for regular and irregular wood finishings and further outbuilding for fusion are not visible wood pieces that are used on a typical Lagoon catamaran.

expedition, or the final

completed hull is then raised to a large in-house test tenkova.Motora and electronics are tested, and all the hulls of passing ships were curenja.Završio then go to the final inspection stage, where a team goes over the whole body , deck, interior and exterior of each test system for the integrity and quality. Any boat that shows everything that is below standard, you will fix it before you go out to the loading area.

yachts are also equipped with boards, bags and loose equipment is stored in sail lockers. Final quality checks are carried out and the yacht has been issued for the shipping department.

Conclusion

lagoon is constantly fine-tuned the process of ship building in the last 20 years, and introduced some ground breaking techniques at certain stages, such as vacuum bag infusion

molding.

Where possible, technologies are used to assist, streamline and improve the process, but there is a high degree of human interaction to carry out quality control and improving the speed of production lines.

combined advances in design, cutting, assembly and expedition are used creatively to produce the latest line of top models, including the Lagoon 420, Lagoon 500 and Lagoon Power 44th

Soon
PART II: YAPLUKA
PART III: privileges