| Le Breton Yachts Newsletter July 2008 |
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Composite work done, first primer coat applied! Since the lamination work was completed a few weeks ago, the team has been working hard on fairing the surfaces of the hulls, roofs, benches and decks. It is time consuming work, with as many as 8 people working side by side on this task. However, as you can see from the pictures, the boat is looking stunning! The white paint is actually the first coat of primer. Installing the systems Simultaneously, we are installing the plumbing and electrical systems on the boat. For the electrical system, we are using CAPI2’s innovative bus system, mentioned briefly in the January newsletter. This system has a loop of three parallel wires that goes around the whole boat. Two of the wires carry power for the appliances. The wires from appliances themselves (lights, navigation equipment, etc.) are connected via an easily installed node at the nearest point on the twin wire bus. Because appliance wires do not have to go all the way to a central switchboard, we save lots of cabling weight and complexity. The third wire allows remote control of the nodes from the switchboard in the navigation station. The bus system allows quick and easy diagnosis and resolution of any potential problems with electrical units. The boat has a pressurised hot and cold water system as standard, providing water to the two heads compartments (toilet, shower and sink) and to the galley. The system is driven by two, independent flojet pumps, that automatically maintain pressure in the system. One pump maintains pressure in each hull, but can also provide back-up to the other hull should it be required. The water and fuel tanks are both located in the main beam. This location keeps the weight absolutely centred (to reduce pitching moment), and frees up space in the hulls for storage and systems. |
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Mounting the “Teak Deck” The first SIG45 has a laid wooden deck. On many boats, this would be made of teak. However, we have chosen to build this deck using Oregon Pine for several reasons. These include the fact that it is not currently possible to source sustainably harvested marine grade teak. Currently supplies all come from Burma, with associated issues of (human rights abuses, deforestation, etc.). In contrast, the Oregon pine we use comes from sustainably harvested forests in Canada. In order to ensure that the wood weathers just as well as teak, the pine is heat treated, so it does not risk rotting – almost all of the sugars have been removed, making the remaining lignin virtually inert. And finally, one other great aspect, is that the pine is about 30% lighter than teak! The team working on the deck have huge experience, having laid teak decks on Wally, Swan, Nauta and many other yachts. It is a pleasure to watch them at work. The main panels of the deck have already been laid (see picture below), and the edging will be completed once the boat has been painted. |
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A few details of the SIG45’s rigging and deck layout Like everything else on the boat, the standing rigging for the King Composite mast has been subject to weight scrutiny! The first SIG45 has a combination of PBO forestay and Aramid shrouds from the innovative Dutch company Smart Rigging, all attached using lightweight lashings. This combination saves 32kg aloft versus a conventional dyform rig. Attached to the Antal sliders on the mast are six full length carbon mainsail battens (in addition to the three short leach stabilising battens). The battens have come all the way from the racing batten specialists, CT Tech, in New Zealand. These battens are some of the best currently available on the market, having been used by the America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race winners, and by multihulls ranging from the 105ft Groupama 3 to the Extreme 40. We have a total of 24m of battens, weighing only 7kg! The deck gear is almost entirely Harken, specced by Dutch suppliers On Deck, who among other projects, also provided the deck gear for ABN Amro 1 and 2 in the last Volvo Ocean race. The deck layout is designed to be simple, yet efficient. The lines are led such that, apart from the gennaker sheet, which crosses aft of the helm position, there are no lines crossing the main deck. This is great for safety and ease of movement around the deck, allowing guests to stay well clear of highly loaded sheets. Halyards and control lines are kept in check by Spinlock jammers and clutches. The first SIG45 has been ordered with an anti-capsize system (ACS) from Roger Ganovelli as used by many of the ORMA60 trimarans, and Francis Joyon on his record breaking trip around the world. This unit detects pitch and heel, and can be set to release between one and three sheets (mainsheet, jib/gennaker sheet and or main traveller) when pitch or heel reaches a pre-determined threshold. It has various sensitivity settings which can be adjusted in response to sea conditions, and how hard the crew wants to push the boat. I hope that you have found this latest update interesting, and look forward to sharing the next newsletter with you. Hopefully it will be just prior to putting the boat into the water at the end of July! Kind regards, Hugo Le Breton |
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Le Breton Yachts |