The magazine for those working in design, construction, refit, and repair

NUMBER 183 EMBRACING SILICONE IN THE UFO SHOP

FEBRUARY/MARCH JUTSON’S FISHING CATAMARAN
2020 DESIGNING NEW DC SYSTEMS
$5.95 U.S. THE BUTTERFLY 46
 F E AT U R E S
18 Pluses and Perils of the New DC Boat by Nigel Calder
Increasingly sophisticated power generation, storage, and management
NIGEL CALDER

options make onboard electrical systems more efficient and versatile than ever.

36 Float Like a Butterfly: A Yacht for 2050 by Aaron Porter

New batteries for DC systems. Page 18. The winning entry from IBEX’s 2019 Design Challenge looks to a
future of scant leisure time, responsible resource consumption, and
greater systems connectivity.

42 A Cleaner, Faster Infusion Shop by Aaron Porter

By switching to infusion under reusable silicone bags, dinghy builder
Fulcrum Speedworks reduces consumables by as much as 90%.

58 A Cat for All Seasons by Dieter Loibner

Scott Jutson’s diverse design portfolio covers a range of boats for
COURTESY ANTOINE BEAULIEU

different purposes. Some of that experience informed a 40' (12.2m)

aluminum fishing cat for a Canadian client.

D E PA R T M E N T S
Antoine Beaulieu’s Butterfly 46. Page 36. 4 Letters, Etc.
Readers comment on unbonding, shore-power transformers, and eliminating
the boat/shore connection; and the experience of racing with Fabio Buzzi.

8 Rovings compiled by Dan Spurr

Gunboat reboot; Schaefer Yachts’ wheel-less helm station;
eight bells Olaf Harken; 3D-printed tooling at Marine Concepts;
and Ed Louchard’s custom hardware.

72 Parting Shot by Mike Telleria

In the wake of the fatal fire on the dive boat Conception in 2019,
an engineer and technical writer at Nordhavn Yachts ponders the
meaning and adequacy of simply complying with existing standards.
AARON PORTER

R E ADE R SE RV IC E S
Infusion under silicone. Page 42.
67 Connections

69 Classified Advertising

71 Index to Advertisers
COURTESY COASTAL CREATIVE/JAY WALLACE

On the cover: Michael Cassata strips the reusable

silicone masking jackets after spraying gelcoat in the
foil molds for the production-built UFO foiling
dinghy at Fulcrum Speedworks. The shop’s imaginative
embrace of silicone has eliminated 90% of the
consumables required to build the boats with
conventional resin-infusion materials. Story on page 42. The magazine for those working in design, construction, refit, and repair

NUMBER 183 EMBRACING SILICONE IN THE UFO SHOP

Photograph by Aaron Porter. FEBRUARY/MARCH

2020
$5.95 U.S.
JUTSON’S FISHING CATAMARAN
DESIGNING NEW DC SYSTEMS
THE BUTTERFLY 46

A custom fishing cat. Page 58.

2 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
 Professional BoatBuilder
Subscription Services The Evolution of Downsizing
U.S. and Canada: 800–877–5284
International: 937–610–0234
www.proboat.com/subscribe
customer.service@proboat.com
“W e’re downsizing,” your parents tell you with more than a hint of glee
as they unload end tables and boxes of books from their car into your
garage. And through the vague certainty that this stuff is never going to fit in your
house, you find a welcome distraction in just how odd it is to hear them embrace
Chairman & Editor-in-Chief Jonathan A. Wilson the word downsizing. It’s an inelegant verb that made its way into common usage
General Manager James E. Miller in the 1990s when a rash of consolidation and outsourcing drove corporate profits
Publisher Andrew Breece and compromised employment stability for workers throughout the developed
•
world. As an Orwellian term that sanitized the ugly business of firings, layoffs, and
EDITORIAL
proboat@proboat.com
factory or store closures it was a source of dread, meaning something had to go,
Editor Aaron S. Porter
and it just might be you.
Editor-at-Large Dan Spurr In 2020 the term has lost its ominous potency and transformed into a virtue.
Editor-at-Large Dieter Loibner The prospect of doing with less isn’t so much an anxiety-inducing worry today
Technical Editor Steve D’Antonio but rather a pragmatic reality that most of us who work every day have made
Production Editor Johanna Turnquist
Editorial Assistant Rosemary Poole
peace with. Indeed, we sell downsizing now—artisanal restaurants, tiny houses,
Proofreader Jane Crosen smaller cars (or no cars), the sharing economy, minimalist furnishings, Marie
Contributing Editors Nigel Calder, Dudley Dawson, Kondo’s faddish war on clutter—in trends symptomatic of a shift in popular
Paul Lazarus, Jean-Yves Poirier, Roby Scalvini mindset. They affirm that simpler and smaller can be better than large and
•
wasteful, a fortunate shift at a time when in most areas of life, downsizing of our
ART & PRODUCTION
Art Director Blythe Heepe
First World expectations is not going to be optional as more people jockey to
Advertising Art Designer Michelle Gawe share (albeit still alarmingly inequitably) the finite resources of our planet.
• A recent visit to Fulcrum Speedworks’ six-person production shop for the
WEBSITE 10.5' (3.2m) UFO foiling sailing dinghy assured me that boatbuilders haven’t
Manager Greg Summers ignored the virtues or missed the opportunities of the trend. Not only is the
• build as efficient and environmentally benign as possible (page 42), the boat
ADVERTISING
itself is an object lesson in the appeal of minimalism to the current boating mar-
Manager Laura Sherman
Coordinator Elisabeth Ingoldsby
ket. David Clark and his father, Steve, designed the UFO to meet fun and price
Classified Pat Hutchinson points that are particularly appealing to young middle-class boaters. There’s the
Sales Representatives obvious attraction of a boat that introduces recreational sailors to the game of
East Coast, Central United States, and Eastern Canada foiling in moderate breezes for less than $8,000. Then there’s the practicality
Ray Clark, 401–247–4922, ray@proboat.com of not needing a trailer, a club membership, a storage yard, a mooring, or even
Southeast, West Coast, and Western Canada much time to go sailing. Sure, it’s not your father’s Bermuda 40, but it’s no less
Todd Richardson, 207–359–4651 fun and a heck of a lot more affordable. See how well downsizing works?
todd.richardson@proboat.com
There are even more examples of powerboats that capitalize on the trend.
UK and Europe
Carl Cramer, +1–207–664–9337
Most numerously, the outboard-powered and aptly named Solo Skiffs made of
carl@proboat.com rotomolded plastic are essentially one-man fishing kayaks well suited to rough
International service and launching out of the back of a pickup truck. The thousands sold
+1–207–359–4651, advertising@proboat.com attest to how hard it is to beat the fun-to-dollar ratio of that rig.
So while it’s easy to dismiss the recent enthusiasm for these dead-simple
boats as mere gusts in the fickle winds of fashion, if fashion can make a virtue
Professional BoatBuilder (ISSN 1043–2035) is published bimonthly in
February, April, June, August, October, and December in Brooklin, of the necessity of downsizing, then I welcome the new hemlines I see on the
Maine, by WoodenBoat Publications, Inc., Jonathan A. Wilson,
Chairman; James E. Miller, President. Editorial, advertising, and UFO, the Solo Skiff, and others of their type.
subscription offices are at P.O. Box 78, Brooklin, ME 04616, tel.
207–359–4651. In further downsizing news but with regret and affection I must announce
The cost of a subscription to Professional BoatBuilder for non-
qualified subscribers in the U.S. is $31.95 per year. Canadian rate is Dan Spurr’s retirement as editor-at-large at Professional BoatBuilder. This issue
$36.95 U.S. funds. Overseas rate is $44.95 U.S. funds drawn on a U.S.
bank. For credit card orders, please call 937–610–0234. Periodical includes the 101st edition of Rovings he has written and/or edited during 17
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#R127081008. years at the magazine. In that time, he was also responsible for some of the
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returns to be sent to Pitney Bowes, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON ers, and yards. While his voice will still appear in these pages when time and
N6C 6B2.
Copyright 2020 by WoodenBoat Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. the demands of his vintage Grand Banks permit, we’ll miss his daily input, his
No part of this publication may be reprinted without written permission
from the publisher. nuanced and encyclopedic understanding of our industry, and his masterful
CONTRIBUTIONS: Address all editorial communications to Editor,
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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 3
LETTERS
LETTERS,
ETC.
The Complexity of
Plugging In
To the Editor:
Steve D’Antonio’s article on trans-
formers, “The Complexity of Plugging
In” (PBB No. 181), though well written
as usual, skipped over some important
points. One is the ABYC recommen-
dation of tying DC ground to AC
ground, which could create more prob-
lems without an isolation transformer.
I believe in unbonding and isolat-
ing, beginning with the use of Marelon
through-hulls: much better to elimi-
nate the possibility versus a Band-Aid
approach with bonding and all the
connections, which are implicit points
of failure.
I think the industry should have
eliminated all underwater metals by
now. I haven’t put a bronze through-
hull in a boat in 35 years and would
recommend composite rudder shafts
where possible, but why not composite
engine shafts, propellers, and/or sail
drives? With 3D printing, all this has
promise.
Every conventionally wired boat
should have an isolation transformer
as standard equipment because it
makes the boat inherently safer and
eliminates potential corrosion issues—
much better than the galvanic isolator
and its limitation of 1.5VDC. It is par-
ticularly shortsighted of manufactur-
ers if for no other reason than to help
reduce potential liability.
Another big advantage of the trans-
former that I felt wasn’t emphasized
was the differences between a stan-
dard isolation transformer and an
international one capable of handling
single-phase two-wire power when in
Europe and other ports, or in reverse
when bringing a Euro 220V boat to
the U.S. with split single phase. Of
course, your equipment must be able
to run 50-Hz and 60-Hz cycles.
I think shore-power controllers,
which offer all the benefits of an isola-
tion transformer and can plug into any
voltage AC frequency anywhere, would
4 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
have deserved an honorable mention
in this article as well.
Also, the Resources list did not
include the newer Victron switching
transformers, which I have been using
recently because of their huge weight
and size savings.
I believe the industry will
continue to use metallic
running gear components
for the foreseeable future,
which only serves to
increase the usefulness of
shore-power transformers.
—Steve D’Antonio
The time has come with the advent
of lithium batteries to consider com-
pletely eliminating the boat/shore
connection by running all AC off
inverters with only battery chargers
connected to shore power. With this
arrangement, no isolation transformer
or shore-power controller is required
to plug in anywhere, and with no
direct connection other than the bat-
tery charger, there are no corrosion or
safety issues. Also, much smaller
shore-power cords are needed for the
long runs and low-amperage connec-
tions often encountered in these ports.
Of course, you still might need an
onboard generator.
Pat Reischmann
Sarasota, Florida
www.hytechmarine.com
Steve D’Antonio responds:
The reader raises some valid points.
A wide range of material that’s loosely
related to shore-power transformers
could have been mentioned if I’d
had more space. I wish I could have
included my thoughts on 50/60-Hz
transformers, and will do so here.
For any vessel capable of crossing
oceans, or in cases where owners
might ship vessels overseas, a trans-
former capable of operating on 50 Hz
or 60 Hz is mandatory (I specify 50/60-
Hz transformers for virtually all my
projects, regardless of region or power
travel plans). Many owners and some
builders have been caught off guard by
this eccentricity of transformers; many
are designed to operate on 50 Hz or 60
Hz but not both. Plugging into a power
supply whose frequency is not accom-
modated will result in no power
aboard. In a recent related case, the
owner of a 50-Hz single-phase vessel
designed to operate in Europe came to
the U.S. and intended to simply plug
into 60-Hz, 240VAC shore power,
which could have had dire conse-
quences. In the U.S., 240VAC service
relies on L1 and L2, i.e., two “hot” con-
ductors, neither of which is grounded.
In Europe, single-phase service consists
of L1 and N, or a “hot” and a neutral
(similar to U.S. 120VAC service, save
the voltage difference); the latter often
is grounded. Frequency issues aside,
plugging this vessel into 240VAC sin-
gle-phase service in the U.S. without
using a transformer is dangerous at
best, as one of the “lines” can energize
the vessel’s ground.
A 3D-printed composite propeller
shaft, and why not struts, stuffing
boxes, and shaftlogs while we’re at it?
While I welcome the opportunity to
eliminate as much metallic raw-water
plumbing as possible (see PBB May
2015 https://www.proboat.com/2015
/05/more-reinforced-plastic-plumb
ing-please/), I believe the industry will
continue to use metallic running gear
components for the foreseeable future,
which only serves to increase the use-
fulness of shore-power transformers.
I agree that virtually every vessel
equipped with shore power would
benefit from the installation of a
shore-power transformer, but space,
weight, and cost are limiting factors, at
least in smaller vessels.
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LETTERS

When you say, “shore-power con-
trollers” I presume you mean “fre-
quency converters”? If so, it is true
they offer the most wide-ranging
acceptance of virtually any shore
power, almost regardless of frequency
and voltage, and they can be wired for
isolation as well. They are also large,
several times the size of a transformer,
heavy, costly, and generate significant
heat (an indication of their unavoid-
able conversion inefficiency). Never-
theless, they offer benefits. Look for an
article covering this gear in a future
issue of PBB.
High-frequency switching trans-
formers were mentioned on page 103.
Using a battery charger to provide
power to li-ion (or other) batteries,
and the vessel’s AC equipment, via
inverters is a common design gaining
popularity, primarily for cruisers trav-
eling to regions with different fre-
quency and voltage requirements. This
arrangement is sometimes referred to
as a “poor man’s frequency converter.”
It works but also introduces complex-
ity and single points of failure; for your
intended “isolation” it must lack
shore-power pass-through capability,
so if a charger or inverter fails, the ves-
sel can go dark, with the genset as the
only backup. However, more impor-
tantly, taking this approach does not
necessarily eliminate the advantages
of, or necessity for, a shore-power
transformer. Even if the only device
connected directly to shore power is a
battery charger, it constitutes a shore-
power “system,” with need for supply
cabling, a chassis ground, and over-
current protection. If the incoming
shore power were to make contact
with a metallic object aboard—a sea-
cock, rudder, shaft, or bonding sys-
tem—it could still create the potential
for electrocution. And thus, I believe
shore-power transformers are here
to stay.

Fabio Buzzi: Legend Dies in

Boat Crash
Liquid assets. To the Editor:
In the obituary of Fabio Buzzi in
Rovings, it’s stated that he was attempt-
ing the record from Monte Carlo to
Venice (PBB No. 182, page 10). In fact,
Beauty and durability — Epifanes coatings offer you both. Our long just before the accident he had actu-
lasting varnish formulas let you craft brightwork that outshines ally set a new record, and I now have
and outlasts the rest. Our two-part Poly-urethane paints flow the UIM certificate for this on my
perfectly and apply easily with a roller-only application, resulting office wall. I have raced with Fabio
in superior abrasion protection and an unsurpassed mirror-like many times as navigator, and we
finish. Look for Epifanes at your
shared the same birthday, although I
favorite marine store. And check
out the “Why We Roll” video on
am 10 years older. When we raced we
our Facebook page. did not need to talk. It was that sort
of relationship—we both knew what
AALSMEER, HOLLAND ■ THOMASTON, ME ■ MIDLAND, ONTARIO ■ ABERDEEN, HONG KONG the other was thinking. His death is a
1-800-269-0961 ■ www.epifanes.com tragedy for the boat industry and for
his family. I doubt we will see his
like again.
FOLLOW US Dag Pike
Bristol, United Kingdom

6 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
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ROVINGS
Compiled by Dan Spurr
Gunboat Is Back
Actually, this builder of high-performance luxury cruis-
ing-catamaran sailing yachts has been back since 2016, the
year Grand Large Yachts (parent of Allures, Garcia, and
Outremer) bought the assets of Gunboat and relocated
them from North Carolina to La Grande-Motte, France,
where it commenced construction in a new 38,736-sq-ft
(3,600m2) assembly facility. Gunboat founder Peter John-
stone, son of Bob Johnstone (J Boats, MJM powerboats),
had declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May of that year.
Production had originated in South Africa, moved to
Xiamen, China, briefly to Hudson Yachts in an attempt to
economize, and then to North Carolina (see “Building the
Big Guns,” Professional BoatBuilder No. 144) before suc-
cumbing to financial woes after 14 years.
During the period between bankruptcy and purchase, the
owner of an incomplete Gunboat 55 (16.8m) retained designer
Nigel Irens to modify the boat, Vai Vai, to 57' (17.4m).
Johnstone created a boat that could cruise the world in
safety, and with performance bettering that of the catama-
rans designed for the charter trade. Most are intentionally
underrigged for safety, generally operating at 8–10 knots;
Johnstone sought and routinely achieved faster double-digit
speeds. The first South African boats were designed by the
California firm Morrelli & Melvin Design and Engineering
(see “M&M,” PBB No. 72).
Today, with managing partner Benoit Lebizay at the helm,
Gunboat designs, engineers, and builds new models with
cutting-edge technology. In January 2019, the company
launched its first new boat, the 68' (20.7m) Condor, which has
a removable interior for racing. Next was #6802, Dash, in July
2019. Two additional yachts, #6803 and #6804, are in build.
Design and engineering are by the French company VPLP
(see “Flying Machines, Part Two,” PBB No. 91), one of the
premier designers of high-performance multihulls for rac-
ing and cruising. Those include the Macif, the 100' (30m)
8 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
Ultime class trimaran that set a solo singlehanded round-
the-world speed record of 42 days, average speed 27.2 knots
(see PBB No. 181, page 18). Styling, of course, was extremely
important to attract the kind of buyers Gunboat wants, so
Patrick le Quément, a multiple design-award winner and
former designer at Ford and Renault, and Christophe
Chedal Anglay were enlisted to develop the look. Marc Van
Peteghem (the VP of VPLP), based in Paris, performed the
weight studies and systems planning, while Vincent Lau-
riot-Prévost (the LP), in the Vannes office, executed the
lines, structure, and sail plan.
While the first Gunboats were laminated with vacuum-
bagged polyester and E-glass, advances in materials and pro-
cesses compelled the company to turn to carbon fiber for
The Gunboat 68 (21m) is the first
model launched by the new owner-
ship of the company. Two boats are
in the water, and two more are in
build at the facility in France.
COURTESY GUNBOAT
reinforcements. Major parts—hulls and decks—are infused
in-house. According to the Gunboat website: “If you take a
cursory glance at the material choices, prepreg offers about a
15% weight saving on a composite structure. While it’s easy
to get excited about that at face value, the devil is always in
the details. On a typical Gunboat, the composite structure
only makes up about 30% of the total displacement. A per-
centage of a percentage gets pretty small pretty quickly, to the
point that building in full prepreg carbon did not justify the
additional costs and complexity involved.”
William Jelbert, who manages construction, elaborates:
“All tools are female molds, E-glass monolithic—same tech-
nology used to build 100+ boats out of. It was the technol-
ogy available to us in Europe, and we wanted really fair
molds to reduce fairing, and the big gelcoat-type boats
around here need really fair tools because they are doing
gray gelcoat boats. Our plugs were 5-axis foam machined,
filler machined, then final faired by hand. We made the
entire hull mold off of a one-piece plug for best fitting—
always outsourced, as tooling is not our specialty. In Europe
you have a great supply chain with a lot of specialization. We
used a tooling company in western France.
“Everything structural is carbon. Anything that can fit on a
truck is made by Fibre Mechanics and is prepreg. Why? Because
they are best at prepreg, and this was an opportunity
to save weight in a value-for-money way. Doing the
hull and deck in prepreg would have meant very
expensive infrastructure, tooling, and skills. We stuck
with what we were good at: infusion in-house, pre-
preg outsourced to the best we could find.
“For a little partition panel that separates a
compartment and is not structural, we use E-glass;
it is more affordable and flexible, so tends to go

COURTESY GUNBOAT
along for the ride better. It is the same weight as a
carbon panel would be.
“Corecell is used in everything that needs core
in the structure—hull, deck, bulkheads. We use
some PVC core for nonstructural partitions and The interior structure, including these massive bulkheads, is made by Fibre
Nomex honeycomb for the furniture, which is Mechanics of prepreg carbon, much of it cored with Corecell and with North
Thin Ply Technology robotically placed tape.
outsourced.
“All the structure is NDT’d [non-destructive
tested] by a U.K. tester who works for small teams like Ineos says, “We make all the structural panels, 73 in all, plus some
Team UK and Hugo Boss.” solid-carbon monolithic structures. Also very lightweight
Stringers, bulkheads, and other flat panels are made by interior cladding panels, mainly Corecell but some Nomex.
Fibre Mechanics utilizing North Thin Ply Technology Everything is machine-cut prepreg, and, yes, we use signifi-
(NTPT), described in this column in PBB No. 169. To sum- cant amounts of NTPT material.”
marize, the Swiss company first developed the product for To install these parts, Gunboat uses Spabond structural
making sails, specifically the black carbon sails for the Amer- adhesive. Gelbert says, “Some glue joints are pure glue but
ica’s Cup yacht Alinghi, which won the 2007 event. It then mostly glued and taped. All major structural bulkheads are
made parts for F1 racecars, and found a partner in U.K.- glued and taped using vacuum.”
based Fibre Mechanics, founded by former Green Marine The Gunboat 68 is offered with options, including asymmetric
employees, to move into yacht building. NTPT employs an or symmetric daggerboards, long or short longeron/bowsprit,
Automated Tape Laying machine to “lay down” super-thin choice of boom length, and a fixed spar or rotating wing mast.
12"-wide (300mm) tapes of prepreg carbon on a table to form Gunboat, 1 Washington St., Newport, RI 02840 USA, web-
computer-designed panels with the fibers oriented to the load site gunboat.com.
paths. The panels are cured in Fibre Mechanics’ two auto- Fibre Mechanics, Waterloo Rd., Lymington, Hampshire
claves at 230°F (110°C). In fact, the entire interior structure SO41 9DB, U.K., tel. + 44 (0) 1590 427007, website fibre
is outsourced to Fibre Mechanics. mechanics.com.
Fibre Mechanics’ founder and managing director, Geoff NTPT, Chemin du Closel 3, 1020 Renens, Switzerland, tel.
Stock, who has compiled an impressive résumé first with +44 21 811 08 88, website thinplytechnology.com.
Jeremy Rogers and then Green Marine and SP Systems, —Dan Spurr

Portability in Six Parts

The Pakayak Bluefin is a 14' (4.3m)
six-part nesting kayak made of roto-
molded polyethylene with silicone
gaskets and 300-psi clamps that its
maker says can be assembled by
anyone in less than three minutes.
COURTESY PAKAYAK

Nested, it measures roughly 3'6" x 2'

x 16" (1.1m x 0.6m x 41cm). $1,795.
www.pakayak.com. —D.S.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 9
 ROVINGS

Schaefer Yachts, a Brazilian builder of 30'–86' (9.1m–

“Look, Ma. No Wheel!” 26m) motoryachts, recently launched a 58' (17.8m) model
without a wheel at the main helm. Control is with a Volvo
Penta joystick; propulsion is a pair of Volvo Penta 670-hp
(503-kW) diesels with IPS800 pod drives. A press release
explained, “Our team worked very closely with the Volvo
Penta engineers, and in roughly two months we developed
this joystick-only steering system, eliminating the wheel
altogether. In our opinion, this innovation will improve
maneuverability and bring a new level of ergonomics to the
helm station.” Volvo Penta’s president, Ron Huibers, said,
“Wheel-free joystick-only steering with IPS is the next
logical step in our Easy Boating strategy to harness new
technical solutions to make it easier for owners to operate
their boats and enjoy the experience of being on the water.”
Schaefer’s director of marketing, Rodrigo Loureiro, told
PBB they redesigned the entire helm, including the helm
seat, position of the joystick and throttle controls, and
instrument panels, so it is not a “scary new boat.” For the
skeptical, the flybridge helm retains a wheel.
The founder and CEO of Schaefer Yachts is Marcio
Schaefer, a naval architect who manages the design team
COURTESY SCHAEFER YACHTS (BOTH)

Top left—Working closely with its engine supplier, Volvo Penta,

Brazilian boatbuilder Schaefer Yachts recently launched a 58'
(17.8m) motoryacht without a wheel at the main helm. Given the
advances in fly-by-wire steering technology, a joystick is a not-so-
unusual alternative. Left—As can be seen in this aerial photo of the
Schaefer 580, the flybridge helm retains a conventional steering
wheel…mainly to make the yacht seem less radical.

Olaf Harken: 1939–2019

A hard-working, innovative leader in the sailing world and then Australia, before landing in San Francisco, Cali-
died October 21, 2019, in his longtime home of Pewaukee, fornia, in 1944, and reuniting with Joe in 1946. Olaf served
Wisconsin. Olaf Harken was 80. With older brother Peter in the U.S. Navy and attended Georgia Tech University
the two began building sailboats in the before joining brother Peter building
late 1960s and later shifted their busi- boats in Wisconsin. Under the name
ness into sailboat hardware, forming Vanguard, the brothers built fiberglass
Harken Yacht Equipment and making one-design sailboats such as the Olym-
many advances that improved line pic class 470 (350 produced the first
handling on boats ranging in size from year), Flying Junior, and Finn.
dinghies to America’s Cup yachts. To improve sail handling, Harken
Olaf Harken’s first years were too also began making blocks and sheaves
fraught with danger not to recount with Delrin ball bearings to reduce
briefly. They trace to Sumatra, Indone- friction. As the brothers moved into
sia, where he was born in 1941 to a rigging for bigger boats, they were the
Swedish mother and a Dutch father, first to adopt DuPont’s tougher Torlon
Joe, who worked for Caterpillar Trac- plastic to make ball bearings, and
tor. When the Japanese bombed the With brother Peter, Olaf Harken founded and became the first to employ carbon fiber
country, Joe Harken joined the Dutch managed a manufacturer of leading sailboat drums in their line of winches. To con-
hardware, early on employing ball bearings in
army, and was soon captured. His fam- its sheaves and other gear to reduce friction. centrate on the more-promising hard-
ily escaped to Borneo, and during the They also built a lot of small boats as well ware business, in 1986 they sold Van-
war was moved first to New Zealand as the experimental 65' (20m) Procyon. guard to Steve Clark and Chip Johns,

10 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
 COURTESY SCHAEFER YACHTS
Schaefer boasts of its advanced tooling capacity, which includes
this 5-axis router for plug making.

of other architects and engineers, as well as the business.

In its 26 years, the company has sold more than 3,000
yachts; it opened a U.S. office in 2016 and has sold more
than 15 boats there since then. Loureiro says all parts are
vacuum-infused, plugs are milled on a 5-axis router, and
carpentry and upholstery are done in-house. “Produc-
tion,” he says, “is vertically integrated…we design and
develop mostly everything that composes our boats, so
everything fits perfectly.”
Schaefer Yachts USA, 1515 SE 17th St., Suite 117, Fort
Lauderdale, FL 33316 USA, tel. 954–736–6264, schaefer
yachts.us. —D.S.

who bought the molds and brand and moved them to

Rhode Island.
With the purchase of the Italian winch manufacturer Bar-
barossa in 1987, Harken expanded to Europe.
Active in the industry movement to grow sailing during
the mid-1980s downturn in boat sales, in 1987 Olaf built
Procyon, a 65' (20m) composite yacht that aimed to allow a
small crew to rig and get under way in just 5–10 minutes.
Though many of the futuristic features are common today,
at the time they were revolutionary: canting keel, bipod
mast, dual steering stations, and, of course, furlers.
Over the years, Harken has found industrial applications
for its equipment, ranging from wind power to utilities,
stage and theater, and architecture.
When Olaf and Peter were inducted into the National
Sailing Hall of Fame in 2014, Peter told the audience: “When
trying new stuff, our rule is to ask, ‘If it all goes bad, can we
survive?’ Then we go to the bar and forget what we just said
and do it anyway!”
Olaf Harken will be remembered for more than co-
founding a first-class company—he was a good, honest man
with many friends.
—D.S.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 11
 ROVINGS

More 3D-Printed
Tooling
Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is emerging as a
viable alternative to the now-popular subtractive process
employing 3- and 5-axis milling machines/routers to make
tools for parts as large as boat hulls and decks. PBB recently
featured the making of a console for an Italian-made RIB
(“Printing a Finished Console,” PBB No. 181); in the same
issue, a large printed demo-tool mold (“Large Print”); and the
mold for a 34' (10.4m) power catamaran printed at the Oak
Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) for Xplora
Yachts (“Just Print It,” PBB No. 175). Several other boatbuild-
ing companies in the U.S. also have made forays into the excit-
ing yet still somewhat unknown future of 3D printing.
A recent survey found only a handful of other 3D-created
tooling for boats; notable is a 16' (4.9m) runabout that
Thermwood Industries in Indiana prototyped for White
River Marine Group, part of Bass Pro Shops. This project was

ABOVE AND LEFT COURTESY DCMC

a collaborative effort with Florida-based Design Concepts/
Marine Concepts (DCMC—the DC portion was formerly
known as JRL Ventures under Bob Long’s ownership, prior
to the sale to Patrick Industries in 2017). DCMC partnered
with Thermwood, a leader in large-scale additive manufac-
turing (LSAM) with thermoplastic polymers, and Techmer,
which supplied its Electra 1 ABS LT1 3DP
pellet material for making the plug.
To learn more about DCMC’s interest in
3D printing, we talked with Ross Kennedy,
the company’s director of business develop-
ment. Its first action was the joint venture

COURTESY THERMWOOD CORP.

with Thermwood, White River Marine
Group, and Techmer mentioned above.
“Then about a year ago,” Kennedy explained,
“we got involved with Cincinnati Industries
[CI], also a manufacturer of thermoplastic
3D-printing machines. Our goal was to print
a light RTM plug. Simple carbon ABS print.
CI printed it, shipped it down [to Florida]. We indexed it and
machined it. Our goal was to directly machine it, and not apply
any sort of sprayable, millable material, simply to mill the ABS
and put a primer on it and bring it up to a level that would be
equal to or better than our standard plugs, which are mainly
built out of either a syntactic tooling paste or tooling board.
“That went well. We were able to infuse the B side for the
light RTM tool and then open-mold the A side. We took
that to IBEX and CAMX. We learned a lot, such as heat
tolerances of each material based on exotherm and post-
curing requirements. We’re also interested in thermoset
printing. Magnum Venus has rolled out RAM, reactive
additive manufacturing, which prints a thermoset part.
We’re also looking at that.”
Much of DCMC’s interest is in eliminating the male plug,
and simply printing a female mold that can handle the
Top—Design Concepts/Marine Concepts bought the old Wellcraft
facility in Sarasota, Florida, to expand its tooling and manufactur-
ing capabilities. Center—Cincinnati Industries printed this part
of the LRTM (light resin transfer molded) plug and shipped it to
Florida. Bottom—Owing to machine restrictions, this 16' (4.8m)
plug was printed in four major pieces, bonded together with
a urethane adhesive, and machined before a female mold was
taken off it. The walls are approximately 11⁄2" (38mm) thick.
customer’s requirements (i.e., the number of required parts
pulled) at a lower cost than that of a plug and mold. That’s
where thermosetting materials might offer an advantage
over thermoplastic. A bonus would be cutting lead times in
half. Which is what Stephen Wu and Explora Yachts
achieved in the printing of the 34' female mold referenced
above in PBB No. 175. Printing was vertical as opposed to
the more-familiar horizontal layering.

12 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
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 ROVINGS
Your Customer’s
Engine Reliability Regarding plug making, Wu told us, “We’ve advanced
beyond that gen-one technology, but no problems with lon-

Starts With gevity. We have pulled multiple pieces without issue. That
surface [of the 3D-printed mold] is also very repairable. The

Clean Fuel! only thing we did on occasion was to coat with some PTFE
tape to make demolding easier, and we’ve played with dif-
ferent releases to get best results.”
Another way costs could be shaved is by being able to
mill the plastic-printed plug material directly, and not
spray a material over it. That may be possible by increasing
print resolution. Either way, as it is today, Thermwood
employs a process called near net shape, which means the
printed plug is not 100% accurate; the melted beads may or
may not be sprayed with a syntactic material, and the base
material, or spray, milled by a 5-axis router to the desired
tolerances, ± 30⁄1,000" .
When asked if he sees 3D printing one day supplanting
today’s subtractive milling processes, Kennedy said it’s diffi-
cult to predict, and part of that answer depends on continued
development of new print materials that can yield a finished
The Evolution of KTI’s Popular surface without additional work, or at least, as noted above,
System without adding another material. “Right now,” Kennedy said,
“3D printing can’t exist without 5-axis machining.”
And if subtractive milling becomes obsolete, what then
for tooling shops’ huge investment in machinery? “I think
the 5-axis machine will evolve into another tool in your tool
belt,” Kennedy predicted.
Distinguish Your Yachts DCMC has grown considerably since PBB last wrote
With A Comprehensive about the company, now employing 350 in two facilities—
Fuel Management System the original in Cape Coral and the more recently acquired
old Wellcraft plant in Sarasota, plus leased office space. As
Cleans founder Kiko Villalon touted in the 1970s, it’s still a one-
stop shop for product design, tooling, and prototypes. In
addition to tooling, part manufacturing has grown substan-
Warns tially as a sizable part of the business.
“We private-label manufacture for marine and nonma-
Tests rine companies,” Kennedy said. “A large amount of parts are
infused, as we’ve invested heavily in those techniques. We
Primes Remote Warning Panel infuse hulls, decks, and other parts the builder doesn’t want
With Alarm Mute
(Shown with optional EFS)
to do, for whatever reason: he doesn’t want to take on the
Saves risk or put together an infusion team.” And smaller parts for
Meets ISO, ABYC & USCG Standards nonmarine business as well. “The Design Concepts side has
evolved,” Kennedy said. “It’s really taken off. We now do a
lot of work in flight simulation, entertainment industries,
and the transport market, both tooling and parts build.”
With six mills and 370,000 sq ft (3,374m2) of manufac-
Is Your Fuel Keenan Clean? turing space, DCMC can cut up to just about any length; its
largest mill has a 68' x 24' x 13' (21m x 7.3m x 4m) envelope.
As Patrick’s number of companies grows, especially in the
marine and RV markets, DCMC enjoys a complementary
800.336.0315 • www.ktisystems.com relationship with others in the fold, meaning a project that
doesn’t quite fit DCMC might well be perfect for another—
or be shared efficiently.
Please Contact Us With Any Fuel Questions DCMC, 6805 15th St. E., Sarasota, FL 34243 USA, tel.
800.336.0315 | www.ktisystems.com 941–556–6311, website dcmc-us.com. —D.S.

14 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
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 ROVINGS

Shivs and Sheaves

COURTESY ZEPHYRWERKS (BOTH)

Above— Louchard special-
Above—Ed
izes in custom rigging
sheaves and other boat
hardware. Here, he
measures the inside
diameter of an anchor
roller in his Port
Townsend, Washington,
shop. Left—Among his
many products, including
titanium sheaves, are
colored ones that he
anodizes himself.

Knife maker Ed Louchard of Port Townsend, Washington,

has expanded his product line to a variety of boat equipment,
notably sheaves of various sizes (any diameter up to 12"/305mm)
and materials (aluminum, 316L stainless steel axles, oil-filled
bronze sleeve bearings), as well as custom work for traditional
and modern craft. He does his own anodizing and can even
add color to the bodies. His website showcases turning blocks
on the U.S. Coast Guard’s training ship Eagle.
When I asked Louchard how he came to be a builder of
custom hardware, he told me: “I arrived in Port Townsend in
1980, and was invited to have a beer by a fellow who initially
wanted to buy my old Volvo. Turned out he and his fellow
students at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding
[see “Loft, Cut, and Fasten,” PBB No. 137] were having a
beach gathering. Didn’t take long to get around to ‘Have you
seen the shop?’ As soon as the door opened and I was hit with
the smells and visuals of a boatbuilding shop, boats in frame,
linseed oil and turps, oak, red cedar, Douglas-fir, I knew what
my future would be.
“At the time, I supported myself by building custom
knives for collectors, mainly in Japan, Europe, and America
as well. I continued to build and sell my knives, expand-
ing into tools for violin bow makers and other luthiers,
and boatbuilders. I spent six months at the boatbuilding
school in 1981. Upon graduating I started my own business
repairing and restoring classic wooden sailboats and even

16 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
some powerboats. Sailing on Port Townsend Bay became
almost a daily exercise. I gained experience in what boats
and sailors needed to trim their sails well.
“During that time I rented space to a number of boatbuild-
ers and associated types, including Brion Toss, the rigger.
Brion expressed a need for some sheaves, so I turned a few
out of Delrin for him on my little lathe. I realized that there
was nowhere a rigger or boat owner could access any size
sheave they might need. I researched sheave material and the
bearing issues and decided on Delrin sheaves with pressed-in
Oilite bronze bushings to run on 316 stainless steel axles.
“I put together a website, and put an ad in WoodenBoat mag-
azine. That got things started. Together with my restoration busi-
ness and my knife business, I have been kept busy ever since.”
Recently Louchard has added anodized aluminum and tita-
nium products to the line. He gained experience working with
titanium a few years ago making parts for Core Builders, which
was building the last of the America’s Cup monohulls in Ana-
cortes, and the first two multihull AC boats for Oracle. Besides
sheaves, products include rope-stropped block kits, anchor
rollers, titanium marlinspikes, and custom hardware. Just ask.
Zephyrwerks, Port Townsend, WA 98368 USA, tel. 360–
385–2720, www.zephyrwerks.com. —D.S.

Short Cuts
≡ On October 28, 2019, the iconic naval architecture
and yacht brokerage firm Sparkman & Stephens
celebrated its 90th anniversary. Founded in 1929
by Drake Sparkman, James Sparkman, Jason Mur-
ray, Rod Stephens Jr., and Olin Stephens, the firm
continues under the leadership of president Don-
ald Tofias and chief designer Brendan Abbot.
Here’s a thought to chew on: In 1928 Olin Ste-
phens wrote in Yachting magazine, “Though per se
beauty is not a factor of speed, the easiest boats
to look at seem to be the easiest to sail.”

≡ Nautic Alert relieves that ominous sinking feeling

by collecting data on a boat’s bilges—and other
collection points—and letting its owner know when
the numbers begin to stray. Its Nevata bilge pump
switch and controller is credited with saving sev-
eral boats from sinking. The owner of a Passport
55 sailboat was alerted twice to potentially serious
events—when a pin-size hole in an ice maker line
caught the attention of monitors, and when a wash-
ing machine line began siphoning raw water from
the drain outlet. nauticalert.com. —D.S.

Ed. Note: This is my last issue writing and compiling

Rovings, the 101st, to be precise. Thanks for reading.
Please direct all future correspondence to Dieter
Loibner. rovings@proboat.com.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 17
 ELECTRICAL
SYSTEMS

Pluses and Perils of the

New DC Boat
Increasingly sophisticated power generation, storage, and
management options make onboard electrical systems
more efficient and versatile than ever.
Text and photographs
by Nigel Calder S o, you have a client who wants to
enjoy the same energy-intensive
lifestyle afloat as at home, without run-
approach, and balancing numerous
variables against one another.

ning a generator 24/7. It can be done. A The Energy Calculation

constantly improving array of equip-
ment and technologies make this pos-
sible for just about any boat. Assem-
bling the available pieces to create an
efficient and trouble-free energy sys-
tem is not rocket science, but it requires
attention to detail, a methodical
The starting point is a calculation of
the energy needs, and for that there are
various free energy calculators online
(see the Resources list on page 34). Pri-
marily we are looking for two key
numbers: the cumulative energy load
over time, which is expressed in

18 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
kilowatt-hours (kWh); and the maxi-
mum peak (short-term) load the sys-
tem may see, expressed in amps.
The cumulative energy number is
commonly calculated for a worst-case
24 hours (i.e., those days when the
energy needs are at their highest). The
24-hour calculation is then adjusted
to reflect the maximum cumulative
energy requirement (kWh) between
engine runtimes (either the propul-
sion engine/s or generator runtimes),
or between dockside charging oppor-
tunities. With sailboats, especially
those loaded with navigational elec-
tronics, an autopilot, and radar, the
worst case is typically when under sail.
With powerboats, which have a con-
tinuous source of energy from the
alternator when under way, it is at
anchor. The worst-case number will
drive the rest of the design process.
The bulk of the daily energy con-
sumption is likely to come from low-
to medium-draw devices running for
extended periods, notably refrigera-
tion, lights, navigational electronics,
and above all, air-conditioning.
For older air-conditioning units, in
the absence of better data, assume
every 16,000 Btu of rated output cre-
ates a 1½-kW load, and then estimate
how many hours a day, or overnight,
the air-conditioning runs.
Multiply the kW load by the hours
to derive the total energy consump-
tion in kWh. For example, over a
24-hour period a 16,000-Btu unit run-
ning 50% of the time (the rest of the
time it has cycled to “off ”) equates an
energy consumption of (1½ kW x 12
hours) = 18 kWh. If the unit is rated at
less than 16,000 Btu, reduce the load
proportionately; e.g., an 8,000-Btu
load is (1½ kW x 0.5) = 0.75 kW. If
more than 16,000 Btu, increase the
load proportionately; e.g., a 40,000-
Btu load is (1½ kW x 2.5) = 3.75 kW.
Once again, multiply the load by the
hours the unit is running. Note that
the resulting load and energy calcula-
tions will be conservative.
Newer air-conditioning units fre-
quently have variable-speed compres-
sors, which are significantly more effi-
cient than the fixed-speed compressors
on units more than 10 years old. These
newer compressors often run more
hours but at much lower and variable
loads, so a fixed load number cannot
Facing page—Like other increasingly
complex battery options, this substantial
bank of modern Lithionics lithium-ion
batteries is fitted with an external battery
management system (the gray box above
the batteries). Left—The author tests
battery volts and amps on a large
(14-kWh) bank of thin plate pure lead
(TPPL) batteries operating under a 1C
load. (Charge acceptance rate, CAR or
C-rate, is explained in the text on page 23.)
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 19
ELECTRICAL: DC Systems

be applied. You’ll need to estimate the

average load and runtime. If this is a
retrofit (as opposed to a new build)
and the worst-case air-conditioning
loads can be simulated, a really useful
tool is a portable watt-hour meter,
which will accurately measure the
cumulative energy use.
On most boats there are some short-
term, high-load devices such as elec-
tric windlasses and bow and stern
thrusters. Briefly running these devices
consumes comparatively little energy
(kWh), and as such has little impact
on the overall energy budget. But it’s
important to note their peak potential
short-term power demands (in amps)
on the system. This might be, for exam-
ple, when a bow and stern thruster or a
bow thruster and a windlass are used
simultaneously. This peak-amp num-
ber has design implications that are
sometimes overlooked, with negative
consequences, especially if lithium-
ion batteries are used in the system.
Do I Need a Generator?
If daily energy needs are above 3
kWh–4 kWh, conventional wisdom
has long held that a generator will be
needed, either running a few hours a
day or, in the case of higher energy
needs, especially air-conditioning,
24/7. With the advent of ever more
powerful and efficient alternator-
based charging devices, this is no lon-
ger the case. With today’s technology,
energy needs on a monohull of up to
20 kWh, and on a catamaran of up to
40 kWh (because there are two engines
and the potential for two powerful
alternator devices), can be met with-
out a generator.
Properly designed, an alternator-
based system will deliver this energy
more efficiently, with reduced engine
runtime, and with significantly
improved onboard lifestyles as com-
pared to a generator-based system.
The generator, with its space, weight,
fuel, and maintenance requirements,
can be removed from the boat.
Energy needs higher than 20 kWh
or 40 kWh are frequently best met with
a hybrid system that combines an
Twelve 100-Ah TPPL batteries were installed on the author’s boat as part of some
extensive electric-propulsion experiments. These advanced lead-acid cells offer improved
capacity and efficiency compared to those with conventional lead-acid chemistry.
alternator-based solution with an inter-
mittently used, downsized generator.
Battery Capacity to Meet
Demands
The design process begins based on
the worst-case requirement calculated
above. This energy requirement for
DC systems, as well as AC systems run
from DC-to-AC inverters, must be
met from stored energy in batteries
(with the possible exception of solar,
wind, and water energy). This cumula-
tive energy requirement defines the
necessary size of a battery bank. If
the battery bank is undersized, the
system will perform poorly and the
batteries will likely fail prematurely. If
the battery bank is oversized, it adds
unnecessary weight, volume, and
expense.
Battery capacity is typically rated in
amp-hours (Ah). But for energy sys-
tem calculations, we need it in kilo-
watt-hours (kWh). To convert Ah to
kWh, multiply a battery’s rated Ah by
its voltage. This gets us to watt-hours
(Wh). Divide Wh by 1,000 to get to
kWh. For example, a 12V battery rated
at 180 Ah has a capacity of (180 Ah x
12V) = 2,160 Wh/1,000 = 2.16 kWh.
The designed battery capacity in
kWh must be equal to the maximum
cumulative energy requirement
between engine runtimes, which were
previously calculated, multiplied by a
“battery factor,” which varies with bat-
tery type and chemistry. Let’s say this
results in a target battery capacity of
10 kWh. If it is necessary to convert
this back to Ah to determine how
many batteries are needed, multiply the
kWh by 1,000 to derive Wh, and then
divide by the system voltage. For exam-
ple, if this is a 12V system: (10 kWh x
1,000) = 10,000 Wh/12V = 833 Ah.
Battery Factors
Various forms of lead-acid (PbA)
and lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries are
standard in marine applications:
• Wet-cell PbA. This type of battery
needs periodic topping up with dis-
tilled water. For several reasons these
are the least-suitable batteries for
powerful alternator-based energy sys-
tems. The battery factor is 3 or 4 (i.e.,
if the daily load is calculated as 4 kWh,
the battery capacity should be between

20 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
Above—Various TPPL and carbon-foam batteries are capacity tested on the
author’s boat after aggressive high-capacity DC-systems applications.
Right—A 10-kWh bank of Torqeedo lithium-ion batteries were installed as
part of the author’s latest iteration of a high-capacity DC-energy system.

12 kWh and 16 kWh). Properly sized
battery banks are invariably large,
heavy, and bulky, and in general per-
form poorly (see below).
• Sealed PbA. These come in gel-
cell and absorbed glass mat (AGM)
versions. The batteries most suited for
alternator-based energy systems are
two variants of AGM batteries known
as thin plate pure lead (TPPL) and
carbon-foam (the Firefly brand of bat-
teries). For TPPL, the battery factor
should be at least 2 and preferably 3;
for carbon-foam it can be as low as 2.
For a number of reasons (see below),
the carbon-foam batteries have the
best set of characteristics of any PbA
battery for alternator-based energy
systems.
• Lithium-ion. When compared to
any PbA battery, lithium-ion batteries
have dramatically improved perfor-
mance in alternator-based energy sys-
tems. For a given battery capacity, the
batteries are typically less than half the
weight and often half the volume. The
battery factor can be as low as 1.4,
which further reduces the size, weight,
and volume of the necessary battery
pack as compared to any PbA-based
pack. Li-ion then has a sub-
stantially greater life expec-
tancy. Despite the extremely high cost
of lithium-ion, if its capabilities can be
fully exploited, over time it can be
more cost-effective than any PbA
solution.
• There are three li-ion chemistries
used in marine applications: lithium-
ion iron phosphate (LFP), nickel man-
ganese cobalt (NMC), and nickel
cobalt aluminum (NCA). If suffi-
ciently abused, all three have the
potential to catch fire, with LFP being
the least likely to do so. Li-ion fires are
rare, but when they occur they are
generally catastrophic. Aside from
ensuring the necessary performance
characteristics (see below), my own
(personal) criteria for putting a li-ion
battery on my boat is that it either has
to have passed rigorous third-party
abuse testing based on an appropriate
standard (I prefer UL 1973), or it must
come from a recognized marine
vendor with a significant li-ion track
record established over a number of
years, backed up by an excellent war-
ranty and a substantial liability insur-
ance policy.
Alternator Calculations
Whatever energy is taken out of a
battery between charge cycles must be
put back, plus a margin to compensate
for inefficiencies within the battery
during the charge and discharge. With
wet-cell PbA, these inefficiencies can
be as high as 40%, with TPPL and
carbon-foam around 15%, and with
li-ion 5%–10%. The by-product of inef-
ficiency is heat—the higher the ineffi-
ciency, the more the heat, and the
greater the likelihood that this will
become a limiting factor in system
design (for more on battery tempera-
ture issues, see below).
Ignoring heat issues for the moment,
the crudest form of alternator-based
supply-side calculation takes the
amount of engine runtime that will be
available from normal boat operations
and divides this into the amount of
energy needed to run the boat between
engine runtimes (or between plug-
ging into shore power at dockside),
modified to account for battery ineffi-
ciencies. To take a fairly extreme
example, for a sailboat that will use its

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 21
ELECTRICAL: DC Systems
propulsion engine for 40 minutes to
maneuver in or out of a harbor, and if
the boat’s energy needs are 5 kWh
between engine runtimes, and the bat-
teries are 85% efficient carbon-foam,
22 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
the necessary battery charging energy
is (5 kWh/0.85) = 5.88 kWh. Given an
engine runtime of 0.66 hours, this
gives us a target alternator output of
(5.88 kWh/0.66 h) = 8.9 kW. To put
The conventional OEM-installed 80-amp
alternator that comes on many small
diesels like this one doesn’t come close
to meeting the generating needs of a
powerful DC-based energy system.
this in perspective, that would be 636
amps at an alternator output voltage of
14V—not impossible but pushing the
boundaries with existing technology.
Let’s assume we could find an alter-
nator, or combination of alternators,
rated to deliver the desired output.
Now, a number of practical design and
operational issues come into play (for
a detailed consideration of alternator
installations, see PBB No. 19):
• The speed (rpm) at which the
alternator reaches its rated output can
vary significantly for two different
alternators with the same nominal
output. The best fit is the alternator
that achieves the target output at the
normal operating speed of the engine
driving it.
• The efficiency with which alterna-
tors generate electricity varies enor-
mously and in turn varies with alter-
nator rpm and levels of output. The
peak efficiency of many alternators
is not much above 50% (the other
50% of the input energy from the drive
belt is converted to heat inside the
alternator), while others deliver above
80%. Powerful alternators operating
at low efficiency generate a tremen-
dous amount of heat, which must be
dissipated.
• When an alternator heats up, its
output diminishes. For systems design,
the key output number is the hot-rated
output of the alternator at the alterna-
tor rpm reached when the engine driv-
ing it is at normal operating speed.
• Any alternator charging a large
bank of well-discharged batteries is
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likely to run at its full rated output for
an extended period. The case tempera-
ture can easily exceed 200°F (93.3°C),
with internal temperatures signifi-
cantly higher. Some alternators can
take this; some cannot and will burn
up. An alternator controller that incor-
porates alternator-temperature sens-
ing, or another output-limiting mech-
anism, may be needed.
• Powerful alternators, especially
those with poor efficiency, create sig-
nificant crankshaft-pulley side loads
for any engine driving them. Sophisti-
cated alternator load-management
strategies may be needed, especially if
an alternator is installed on a relatively
low-powered engine.
Battery Constraints
Even when all the above consider-
ations are satisfied, pointing to a par-
ticular alternator choice, we may now
find that the batteries cannot use its full
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modate potential battery limitations.
Consider these basic issues when
assessing the ability of a given battery to
function effectively in an alternator-
based energy system:
• Charge acceptance rates (CARs).
For all batteries, we can define a charge
acceptance rate as the rate at which a
battery can absorb energy at any par-
ticular state of charge (SoC). It is typi-
cally specified as a C-rate, where 1C
represents a CAR equal to the battery’s
rated capacity in Ah—i.e., for a 100-Ah
battery the 1C rate is 100 amps; for a
200-Ah battery the 1C rate is 200 amps.
For a 100-Ah battery a 0.5C rate is 50
amps, and for a 200-Ah battery it is
100 amps. And so on. In powerful alter-
nator-based energy systems some de-
signers want batteries that will accept
charging currents at up to the 1C rate,
and occasionally up to the 2C rate.
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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 23
ELECTRICAL: DC Systems

With AGM PbA batteries, both TPPL
and carbon-foam, the CAR drops
below the 1C rate once a battery is
~60% charged, and thereafter the CAR
steadily declines. Depending on the
design parameters for the system, this
can be a significant factor impeding the
system’s optimization. In contrast, it
is often stated that li-ion batteries
have very high C-rates to high SoC.
Although this is true for some li-ion
batteries, especially those in the auto-
motive world, it is not true for many
li-ion batteries sold for marine applica-
tions. These may have recommended
C-rates as low as 0.3C (e.g., 30 amps for
a nominal 100-Ah battery). Although
these batteries can often be charged
faster, it reduces their life expectancy.
An optimized marine energy system
requires matching battery C-rates to
charging devices and charging times.
• Partial state of charge (pSoC)
operation. Toward the end of a charge
cycle the CAR of PbA batteries steadily
declines. It can take an hour or two to
go from ~60% SoC to 100% SoC. If this
part of the charge cycle requires a main
engine or generator to be run solely for
battery charging, it is extraordinarily
inefficient, and the real cost of the
energy being fed to the batteries is very
high. On the other hand, lead-acid

How “Green” Is My Battery?

n the industrialized world, we have learned, often the hard
I way and over many years, to manage lead-acid batteries
responsibly—from the mining and refining of lead (75%–
80% of which goes into batteries), through the manufacture
and use of the batteries, to their disposal and recycling.
The same cannot be said of the increasingly popular
lithium-ion batteries. Many of them depend on dubious
mining and manufacturing processes, and recycling is vir-
tually nonexistent today. These batteries play an essential
role in the electrification of boating, but this should not
blind us to their unintended consequences, and the need
to initiate steps to minimize the damage.
Lithium Mining. The dominant producers of the raw
material for battery-grade lithium are Chile, Australia, and
China, which collectively account for 85% of production.
Two primary extraction processes are involved—evapora-
tion from vast lake beds that contain high levels of lithium
salts (Chile and China/Tibet), and conventional hard-rock
mining (Australia and China). The raw material is pro-
cessed on site into relatively low concentrations of lithium
carbonate or lithium hydroxide. These are later refined to
high concentration and purity, mostly in China, for use in
battery manufacturing.
Although lithium is not particularly abundant in the
Earth’s crust, the “Lithium Triangle” between Chile, Argen-
tina, and Bolivia holds vast reserves, especially Bolivia—
more than sufficient to meet anticipated demand, even with
the currently predicted massive expansion of electric vehi-
cles and other applications requiring lithium-ion batteries.
As with any mining process, there are significant envi-
ronmental and societal impacts from lithium extraction.
The Lithium Triangle is one of the driest places on Earth,
but it takes 500,000 gal (1,892,706 l) of water to produce a
ton of lithium. Consequently, the water table is being
depleted at the expense of local farmers and others. To
extract lithium, chemicals are added to evaporation ponds,

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24 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
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ELECTRICAL: DC Systems

Two sides of the “magic” plates inside a Firefly battery. These negative plates are unlike anything found in other lead-acid (PbA)
batteries. Made of carbon foam, they render the batteries nearly immune to sulfation. The lead surface grid, left, connects the
plate to the battery’s busbars.

batteries that are not regularly fully
recharged suffer a loss of capacity and
fail prematurely from sulfation. Ideally,
the design for an effective marine
energy system using PbA batteries
must protect against sulfation without
requiring engine run hours beyond
normal propulsion runtimes. Within
the PbA world, the only battery more-
or-less immune to sulfation is the car-
bon-foam Firefly battery. If other PbA
batteries are used, solar power can
sometimes be configured as a cost-
effective mechanism to ward off sulfa-
tion (see below). Note that li-ion bat-
teries are immune to sulfation. Indeed,
their life expectancy is extended if they
are operated in a partial state of charge
(i.e., without being fully recharged).
The NMC and NCA chemistries will
suffer a significant loss of life if main-
tained for extended periods of time in a
full state of charge, such as when a boat
is dockside and plugged into shore

26 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
from which leakages, especially in China/Tibet, have
caused major fish kills and other harm. Not for the first
time, the search for “green” solutions and technologies in
developed countries can have a seriously negative impact
in developing nations.
Cobalt Mining. Lithium is not the most problematic
ingredient in lithium-ion batteries. Cobalt is.
Lithium-ion batteries are typically subdivided into cate-
gories based on the composition of the battery’s cathode
(positive terminal). The common types in marine applica-
tions are lithium nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), used in
most electric vehicles other than some Teslas, and most
widely in marine applications by Torqeedo; lithium nickel
cobalt aluminum (NCA), used in high-performance Teslas,
and now gaining a toehold in marine use; and lithium iron
phosphate (LFP), used by most marine battery manufactur-
ers other than Torqeedo, sometimes with additional NMC
and/or NCA offerings. Of these, all except LFP use cobalt in
the cathode. In fact, in many NMC batteries the weight
of the cobalt currently exceeds that of the lithium salts.
Well over 50% of cobalt comes from a single country, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with the next
four largest-producing countries (Russia, Cuba, Australia,
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and Canada) collectively accounting for 13% of supply.
Although a global hunt is on for other exploitable cobalt
sources, including in Canada, South America, Indonesia,
and Afghanistan, the situation is not likely to change sub-
stantially in the short term, because, as Anthony Milewski,
CEO of the mining company Cobalt 27, put it, “When the
world was formed, cobalt got put in the Congo” (www
.chemistryworld.com/news/battery-builders-get-the-
cobalt-blues/3008738.article). Supply limitations are com-
pounded by the fact that only about 10% of current cobalt
needs are met from recycling.
The DRC is a politically unstable country with numer-
ous armed rebel groups. The instability is complicated by
an increasing Chinese presence, especially in the mining
sector. The politics of mining are complicated.
Glencore (Katanga Mining), the largest single cobalt pro-
ducer in the DRC and the world, has numerous regulatory
and legal woes, including corruption and serious fraud
investigations in the United States, Canada, and the United
Kingdom. In November 2018 Glencore discovered levels of
radioactivity from uranium in its cobalt ore high enough to
prevent export. The ore is currently being stockpiled pend-
ing the construction of a decontamination facility. ▶
R
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 27
ELECTRICAL: DC Systems
NCM Chemistry Overview
Most problematic of all are human rights issues brought
into the limelight in 2016 by Amnesty International (www
.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr62/3183/2016/en/) and
subsequently given exposure by news organizations
including CBS, CNN, Fox, the Guardian, the BBC, and, in
the business world, Forbes.
Although much of the DRC’s cobalt production comes
from mines operated by international mining giants such as
Glencore and are theoretically regulated and with safety and
environmental issues addressed to a greater or lesser extent,
in practice, up to 25% comes from what are euphemistically
referred to as “artisanal” mines. This means hard physical
labor, including child labor, in atrocious conditions without
regard for health or safety, and with earnings that make it
little better than slave labor. Following the Amnesty report,
major cobalt users, including Apple and various car manu-
facturers, have nominally put mechanisms in place to
ensure that the cobalt they use in their batteries does not
come from these sources, but repeated journalistic investi-
gations have revealed that not much has changed.
Despite its vast mineral wealth, the DRC remains one of
the poorest countries in the world and continues a long
record of shocking exploitation of its own people from the
earliest days of its colonial occupation.
Reducing Cobalt Content. A huge amount of R&D has
gone into minimizing the amount of cobalt needed in the
chemistries currently using it in the cathode.
A cathode requires a crystal structure that remains stable
over hundreds and thousands of cycles as lithium ions move
out and in during discharge and charge. The structure must
also have the capacity to hold as many lithium ions as
28 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
BASF-ANL
possible—the more, the higher the energy density of the
battery (i.e., the stored energy for a given volume and
weight). In automotive applications, the battery must be
able to absorb energy at a high rate when braking, and to
deliver it back at a high rate when accelerating. Currently,
cobalt is essential to battery stability (life cycles), energy
density, the rate of charge and discharge, and safety (mini-
mizing oxygen generation at the cathode and the fire risk).
In general, the higher the cobalt content, the higher the
energy density. That is why batteries in smartphones,
which are not price sensitive, have high cobalt content. For
cost, supply, and political reasons, automotive companies
cannot afford this level of cobalt, but as cobalt content
reduces, battery cycle life diminishes, and fire risk
increases. Those are key considerations in the automotive
world, especially given the long battery warranties (com-
monly eight years), which represent a significant potential
liability for the vehicle manufacturer.
The formula for early NMC cathodes was one part
nickel, one part manganese, and one part cobalt. This is
known as NCM 111 (note the switch from NMC to NCM;
confusingly, these batteries are commonly called NMC, but
in the numbering system for the cathode composition, the
order of the letters and corresponding numbers is NCM).
Over time, battery manufacturers have been able to reduce
cobalt content and increase nickel content without a loss of
performance, progressing through NCM 523 to NCM 622
(six parts nickel, to two parts each of cobalt and manga-
nese). In 2018, we saw the introduction of NCM 811 (10%
cobalt, as opposed to one-third cobalt in NCM 111).
Regardless of cobalt reduction, the surge in battery
power. Specialized charging regimes are is not always the case with li-ion Localized engineroom temperatures
needed to prevent this. The LFP chemis- installations. can exceed 180°F (82.2°C). PbA and li-
try is significantly more robust but with • Temperature extremes. Ambient ion batteries can tolerate these tem-
a lower energy density (i.e., more vol- temperatures in boats can vary enor- perature extremes when in storage
ume and weight for a given capacity). mously—from a laid-up boat in north- mode, so long as PbA batteries are fully
• Minimum charge rates. Some ern states, with temperatures going as charged in extreme cold temperatures,
batteries—carbon-foam and to some low as –40°F (–40°C), to a closed-up but all will suffer a significant loss of life
extent the TPPL—can suffer a slow but boat in the tropics, with temperatures at higher temperatures. As a general
progressive loss of effective capacity if going well above 100°F (37.8°C). rule of thumb, for every 18°F (10°C)
repeatedly discharged to low states of
charge and then recharged at relatively
slow rates (e.g., below 0.3C). These
batteries like to be charged fast, with
minimum charge rates of 0.4C if
charging commences with the battery
in a low (less than 30%) SoC. In car-
bon-foam batteries this loss of capac-
ity from slow charging resembles sul-
fation; but unlike sulfation, the capac-
ity can be recovered with a normal full
charge cycle, beginning with a charge
rate of 0.4C or higher and then con-

photo: Luke Pearson

tinuing with a steadily declining CAR
until the battery is 100% charged.
• Peak discharge rates. Remember
the bow and stern thrusters? If PbA
batteries are hit by a short-term high-
rate discharge, so long as any fuses
and/or circuit breakers in the system
have a high enough amp rating to not
blow or be tripped, the only effect will
be a sagging voltage. The voltage on li-
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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 29
ELECTRICAL: DC Systems

demand for electric vehicles is certain to outpace any fur-
ther cobalt reduction in the cathodes, leading to increased
pressure on the volatile and potentially unreliable cobalt
supply chain, with the continuing exploitation of miners
in the DRC.
The LFP Option. Why not reduce cobalt dependency by
focusing on LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries, which
use no cobalt?
The principal reason is their energy density is somewhat
lower than that of NMC and NCA batteries, which trans-
lates into more volume and weight for a given capacity—
critical issues in applications such as electric vehicles,
smartphones, and tablets. Additionally, LFP batteries have
lower charge acceptance and discharge rates, which are
important in electric vehicle applications. Set against this,
LFP is a safer chemistry (in a thermal runaway condition,
it will not generate high enough temperatures to set the
battery on fire); it is more tolerant of abuse; and it has a
higher cycle life. In almost all recreational marine applica-
tions, other than those where weight and volume consid-
erations are absolutely critical, there is a case for LFP.
Recent advances in energy density have narrowed the gap
with NMC and NCA, although those chemistries are pre-
dicted to see significant advances in the near future, once
again widening the gap.
Next are questions of scale. Because the automotive
industry has, at least for now, settled on NMC and NCA
chemistries, huge factories with massive levels of invest-
ment (hundreds of billions of dollars) have been built, and
are being built, to meet the anticipated demand. This scal-
ing up in capacity is steadily reducing the kWh cost of
automotive batteries, with a goal of dropping it to $100/
kWh (for the car manufacturer). Utilizing this supply
chain has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of
lithium-ion batteries in the recreational marine world
from the current (retail) levels of between $1,000/kWh
and $2,000/kWh. Unless the same economies of scale are
developed for LFP batteries, they will continue to have a
significant cost disadvantage.
Recycling. In the lead-acid battery world, recycling is an
essential tool in manufacturing new cells. Unfortunately,
even if large numbers of lithium-ion batteries can be
concentrated in centralized locations, recycling them to
limit cobalt demand is nowhere near as straightforward

temperature rise above 77°F (25°C), • Cycle life. All PbA and li-ion bat- different factors at play in a given appli-
PbA life expectancy is cut in half. PbA teries have a discharge-recharge cycle cation to select batteries with an appro-
can also tolerate these kinds of tem- life that varies with depth of discharge, priate cycle life.
perature extremes in use, although temperature, and other factors. The
with a significant loss of performance cycle life of even the best PbA batteries Charge Controllers
at lower temperatures and loss of life at is typically significantly less than that of By now it should be clear that
higher temperatures. Li-ion is not as all li-ion batteries, while the cycle life of numerous variables must be balanced
tolerant. Most li-ion batteries cannot the NMC and NCA variants of li-ion is against each other in an optimized,
be used if the battery temperature is typically significantly less than that of reliable, and cost-effective marine
much below 32°F (0°C) and should LFP. In designing any DC-based energy energy system. The primary manage-
not be charged if the battery tempera- system, it’s important to understand the ment tool in this part of the equation
ture rises above 113°F (45°C), although
higher charging temperatures can
sometimes be traded for a reduction in
life expectancy. Any attempt to charge
li-ion with a battery temperature
above 140°F (60°C) is likely to push
internal cell temperatures uncomfort-
ably close to thresholds at which the
battery can start to get out of control.
(First, the SEI layer begins to break
down; temperatures rise, and then if
the separators don’t shut things down
and instead melt, the battery suffers
thermal runaway.) Note that the inter-
nal temperature of all batteries can be
significantly higher than the ambient
temperature because of heat generated
within the battery during normal The large bank of Lithionics lithium-ion batteries on a 57' (17.4m) catamaran allows
charge and discharge cycles. the owners to enjoy the comforts of home without needing a generator on board.

30 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
as it is with lead-acid batteries. The latter Cobalt Price
have limited construction variations, and 50
lead’s low melting point makes it easy and

Cobalt Price (USD/lb)

45
relatively efficient to extract the metal from
discarded batteries. Recycling lithium-ion 40

batteries is far more complex, requires much 35

higher energy input (it may take more energy
30
to reclaim metals than to mine and smelt
fresh ores), creates nonrecoverable waste, 25

and will become less and less attractive as the 20

cobalt content in cathodes is decreased.
15
According to the Electric Power Research
Institute: “The process is economic when a 10

ton of batteries contains up to 600 pounds of 5

recoverable cobalt that’s worth $40 a pound.
0
The instant you take the cobalt out of the Jan 4 Feb 28 Apr 24 Jun 17 Aug 11 Oct 5
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
equation, the process becomes hopelessly
uneconomic.”
There is even less incentive to recycle LFP Nickel Price
batteries than NMC and NCA batteries, 18
because of LFP batteries’ complete absence
Nickel Price (USD/lb)

16
of cobalt.
Even with significant quantities of recov- 14
erable cobalt, there are other problems. The
12
NMC and NCA chemistries are highly sus-
ceptible to iron contamination: a single 10
10-micron particle can ruin a cell. This
8
means a plant designed to make NMC or
NCA cells can make only that type of cell. 6
The same principle applies to recycling cen-
4
ters: they cannot afford the risk of cross con-
tamination. But how do you, for example, 2
guarantee the separation of LFP batteries, 0
which contain iron, from the recycling Jan 4 Apr 23 Aug 10 Nov 28 Mar 17
2008 2010 2012 2014 2017
stream? A related problem has arisen for
lead-acid recycling, because LFP batteries
often are designed to look like lead-acid Lead Price
ones. LFP batteries that inadvertently end 1.4
up in the lead-acid recycling process have 1.3
Lead Price (USD/lb)

exploded in the furnace, shutting down 1.2

facilities for some time and posing obvious 1.1
risks to operators. 1
The Global Battery Alliance. Prompted at 0.9
least in part by the Amnesty report in Sep- 0.8

tember 2017, the World Economic Forum 0.7

launched the Global Battery Alliance (GBA: 0.6

0.5
www.weforum.org/global-battery-alliance/
0.4
home), “a public-private coalition to catalyze,
0.3
accelerate, and scale up action towards an
0.2
inclusive, innovative and sustainable battery
INFOMINE.COM (ALL)

0.1
value chain.” It reported: “The battery value 0
chain is currently linked at its most funda- Jan 4 Feb 28 Apr 24 Jun 17 Aug 11 Oct 5
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
mental levels to issues such as child labour,

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 31
ELECTRICAL: DC Systems
water and air pollution, dangerous working conditions, and
challenges concerning life-cycle sustainability.”
The GBA noted that the lithium-ion battery supply
chain, unlike the lead battery business, is highly frag-
mented, and “the battery value chain is a complex system
that comprises participants from various industries and
sectors and spans the entire globe. A global movement
toward an inclusive, innovative and sustainable battery
value chain via the proposed alliance will go hand-in-hand
with specific in-country and cross-country action, cata-
lysed by the alliance.” A press release stated: “The Global
Battery Alliance aims to safeguard workers, ban child
labour, eradicate pollution, promote re-use and recycling
and unlock innovation for green energy storage.” These are
ambitious goals, which have been supported, at least on
paper, by a wide range of companies and NGOs. It remains
to be seen if the GBA will have any practical effect.
What We Can Do. As in so many other sectors, in recre-
ational marine applications lithium-ion batteries have enor-
mous potential to dramatically improve the energy equation
and to support emerging green technologies. They really are
a game changer. I have lithium-ion batteries on my own boat
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as part of a radical remake of the energy systems.
In the recreational marine world we are installing ever-
increasing numbers of lithium-ion batteries, with battery
packs at times comparable in size and capacity to those in
the automotive industry. While we are finding we cannot
do without them, we need to recognize that these batteries
come with their own baggage and dark side. Economic
necessity and the need for a stable cobalt supply are at least
in part driving reform efforts in the cobalt mining indus-
try, but unfortunately there are currently no such incen-
tives for the recycling side.
Compared to the automotive sector, the recreational
marine industry is too small, fragmented, and economi-
cally irrelevant to significantly change the big picture. But
as initiatives emerge to remove abuses from the supply
chain, notably in the DRC and the Lithium Triangle, and
to extend the reach of recycling, we should encourage
and support them. We are unlikely to ever get close to the
extremely high levels of lead-acid-battery recycling in
industrialized nations, but we can at least promote mea-
sures that do a better job than is currently standard.
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is the charge controller for any alterna-
tors, battery chargers, and other charg-
ing devices in the system, aided and
abetted by various voltage and current
(amps) sensors and systems monitors.
The most basic controllers respond
solely to the output voltage of a charg-
ing device, measured at the charging
device. A step up in sophistication
comes with voltage measurement at
the batteries being charged. More-
sophisticated controllers incorporate
amp measurements into control algo-
rithms. Many include temperature
sensing at battery banks and some-
times alternators. The most sophisti-
cated alternator controllers incorpo-
rate various engine data—rpm, load,
temperature, and fuel consumption.
The more powerful an alternator-
based energy system, and the faster bat-
teries are being charged, the more
important it is to have a sophisticated
charge controller that responds to
multiple voltage, current, temperature
sensors, and engine data. Some are
now capable of developing a generic
engine-power curve, a propeller-power-
absorption curve, and a fuel-efficiency
map, and then managing the loads cre-
ated by the alternator to achieve an
optimum balance of electrical energy
output and fuel efficiency. (A com-
pletely different control strategy is
applied if the engine is not in gear.)
An alternator-based energy system
cannot be optimized without appropri-
ate controllers that incorporate algo-
rithms matched to the application and
duty cycle. These systems also include a
sophisticated systems monitor that tracks
battery state-of-charge and numerous
other performance parameters.
Solar, Wind, and Water
Generators
Regardless of how well an energy
system is optimized, any time a
fossil-fueled engine is run solely to
generate electrical energy on a boat,
the real cost per kWh of this energy is
extraordinarily high (see PBB No.
148). In this context, pretty much any
source of non-fossil-fuel energy is a
good investment. The primary alter-
native sources available to boat owners
are solar power, wind power, water
generators, and, on sailboats under
sail, regenerative energy from a free-
wheeling propeller.
Solar power is an especially recom-
mended option for a boat that cruises
away from shore power for any length
of time. Key features that should be
looked for in a solar panel are effi-
ciency (to optimize the amount of
energy delivered from a given surface
area), rugged construction suitable for
the marine environment, and bypass
diodes if the rated output is above 50
watts to 60 watts—to prevent hot spots
and cell burning in the event of
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 33
ELECTRICAL: DC Systems

shading and panel damage (see
“Advances in Onboard Solar,” PBB
No. 182).
In PbA systems, the inclusion of solar
power generally results in batteries being
maintained at a higher average state of
charge, which significantly extends bat­
tery life. It may also be possible to con­
figure the photovoltaic system to pro­
vide the low­level charge rate necessary
to periodically achieve the 100% state of
charge that is frequently necessary to
hold sulfation at bay, once again extend­
ing battery life. Battery­replacement­
cost savings are an often overlooked
benefit from any solar installation.
Remarkably Powerful
Systems
I put together my first substantial
DC­based energy system almost 40
years ago, built around a high­output
alternator, an early version of a multi­
step charge controller, and a large bank
of wet­cell PbA batteries. It met our
modest electrical needs at the time, but
only with long hours of chronically
inefficient low­load engine runtime
and batteries that died prematurely.
We have the same basic compo­
nents on our current boat, but what a
dramatic change in capabilities. This
past summer, with our latest­genera­
tion DC­based energy system cou­
pled to lithium­ion batteries, we not
only enjoyed the comforts of home
but did so for the first time without
constantly obsessing over battery
state of charge, which has been an
undercurrent to our cruising for the
past four decades.
With today’s technology, and care­
ful design and installation, it really is
possible to deliver superb DC­based
energy systems, but of course they do
not come cheap. Whether the cus­
tomer is willing to pay for them is
another story.
About the Author: A contributing editor
of Professional BoatBuilder, Nigel Cal-
der is the author of Boatowner’s Mech­
anical and Electrical Manual and other
marine titles (including, earlier in his
career, Marine Diesel Engines), and is a
member of the American Boat & Yacht
Council’s Electrical Project Committee.
Resources
Energy calculators, paper:
newcontent.westmarine.com/con
tent/documents/pdfs/WestAdvi
sor/Elecbugt.pdf
Energy calculators, digital:
bruceschwab.com/oceanplanet­
energy­calculator/
(In full disclosure, I recently
joined OceanPlanet Energy, a rec­
reational marine energy systems
company, as a partner. —N.C.)

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34 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
 IBEX DESIGN
CHALLENGE

Float Like a Butterfly:

A Yacht for 2050
The winning entry from IBEX’s 2019 Design Challenge looks to
a future of scant leisure time, responsible resource consumption,
and increased systems connectivity.

COURTESY ANTOINE BEAULIEU

by Aaron Porter

C lose your eyes and think back…

way back. It’s November 1989; the
Berlin Wall has just fallen; George
H.W. Bush is the still-new U.S. presi-
dent; Miami Vice is just wrapping up a
long network run; and in boatbuilding
Holby Marine’s Clearwater 35 head-
lines as Sailing World’s boat of the
year; the Hustler 32 is Powerboat Mag-
azine’s offshore favorite; computers
appear in some design offices and only
the most advanced onboard appli-
cations; vacuum-bagging is a construc-
tion concept still getting traction; tin
antifouling has just been banned;
there’s no hint of the crippling luxury
tax that will knock us down in 1991;
and you are likely to be reading the first
issue of Professional BoatBuilder.
Now open your eyes, look around,
and honestly tally the defining ele-
ments of our current world that you
would have predicted in 1989. If you’re
like me, you can count them on one
hand. Geopolitics and entertainment
aside, few of us would have foreseen
the success of sailing foilers, the
refinement of batteries and electric
propulsion, the material properties of
many advanced composite structures,
the renaissance of fiber rigging,
3D-printing, thermoplastics, the pop-
ularity of wave-piercing hullforms,
the advent of wireless controls, net-
worked onboard systems, distributed
power, etc. Now you understand the
true challenge IBEX (International
BoatBuilders’ Exhibition and Confer-
ence) organizers posed to young
(under 30) designers last year when
they asked for the best concept boats
for the model year 2050.

Above—Antoine Beaulieu’s Butterfly 46 (14m), a performance sloop intended for gracious day-sailing with a crowd and cruising for
a couple, was the winner of IBEX’s 2019 competition for young designers asked to imagine a concept boat for 2050.

36 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
 From the published challenge: “As Brazil; and a 46' (14m) cruising sloop with Fletcher’s purely electric-powered
they conceive of and develop their from Antoine Beaulieu, an indepen- boat having the most at stake in that
designs, participants are urged to dent yacht designer and 2019 graduate development.
think pragmatically and creatively of the design program at The Landing Advancements in 3D printing and
about the future of our industry: In School (Arundel, Maine). automated fiber placement were essen-
2050 who will be buying recreational Following a series of lively presen- tial to the Butterfly and the Brazilian
boats and why? What fuels or propul- tations and discussions with the team’s y50 skiff. Both boats included
sion options will be most favored? judges—Marnix Hoekstra (Vripack), printed core structures that were
What construction materials and Rob Kaidy (SeaVee Boats), Vlad skinned using computerized fiber
techniques will be cost-effective and Murnikov (mxDesign)—the winning placement and infusion. Fletcher’s
accessible? What size boats will be boat selected was Beaulieu’s innova- proposal applied 3D printing to create
practical and popular? What yet-to- tive Butterfly 46. But before we go into the molds.
be developed or refined technologies detail about it, let’s survey some of the Fletcher and the Brazilian team pro-
will have disrupted or redefined boat- points the finalists had in common as posed some elements of semi-autono-
ing as we know it?” they looked 30 years into the future of mous operation in their respective
They were asked to provide: our industry. designs. The former suggested the
As requested, all the designers of boat might even be self-delivering to
• Study plans for a successful boat the three finalists had engaged in rea- another port where the owner wanted
of 2050 (production or custom built) soned speculation as to what materi- to meet it, while the latter’s small skiff
with lines or 3D model/rendering als and technologies might have included a clever automated docking
• Interior layout and systems advanced in ways that could redefine system that would take the guesswork
• Description of construction tech- some aspects of boatbuilding. For out of getting a boat on and off a trailer
nology and materials instance, they all assumed improve- at a boat ramp, especially useful for a
• Performance predictions ments to battery capacity and efficiency, solo operator. On his Butterfly 46,
• A narrative description of the
boat’s intended use profile, perfor-
mance, defining materials and tech-
nologies, and build methods. This
should include predictions of how rec-
reational boat use will evolve in 30
years, as well as likely developments in
design technology, build materials,
COURTESY NICHOLAS FLETCHER

onboard systems, propulsion options,

control systems for boat operations,
and regulations builders and owners
will be subject to.

From the pool of original submis-

sions, organizers selected three final- Above—Nicholas
ists to present their designs to judges Fletcher’s 50'
and audience at the Tampa Conven- (15.2m) electric-
tion Center on October 2 during IBEX powered cruiser
2019. They included a 50' (15.2m) and, left, a
electric power cruiser designed by spartan but high-
tech skiff by a
Nicholas Fletcher, a young engineer at
student design
Bertram Yachts; a 9.8' (3m) electric- team at
powered skiff from Gabriela Campos Universidade
de Lima, Joaquim dos Santos Neto, Federal do Rio
Juliana Ramos Fernandes, Rodrigo de Janeiro, Brazil,
COURTESY UFRJ

Magalhães de Castro, and Rodrigo Gol were the com-

Sylvestre, a team of students at Univer- petition’s other
sidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, two finalists.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 37
IBEX DESIGN CHALLENGE

Beaulieu proposed an “interactive specified that regulatory requirements The Butterfly 46

hologram information display” that
included an active interface with the
boat’s operating systems, monitoring
devices, and navigation technology, all
accessible through one 3D hologram
at the helm station.
Looking at likely market changes, the
very modest and simple y50 skiff was
predicated on a possible future where
high population densities and resource
scarcity meant middle-class boating
was limited to a vessel that could be
stored in a home garage and easily
transported with the family car. One
judge commented, “I think that the
future of boating will need more think-
ing like this, to make less-expensive
boats that are simple and inexpensive
to manufacture, own, and operate.”
The other two designs assumed the
consumer market and price points for
recreational boats would change very
little from today, though Beaulieu
for end-of-life disassembly and recy-
cling would drive some materials and
build-quality decisions to maximize
useful operating life and allow for
refits and disassembly. He also noted
that time constraints on boat owners
of 2050 would make day-sailing a
practical reality for many—sadly a
future not far removed from current
use patterns.
Overall, organizers and judges were
pleased with the quality of the finalists’
proposals, which included 3D-CAD
surface modeling and performance
calculations. It was also important
that, while engaged in the very per-
sonal process of predicting possible
futures, none of the designers strayed
into “magical thinking” about fantasti-
cal advances that would generate end-
less cheap green power, or allow for
self-repairing biotech hull structures
grown in an incubator.
For the panel of judges, choosing
the Butterfly 46 as the winning sub-
mission was as much a process of
embracing the designer’s vision of the
boatbuilding trade in 2050 as it was
assessing the specifics of the proposed
boat. It was the consistency of vision
and the boat designed to fit it that res-
onated with them.
Beaulieu wrote, “People are nowa-
days living at a fast pace, and I don’t
think it will change in 30 years from
now. The attraction of the sea, the escape
it can offer, will attract more people into
day yachting. It brings me to envision
boat owners more reluctant to share
their cocoon with others at night…. I
envision that the new generation of
buyers will return to sailing and to
green boating in general. That is why
my design is a sailboat, but with ease
of use in mind. I wanted to offer a plat-
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38 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
 FAR LEFT, DIETER LOIBNER; LEFT, COURTESY ANTOINE BEAULIEU
Beaulieu defends his design before
the judges at IBEX 2019. The Butterfly
46’s fold-down topsides presented
some structural challenges in the
afterdeck. Here, the necessarily
robust composite longitudinals are clearly visible, as are the ample accommodations under the raised deck forward.

the motor side of the market to transi-
tion into sailing, without being disori-
ented, thus the uncluttered deck and
general aspect of the yacht.”
The folding hull elements that can
expand deck and living space close to
the water when the boat is at rest, is an
extrapolation of current trends in pow-
erboat design. Similarly his inclusion of
hologram controls and a focus on a
single large master cabin take their cues
from joystick controls and large single-
berth cabins in powerboats of 2019.
“His foundational idea that power-
boat owners might slow down in the
future and look for more organic boats
fits a trend that many see beginning to
form,” one judge wrote.

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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 39
IBEX DESIGN CHALLENGE

know the environmental footprint of

Butterfly 46 Particulars production, driving the use of RTM or
LOA w/sprit 52.0' (15.85m) silicone vacuum bags and 3D-printed
LWL 46.6' (14.2m) elements.
Beam (max) 14.8' (4.51m) Beaulieu: “It is like if all the coring of
BF
46 Draft 9.6' (2.93m) the hull, its stringers, bulkheads, trans-
Displacement 24,802 lbs (11,250 kg)
verses, etc., would be printed as one,
Ballast 9,610 lbs (4,359 kg)
Total sail area 1,395 sq ft (129.6m2)
and then a robot would wrap fibers
Electric sail drive 15 kW DC around them. No more molds required.”
Generator 20 kW DC In addition, he identifies the envi-
CAN 007
Battery bank 30.4 kWh @ 48V ronmental costs of short-lived boats
(even recyclable ones) and intention-
ally designed the Butterfly’s structure
to be independent of interior layout,
which makes refitting accommodation
spaces easier, thus extending the ves-
sel’s likely useful life.
Criticisms from the judges included
the double companionways that take
up a lot more space than a single pas-
sageway would. But they accommo-
date the central location of the spartan
galley unit and leave it open with good
ventilation to the main cockpit. There
were questions about the structural
adequacy of the aft sections of the hull
that would be deprived of the stiffen-
ing influence of the fold-down top-
sides. Beaulieu said that his calcula-
tions indicated that with no fixed
backstay to the transom (the rig relies
on shrouds on swept-back spreaders),
the hull structure would be sound.
One judge commented, “We felt
DWL

COURTESY ANTOINE BEAULIEU

that the design could have incorpo-
rated a rig with some more visionary
The Butterfly 46’s hull and deck are unconventional—with a large, open deck aft
replacing a cockpit—and twin companionways. Conversely, the rig and appendages
elements, like a soft wing, and possibly
are decidedly traditional. Judges wondered: Why not a soft wing sail or a swing keel? a folding or swinging keel.”
All the judges were impressed with
Beaulieu’s hybrid vision of a sundeck-
The design is predicated in part on photovoltaic panels in sails or painted style cockpit with a sunpad lounger.
the assumption that emissions stan- on the hull could generate the electric- One wrote, “This visionary use of exte-
dards and aesthetic preferences will ity required for all onboard systems. rior space expresses his notion of com-
have pushed fossil fuels out of the His approach to structural compos- forting powerboat owners in their
mainstream by 2050. And based on the ites for the hull starts with a pragmatic transition into sailing with powerboat
current rate of power storage and acceptance that “natural fiber” com- features. I think this is a trend we will
management technology development, posites might not be the way to go, see more and more.”
embracing electric auxiliary propulsion especially if their development dis- In the end, that concept of a sailboat
with the highest-capacity batteries places other agricultural capacity like that might appeal to powerboaters
possible to power all onboard sys- food production. Instead, he suggests prevailed. Keep an eye out for our
tems seems a good gamble. Beaulieu weight reduction through the applica- follow-up coverage in PBB No. 361 in
very responsibly included space for a tion of carbon composites and use of October/November 2050.
modest generator in his design but recyclable thermoplastic resin that
writes that he’s hopeful hydrogenation allow for the reuse of resin and fiber. About the Author: Aaron Porter is the
while sailing coupled with notional He predicts clients will demand to editor of Professional BoatBuilder.

40 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
 COMPOSITES
SOLUTIONS

A Cleaner, Faster
Infusion Shop
Dinghy builder Fulcrum Speedworks reduces
consumables by as much as 90% by switching to
infusion under reusable silicone bags.
Text and photographs
by Aaron Porter I t’s not news to boatbuilders and own-
ers that plastic waste in the oceans
has reached critical levels. According
prevalence of plastic waste in pelagic
seabirds, oceanic fish, and marine
mammals has led to significant changes
to the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, in public behavior and policy ashore.
about 8 million metric tons of plastic While coastal cleanup efforts and local
trash end up there every year. It’s only waste-disposal reforms are now com-
within the past five years that steady mon, it’s clear to many that reducing
reporting on the vast accumulations of plastic waste at its many sources is an
garbage in remote ocean gyres and the essential next step.

42 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
Facing page—The hull and deck parts
of a 10.5' (3.2m) UFO sailing foiler at
Fulcrum Speedworks are shrouded by
custom-made reusable silicone vacuum
bags during infusion of the dry laminates
with vinylester resin. Made from dis-
carded prototype masts, gantries support
the web of feed and vacuum lines to
infuse the complex shapes; they also
serve as an overhead hoist to lift the
heavy bags off the finished parts after
the resin has cured.
Like many self-aware coastal munic-
ipalities in New England, the town of
Bristol, Rhode Island, adopted a local
ordinance banning single-use plastic
bags in April, 2018. It’s no surprise.
Bristol owes a lot to the ocean. Ship-
building became a mainstay of the local
economy starting in the 1600s, and
since the Herreshoff Manufacturing
Company opened in the 1870s, the
town has arguably been the creative
center of innovative yacht design and
building in North America. Cutting-
edge shops like Goetz Composites,
FastForward Composites (see Profes-
sional BoatBuilder No. 181), and the
New York Yacht Club’s American Magic
team are building fast and innovative
custom sailboats in Bristol today. In
addition, production builders, subcon-
tractors, and specialized marine com-
ponents shops in the area are still thriv-
ing, but like most composites manufac-
turing endeavors, they all produce a
significant volume of nonorganic waste
in jagged trimmed laminates, solid
cured resin, infusion transport
medium, peel ply, and sheets of plastic
vacuum-bag material.
It was the dumpster loads of spent
consumables leaving his Bristol shop
every month that got the attention of
Dave Clark at Fulcrum Speedworks,
where a crew of six builds an average
of three finished 10.5' (3.2m) UFO
sailing foilers per week (see “The Peo-
ple’s Foiler,” PBB No. 166). For each
boat, he said, “we’re talking about
$240 worth of process material and
mountains and mountains of garbage.”
That waste of money and material was
part of what drove him to successfully
impose his own personal vacuum-bag
ban in the summer of 2019.
“I can’t harp on the garbage enough,”
he said. “Basically 90% of our dumpster
load was disposable laminate. I was sick
of buying vacuum bags. I was sick of
buying sticky tape, flow media, and peel
ply; sick of spraying really expensive
copolymerizing spray glue into my lam-
inate in order to get flow media to stick.”
But there was more spurring his
waste-reduction efforts than the
expense side of his production spread-
sheet. As a boatbuilder, “you’re pro-
viding something that is, while dura-
ble, ultimately ephemeral, so there’s a
moral consequence to that. I insist on
looking at it,” he said. “It was like ‘The
Picture of Dorian Gray’—for every UFO
that goes to a customer, a similarly
sized and priced garbage-shadow of a
UFO goes straight into the dumpster.”
That shadow is the environmental cost
Clark and his team have dramatically
reduced, primarily by switching their
infusion production process to include
reusable silicone vacuum bags. Sounds
simple; it’s not.
Dave Clark, who heads
the production team at the
Bristol, Rhode Island,
company directs the tightly
choreographed infusion.
Infusion at 253 Franklin St.
I visited the shop in Bristol last July
to see the new system in action about
a month after they had made the tran-
sition to silicone.
Infusion is one of the more dramatic
processes in modern boatbuilding;
more like a theatrical or musical per-
formance than a science experiment
where only a couple of variables can
change. Any shoot is a high-stakes
investment in labor and materials—a
choreographed and somewhat vulner-
able process that depends on the coor-
dination of multiple variables as cata-
lyzed resin is pulled by a vacuum
pump into a stack of dry laminates in
a complex mold. Plastic vacuum bags
can leak; the resin flow can fail to wet
all the laminate; resin can start to gel
before the shoot is complete; profile
elements can suffer from bridging
under the flow medium; etc. The
inherent risks of the process make it
engaging to watch.
Infusions at Fulcrum take place in
the morning, so the two molds—hull
and deck—were fully loaded with gel-
coat and laminate stack the day before
and were ready to go when I arrived.
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 43
COMPOSITES: Silicone Vacuum Bags

Experienced composites the timeline for the entire shoot Ful-

“Globally, the laminate is 10-oz
glass, 2mm Soric, 10-oz glass, and
that’s it,” Clark said. “In the beams, we
increase thickness of core with a 1mm
layer of core mat and reinforcements
of carbon fiber, 300-g unidirectional
carbon. In the deck there’s a
double layer of glass where
you sit.” An added complex-
ity for the infusion is a thick
mast pocket of 55-oz/sq-yd
(1,851-g/m2) triaxial.
But that was all shrouded
under the blue-hued sili-
cone bag and a profusion of
vacuum tubes descending
from a gantry-mounted
manifold suspended above
each mold. I noted the
technicians Mario Neves
(foreground) and Tony Diogo
coordinate opening and
closing the feed lines (with
Vise-Grips) that supply
catalyzed resin to the parts.
absence of the ubiquitous
tacky tape that pervades a
conventional plastic-bag
infusion. In its place, an
army of customized Vise-
Grips fix the bag’s perimeter
in an airtight seal to the
generously proportioned
mold flanges. By Clark’s
count, including those that
control feed lines, the pro-
cess requires “about $1,000
in Vise-Grips.” But they don’t
end up in the trash after
every shoot. Similarly, there’s
no disposable spiral tube vis-
ible under the bag, only 13 longitudi-
nal channels that appear as milky
white stripes with vacuum tubes
emerging from them.
The bags and feed lines had been
drop-tested beforehand, and to start
crum’s resident mixologist, Tony Diogo,
catalyzed 23 lbs (10.4 kg) of custom-
promoted resin in each of two 5-gal
pails. Epovia RF-1001 is a vinylester
that perfectly bonds to gelcoat, and
according to Clark, it was a formula-
tion driven by infusion of the C&C 30
One Design at Pearson Composites.
“It’s mechanically virtually identical to
WEST 105/205,” Clark said. But unlike
the epoxy, it starts to gel in 30 minutes,
so time is of the essence.
Diogo and composites technician
Mario Neves submerged the feed lines
into the first 5-gal pail in the narrow
passage between the two molds, ori-
ented transom to transom. Clark
clicked the stopwatch on his phone
and called for line one. Diogo and
Neves sprung open the Vise-Grips on
the appropriate feed lines and adjusted
vacuum valves on the two parts. The
silicone channels running down the
center of both molds filled with dark
resin that bled steadily into the sur-
rounding laminate. All three men cir-
cled the parts, monitoring the flow
and resin fronts.
“These runners are crushed down to
the floor. The resin flow into it has to

Diogo is the master of the

composite chemistry at Ful-
crum, promoting each barrel
of resin when it arrives, and
measuring the catalyst for
each infusion. About 23 lbs
(10.4 kg) of vinylester is
drawn from 5-gal pails during
each simultaneous infusion
of a deck and hull part.

44 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER

relieve it and allow it to fill up. As it
fills, you’ll see it start to flow sideways,”
Clark observed. “The next thing you
have to do is shut it down and drag the
bag back down.” That’s accom-
plished by shutting off the feed
line and delaying opening the next
in sequence until the first silicone
runner is collapsed by pressure
from the advancing resin front.
The sequence continued with all
three men constantly in motion,
talking, updating the condition of
the infusion in both parts simul-
taneously. Clark gave a running
commentary of details: Line 3 is
challenging, as it has to fill the
beam structure, and line 5 “always
gets a resin-rich area on the inside
chine.” Then line 6 has to drive the
resin up the side of the hull. “It’s
climbing right up. It’s going like a
gunshot,” he announced, warning
that things were moving faster
than anticipated.
Meantime, as soon as he was
sure no more resin would be
required from it, Diogo had slit
each clamped feed line, allowing
excess resin to drain back into the
During infusion the crew moni-
tors the resin fronts and runner
geometry, verbally communi-
cates progress, and constantly
adjusts feed lines and the valves
mounted on the gantry above
that control the vacuum lines.
bucket to be used. Infusion
was complete in about 21
minutes, and the vacuum was
set to hold for the next couple
of hours as the resin cured.
“People ask, ‘Do you really
need that many feed lines?
Can’t you just have a center
feed and wait?’ Well no,
because our resin system is
going to go off in no time, and
you’d overbulk at the center,”
Clark said. It would also
require that full layer of flow
medium that he has elimi-
nated from the build. He
explained that by limiting flow to what
can pass through the Soric core, the
multiple feed lines must act like paint
brushes. “You dip the brush into the
bucket and paint the next area, dip,
paint the next area, dip . . .” It also pro-
vides infinitely more versatility to pre-
cisely deliver more resin or vacuum to
a specific area if something is not
going right.
The first 253 UFOs were conven-
tionally infused using yards of peel ply,
black shade cloth flow media, rope
around the perimeter for the suction
manifold, spiral tube, eight rolls of
tacky tape, and a full plastic vacuum
bag. Aside from all that waste, an addi-
tional 12 lbs (5.4 kg) of resin that satu-
rated the material was thrown away
with each build.
Clark said while building those first
boats, the team had made some small
advances or “chip shots” to improve
efficiency and clean up the process, a
number of them with silicone. He
showed me how he’d made reusable
silicone masking jackets on the foil
molds when spraying gelcoat. “Saves
about three rolls of tape a week, but
more importantly the time putting it
down,” he said.
He’d also created some innovative
silicone tooling to efficiently produce
fiberglass stiffener plates, bonded with
Plexus inside the hull in way of the
beam. “We were wasting a ton of time
cleaning the [conventional] mold and
getting it rewaxed. So we made a fiber-
glass backer on a silicone mold with
silicone compressing plates that go
Early silicone solutions to shop problems
include the masking jackets, left, on the
foil molds, and tooling for structural
stiffener plates that connect the beam
to the outside of each hull, above.
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 45
COMPOSITES: Silicone Vacuum Bags
Clark and Diogo clean up the freshly cured deck part after pulling the silicone bag.
The dark stick shapes are wands of cured resin that remained in runners that did not
fully collapse after their feed line was shut off.
inside, and the whole thing just
squishes,” he said. Cleaning the sili-
cone mold is as simple as banging it on
the bench and blowing out any detri-
tus from the last part. It has been used
200 times without failure.
Clark is proud that Fulcrum hasn’t
used disposable spiral tube in its infu-
sions since hull #40. Instead, the crew
has been developing and refining the
collapsible silicone runners that are
built into the new bags. They started as
square-sectioned, three-sided silicone
channels that were inserted under the
vacuum bag as a replacement for spiral
tube. Clark said as the design devel-
oped, it became clear that the collaps-
ible channels could pull right down
flush with the infused surface, saving
resin and reducing the need for post-
cure grinding. When integrated into
46 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
the full silicone bags, it also helped
reduce the need for peel ply over much
of the part surface. “The standard of
compaction underneath the runner is
the same as for anywhere else under
the bag,” Clark said. “Our campaign
now is to get rid of as much peel ply as
possible.” In the shoot I watched, it
was only in a few areas where there
would be secondary bonding, where
the feed entered, and in places where
bag release would be difficult.
Interruptions and
Refinements
Fulcrum’s sophisticated technical
advancements have been significantly
driven by the young company’s fluid
circumstances and business challenges.
Despite being blessed with an
intriguing design, a clear vision, and
the significant industry wisdom of
Dave’s father, Steve Clark, who ran
dinghy builder Vanguard from 1985 to
2007, the company still launched into
a nightmare.
Fulcrum started building boats as a
client at USWatercraft (see “On Hal-
lowed Ground,” PBB No. 147) in April,
2017, just about the time that com-
pany financially collapsed. By August,
Clark had taken over payroll and sup-
plying materials for the UFO builds
and was working with the USWater-
craft receiver to keep a roof over the
project in increasingly tenuous cir-
cumstances. The good part of that
experience, he said, was securing his
core crew of experienced composite
boatbuilders from those being laid off
from USWatercraft. The bad part was
not having control of a secure shop
and reliable material supply as the
crew worked to make the refinements
to production he knew would be nec-
essary for the UFO model to become a
viable business.
“The collapse of USWatercraft did
a number on us because we were in a
really nascent state,” Clark said. “ The
second we went independent we were
fundamentally better off.” Through a
combination of good fortune and
good family he was able to lease the
5,000-sq-ft (464.5m2) shop Fulcrum
is in today when his cousins’ com-
pany, Moore Brothers, then combin-
ing with Jeff Kent’s Composite Solu-
tions Inc., secured the larger Franklin
St. facility that houses it. The shop
had been the composites training
program facility for IYRS (Interna-
tional Yacht Restoration School),
which the school was consolidating
to its campus in Newport. So, after
building 40 boats at USWatercraft,
the Fulcrum team walked into its own
space already optimized for compos-
ites production.
In practical terms, this was when
the company became a company. The
facility is not huge given the volume
of work and materials it houses, but
Clark takes pride in the efficiencies the
team has harnessed to make it work as
a production shop.
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COMPOSITES: Silicone Vacuum Bags

Clockwise from above—The rigging

bench simplifies cutting the lines,
with built-in jigs for length and
samples of the rope for each
application. Mobility of jigs allows
for flexible and efficient use of the
shop’s limited floor space. Clark lifts
the hardware-installation jig that
has two positions to facilitate work
on top of and underneath the
finished deck and on the hulls.
Kitted hardware and components
streamline work throughout the shop.

“A lot of the stuff we need to stock is
pretty small,” Clark said. For instance,
they get the aluminum foil struts 150
at a time from Vitex Extrusion in New
Hampshire and store them on shelves
on the mezzanine. Similarly, they get
50 boats’ worth of carbon/glass boom
sprits at a time. The masts are off-the-
shelf 40%-carbon 15' (4.6m) wind-
surfer poles sourced from a manufac-
turer in China that mass-produces
them and has been a reliable supplier.
Also up on the mezzanine is a min-
imalist rigging bench with a fixed hot
cutter for rope and a handful of turn-
ing hooks set for specific line lengths
that allow the operator to double the
rope back toward the source, some-
times making multiple turns, to make
the cut, thereby requiring only a short
bench to measure and cut long lines.
Back on the shop floor, Clark dem-
onstrated how the jigs for fitting mast
and boom include kitted hardware and
attached hand and power tools to
accomplish each task, and it all stores
entirely out of the way when not in
use. Also, a CNC-cut plywood jig for
fitting hardware to the hull includes
containers of the necessary hardware,
power drills and drivers fitted with
each necessary bit, and allows the boat
to roll up 90° to a stable secondary
position to fit components on the
underside.
Other specialized jigs on the shop
floor are for installing internal foam
and bonding the hull and deck parts.
In addition, there’s space for the mini-
mal finishing required, mostly fixing
any gelcoat flaws after demolding,
applying gelcoat to the exposed edge

48 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 49
COMPOSITES: Silicone Vacuum Bags

Above—Jigs include designated tools, each attached to a retracting tether

and fitted with the cutter or bit to perform a specific task. Right—The job
of gelcoat touch-up and buffing has a dedicated jig and station.

of the simple hull-to-deck joint, and
buffing reworked areas. All this is sim-
plified by the fact that white is the only
color on a UFO.
In explaining the unique racks that
store multiple finished boats standing
upright on their bows, Clark recalled
how an accumulation of 16 hulls
awaiting shipment to the United
Kingdom drove him to create a cus-
tom CNC-cut solution. Not only do
the hulls take up less space in upright
storage, they can also be accessed indi-
vidually without disturbing boats
stacked on top. “Our boats don’t look
like any other boat, so why would our
inventory management look like any-
body else’s?”
Management of composite materi-
als is minimal: a couple of racks and
an adjacent cutting table at the back
of the shop for laminate materials, and
the barrel of resin that’s in current use.
Clark credited supplier Composites
One, which has a warehouse in Bristol,
for Fulcrum’s ability to reliably have
just-in-time delivery of composite

Left—Custom CNC-cut racks efficiently and accessibly store the finished

hulls with their sterns in the air and bows down. Below—Diogo works
the laminate cutting table with a modest inventory of composite material
on a rack behind him. Just-in-time delivery from Composites One
makes this efficiency possible.

50 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
V i s irt
ou
N E sW
it e
We b
COMPOSITES: Silicone Vacuum Bags

materials, the single most expensive

element of the boats. “We get a barrel
of resin every two weeks, a roll of glass
every week, and a roll of core every
week and a half.” While the resin is
used by only one other builder that
he knows of, Clark said Composites
One knows he will be buying it regu-
larly, so they can talk to the manufac-
turer in Texas to assure that the supply
is steady without requiring Fulcrum to
buy 10 barrels at a go and store them
in nonexistent shop space.
One element that seems out of scale
on the shop floor is a 5,500-lb (2,495-
kg) 2001-vintage Motion Master
3-axis CNC machine in its own dust-
controlled booth. The bulletproof old The large and venerable 2001-vintage Motion Master CNC machine gives the shop capacity
machine was state of the art when it to fix many production problems on-site. Here, it is cutting rig components.
was manufactured, but is affordable
and still superreliable now. “I acquired
the CNC machine kicking and scream- there are too many jobs for the sector tooling.” The machine’s weight and
ing,” Clark said. “But we couldn’t get right now. I had to become a machinist powerful 9-hp spindle mean that it can
anyone else to do work for us because in order to supply the shop with easily cut synthetics or aluminum.

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52 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
Left—A UFO’s lifting foils are built around a core of molded expanding foam.
Stainless steel hardware that attaches the foil to the vertical aluminum
extrusion is buried in the part by six plies of 300-g carbon fiber, the three plies
of 10-oz fiberglass laminate, and one of CSM that cover the full core.
Below—Michael Cassata places the laminates in the two-part foil mold that will
be cured in a press.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 53
COMPOSITES: Silicone Vacuum Bags
While the CNC might not always be
in motion, Clark said its value is in its
capacity to reliably meet demand and
help solve problems in-house, as well
as do some contract work for other
builders. “If you have everything
maxed out all the time making stuff
you don’t necessarily need, you are
actually trapped,” he explained.
Like an attentive physician, Clark
monitors the vitals of his small com-
pany. He recalled that for the first cou-
ple of years it was push-feeding, with
each area producing at maximum
capacity and pushing components
down the line. “That means the out-
puts get out of whack with each other,”
he said. “We were good at building
hulls but not booms and masts; the foil
press was hugely efficient.”
But with limited space to store inven-
tory, the mismatch was leading to a
logistics problem. He switched the pro-
duction model to a pull feed, where
Winning the Race!
54 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
actual demand for a part or component
would trigger its production. In the
transition period last spring, he real-
ized they had enough hull and deck
parts stockpiled to shut down the infu-
sion line for about two months without
breaking stride. “I had an opportunity
we’d made by accident,” he said, an
opportunity to take more than a chip
shot at cleaning up UFO infusion. It
was time to try some changes he’d been
planning for two years.
The Silicone Transition
Reusable silicone bags for infusion
have been at least a theoretical solu-
tion for upward of two decades, but
their success has been largely confined
to small parts. “It has been in demo
mode for 20 years,” Clark said. He
recalled that his father had success-
fully used silicone bags on the Van-
guard 15' (4.6m) production starting
around 2000. And Pearson built
Cost Effective
Panel Products for
the Marine Industry
tin-cured silicone bags for infusion of
its larger Alerion in the 1990s, when
the technology was in its infancy.
While Clark wasn’t there, Diogo was.
“Tony has been to this party before,
and it didn’t go well,” Clark said. “In a
production environment, those tools
did not last, and the guys operating the
tools got blamed.” Diogo’s skepticism
about silicone was a good foil to Clark’s
enthusiasm as they planned the changes
at Fulcrum last summer. “They’re
expensive and they rip,” Diogo warned
Clark. “I know. I ripped them.”
Looking at the technology Pearson
had used was instructive. The bags had
been embossed to imitate flow media,
which gave them a coarse profile, mul-
tiplying the surface area considerably
and requiring peel ply to release. Even
then, they tore repeatedly in service,
Diogo recalled. Clark set out to make
a different bag that would release eas-
ily and, by incorporating the runner
The Most
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 During the infusion, Clark points to the
advancing resin front and a pleat in
the bag caused by swelling of the
silicone after the bag was built.
pebbly layer, which the full crew, plus
Steve Clark, was called on to manually
work into as even a layer as possible
using squeegees and foam brushes.
(Clark warns against using the latter,
as they absorb a lot of silicone that gets
thrown away.) He said the crew
worked the surface in waves as the
material started to coagulate in about
20 minutes, and then they’d move to a
newly sprayed section. Material can be
successfully added to the bag surface
in an 8-hour window. It’s necessary to
eliminate uneven surfaces, as they are
stress risers that will make the finished
bags more vulnerable to tearing. Clark
said the narrow bow sections espe-
cially were a chore. The crew had to
keep circling with squeegees and more
silicone for a full day to get them right.
In the end, they applied about $10,000
of silicone to finish the two bags.
Clark explained that in making the
silicone bags they included some mesh
around the perimeter and in way of
the resin channels. He stressed that
these are not really tensile reinforce-
ment but rather silicone traps. “You’re
actually just creating thickness in that
area,” he explained.

design he’d been perfecting, eliminate

the need for flow medium and most
peel ply. Adding to the experience
already on the team, he turned to Jeff
Reber at Composites One and his
friend Rob Brooks, then at North
Shore Composites, for advice.
The collective wisdom pointed to
platinum-cure silicone as the best,
most durable material for the bag. And
some testing with attachments for
hoisting loops revealed that linen fiber
was most compatible with the silicone.
Clark likens it to the attachment of ten-
don through flesh; it adds tensile
strength and is less likely than other
materials to pull out when the gantry is
lifting the 160-lb (72.6-kg) bag.
Next, the molds for the hull and
deck parts were buffed to 2000 grit and
faired in some areas to minimize
bridging and to let the bag release well.
“I then carved the runner profiles, the
air perimeter profiles, and the vacuum
perimeter profiles on the CNC
machine. Then installed them and had
to fair in the interface,” Clark said.
When they were ready to apply the
silicone, Reber loaned him the spray
gun and gave him a tutorial on its use.
Their goal was to make the bags in one
shot—no secondary bonds or heat Top—Visible through the largely unreinforced translucent material, linen fibers
guns involved. effectively reinforce the lifting points for the heavy silicone bag while minimizing the
“Awful!” was Clark’s description of risk of tearing out. Above—Mesh seen in the perimeter plumbing and in way of
his experience spraying silicone. He the longitudinal resin channels allows for the thicker application of silicone needed
said the gun laid it down in an almost in those areas.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 55
COMPOSITES: Silicone Vacuum Bags

As awkward and inelegant as the

silicone bag build seemed to the Ful-
crum crew, it was their first time spray-
ing the material, and Clark conceded
that it will be far easier next time they
do it. (He hopes that won’t be necessary
for another 300 boats, or two years at
current production rates.) His chief
disappointment with the material was
revealed after the bags were in service.
He noted that the silicone manufactur-
ers were not forthcoming about the
tendency for silicone to expand or bloat
as it takes on styrene. “Our bag is now
stable, but we have a big pleat down the
center,” Clark said. As a result, the care-
ful fitting they did to limit bridging in
some areas has been for naught. The clean inner surface of the cured deck part clearly shows the carbon laminates
in the beam structures and the even compaction across the full laminate expanse.
Conclusions
By the time of my visit, the Fulcrum to Clark, that’s “two hours after lami- Leave it on too long, and you risk
crew had fully adjusted to using the nation, and if time is accelerated on more bloating and possible tearing.
silicone bags. “They have to be pulled account of heat, you pull it off in an But the upsides to production are sub-
when it’s hot,” said Diogo. According hour and a half.” stantial. “One guy can make a hull a

56 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER

day with this system,” Clark said, as
long as there’s someone else kitting the
laminates. He added that if he needed
A skilled solo technician can
build a boat in a single day
using the new bags and
process protocols at Fulcrum.
to maximize production,
they could turn out six a
week with the silicone bags.
With the old system, that
would have required invest-
ing in another full set of
tooling and likely a larger
space to operate in. Clark
said by his calculations he’s
bought a 40% increase in
production capacity without
buying new molds. And
that’s before he even thinks
about the dumpsters he’s not
filling every week.
One of the trade-offs is that the
shop-floor jobs are less forgiving, and
the skills required of his crew are
higher. But he welcomes the change in
materials and mindset.
“The fact that the engineering task
has got more sophisticated is exactly
right,” he said. “We’d rather express
skill, use technique, and affirm capac-
ity to do things right, rather than
throw cash at materials.”
About the Author: Aaron Porter is the
editor of Professional BoatBuilder.
Resources
Composites One: composites
one.com
Epovia RF-1001: www.polynt
.com/en
Fulcrum Speedworks: fulcrum
speedworks.com
Lantor Soric: lantor.com
Vectorply: vectorply.com
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 57
 DESIGN
BRIEF
A Cat for All Seasons
Scott Jutson’s diverse design portfolio covers a range of boats
for different purposes. Some of this experience informed a
40' (12.2m) aluminum fishing cat for a Canadian client.
by Dieter Loibner
Above—Designed for offshore fishing
and fast cruising, Cabo Charlie
features asymmetrical hulls with two
steps to minimize wetted surface area.
Build material is 5083 aluminum.
58 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
“G ood sailboat designers are
almost always good powerboat
designers,” a veteran of the trade once
told me. While this statement is not
scientifically vetted, it describes Scott
Jutson (see also Rovings, Professional
BoatBuilder No. 151, page 12), the
designer of Cabo Charlie, a fast alumi-
num sportfish catamaran with stepped
asymmetrical hulls and quadruple
350-hp Mercury Verado outboards. The
boat was commissioned by Andrew
Purdey, 54, a self-described “semi-
retired industrialist” from Mill Bay,
British Columbia, who uses the vessel
for multi-day fishing trips with friends
and family. It’s the second cat Purdey
COURTESY COASTAL CREATIVE/JAY WALLACE
asked Jutson to design and Titan Boats
in Sidney, British Columbia, to build
for him.
Cabo Charlie was one of several proj-
ects in the Pacific Northwest for Jutson,
who originally hails from Texas but has
been living and working in Vancouver
for a decade and a half now. Early in his
career, he was crew on large racing
yachts, and graduated from the yacht
design program at The Landing School
in Maine. That was in 1985, and much
has happened since then. Life’s circum-
stances (sailing and marriage) brought
him to Sydney, Australia, where he did
all the design work on the 75' (23 m)
Brindabella, the first IMS Maxi racing
 In the mid-1990s, Scott Jutson
yacht ever, and still one of the win-
designed True Blue, the Open
ningest boats Down Under. He also 50 racer that won Class 2 in
designed True Blue, the Open 50 the 1994/95 BOC Challenge
(15.2m) that won Class 2 of the with Australian David Adams at
1994/95 BOC Challenge, setting a new the helm.
course record. For budgetary reasons,
True Blue was built in Kevlar com-
posite with a cedar core. After exten- intends to keep CC “in the
sive research and velocity prediction equatorial belt.”) After listen-
calculations, Jutson eschewed the ing to Purdey’s catalog of
COURTESY SCOTT JUTSON

extremely beamy hullform that’s com- requirements, Jutson opted for

mon on such boats, going instead with
a slimmer, trimmer hull that traded
some reaching and downwind perfor-
mance for better all-around sailing
capabilities.
From Ferries to Fishing Cats
Influenced by the fast-ferry market
in Australia, which embraced power
catamarans as the best, most economi-
cal and practical platform for trans-
porting people, and by the increasingly
difficult market for large racing yachts,
Jutson turned his attention to power
catamarans. First, they were for com-
mercial applications that included pilot
and ocean research vessels, and later
also privately owned recreational boats.
“Cabo Charlie’s design follows our
first boat for the same client, Charlie
Cat, which was a 35' [10.7m] cold-
water sportfishing catamaran,” Jutson
explained. “This boat was based on the
west coast of Vancouver Island with a
focus on the rough and remote nature
of that coast. Cabo Charlie, as the name
suggests, has a different life, with a
focus on warm-water tuna fishing off
the west coast of Mexico. She still
spends summers in Canada, so tough-
ness remained a part of the [design]
brief.” (Purdey subsequently said he
asymmetrical, double-stepped
(step height is 6"/152.4mm)
hulls with a 22° deadrise.
“This is our preferred hull-
form for 40-knots-plus during off-
shore use, because it provides maxi-
mum efficiency and optimal ride qual-
ity,” he added.
While steps minimize wetted sur-
face, and shock-mitigating seats
soften the ride in rough water, Cabo
Charlie also has a galley and a cuddy
cabin. The boat’s fishing amenities
were designed by Purdey with the
help of Florida fishing celebrity and
magazine editor Elliott Stark, Jutson
said. “We knew where everything had
to go and only needed the systems

Built to Lloyd’s standards, the cat’s transverse

framing creates stiffness and supports the
loads on the hulls’ 5⁄16"-thick [8mm]
panels. The hull steps are 6"
[152.4mm] high, and
deadrise is 22°.

COURTESY JUTSON MARINE DESIGN

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 59
 DESIGN BRIEF: Aluminum Fishing Catamaran

To maximize available thickness is 5⁄16" [8mm] on the hull

space, numerous storage bottom and 3⁄16" [4.8mm] on deck.”
compartments are
hidden under the side Betting on Aluminum
decks, here to port of I asked Jutson about some of the fun-
the center console.
damentals of this design, i.e., why he
decided against a foil-assisted configu-
police, or SAR agen- ration as seen on Hysucats. “To me, a
COURTESY COASTAL CREATIVE/JAY WALLACE

cies. Often such boats stepped hull is preferable for a wider

(like an 8-kW genset) and the weight
to make allowances for that. We put in
placeholders that worked well. There
were no surprises.”
Speed and comfort are prized attri-
butes in all boats but especially in
high-speed craft for military, customs,
are built by Titan Boats,
a shop in Sidney on
Vancouver Island that
specializes in high-end
RIBS. “We now have
built two Jutson-
designed boats for
high-end recreational
use,” said John Stanners, Titan Boats’
CEO, who found out about Jutson
through online research. “Her hull was
designed for 50+ knots and built to
Lloyd’s standards from marine-grade
5083 aluminum with transverse fram-
ing to support panel loading. Panel
speed range,” he said. “The steps inject
air under the hull, effectively reducing
vessel displacement, so you can lock in
trim. Foiling boats ride on the tip of the
front foil and the transom, which
means loading the boat would also
change trim. Operating across multiple
speed ranges, you’d have to have adjust-
able foils like ailerons on airplanes.”
Jutson, as a former racing sailor,
comes from a world where lightweight
composite materials dominate, so I
was curious how he feels about build-
ing pleasure craft in aluminum. “It
makes the boat heavier than an

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60 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
 COURTESY JAY WALLACE
Left—Cabo Charlie is the second Jutson-designed
catamaran Titan Boats built for this client. For high
COURTESY TITAN BOATS

impact resistance and overall toughness, aluminum

was chosen for the entire boat. Above—Forgoing com-
posite superstructures was a conscious decision to
minimize complexity and cost in this one-off.

optimized composite structure, but it
allows for a much higher degree of
impact resistance and generic tough-
ness, which is critical for the areas of
operation for this boat,” he said.
“Besides, a boat that does 50 knots also
needs consideration for vertical accel-
eration. That increases the scantling
weight, so the construction becomes
more impact resistant as well.”
He was somewhat skeptical about
using composite superstructures on a
custom build, which he thought would
have added a level of complexity that
few, if any, North American aluminum
builders are accustomed to handle. “A
mix of composite and aluminum didn’t
fit this project, but if Cabo Charlie was

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DESIGN BRIEF: Aluminum Fishing Catamaran

COURTESY JUTSON MARINE DESIGN

To keep Cabo Charlie’s design simple, Jutson opted for a stepped hull that does not need foil assist. The layout focuses on game
fishing and easy access to storage/onboard systems and amenities like tuna tubes and livewells.

a production [boat] line, I’d be con- Outboards Rule

sidering it. In this case, we did not Cabo Charlie Particulars Cabo Charlie’s four 350-hp Mer-
break new ground on construction. LOA 38.1' (11.6m) cury Verados produce a top speed in
It’s no different from commercial Beam 11.48' (3.49m) the mid- to high 50s, while a rea-
vessels; 5083 is the highest-grade Power 4 x 350-hp Mercury Verado sonable cruising speed is 35 knots,
aluminum available. There’s a small Speed 58 kts (WOT), 35 kts (cruise) giving her a range of approximately
cost premium, but it is worth it. It is Fuel at cruise 50 gal/hr (189 l/hr) 300 nautical miles. “Outboards are
rolled out in flat-plate form for Weight 16,200 lbs/7,348 kg (dry) resurgent,” Jutson commented. “Now
CNC cutting and has some limita- 21,200 lbs/19,616 kg there are 48-passenger ferries with
(departure)
tions, like a confined bend radius, quad outboards.” He attributes this
Builder Titan Boats,
which has to be considered during Sidney, British Columbia, popularity to several advantages.
design.” He added, “Bend radius is Canada “First, upfront cost is lower, up to
the main area where builders strug- Designer Jutson Marine Design, 50% in some cases, maybe more,
gle with 5083, as it lacks the ductil- Vancouver, Canada which means a lower investment and
ity of softer alloys like 5052, thus a quicker return on that, which is
ruling out knife-edge bends. In important for startup companies.
practice, we account for this in the commercial vessel’s safety DNA that Second, you can easily upgrade instead
design, so the issue never makes it to comes to bear with three watertight of being locked into one inboard sys-
the floor. The first thing the builder compartments per hull, and construc- tem for the service life of the boat.
sees is the CNC-cut metal, and it is tion that’s compliant to Lloyd’s Register Third, they also leave more space. On
fully marked up, ready for assembly.” Special Service Craft standards, which Cabo Charlie, the aft camber is rising,
As a pleasure craft, Cabo Charlie would find acceptance by the U.S. and that means it gets tight in there,
is not classed but has much of a Coast Guard and Transport Canada. Continues on page 66

62 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
 Andrew Purdey, on His Boat
P rofessional BoatBuilder: What makes this boat special?
Andrew Purdey: I am a big fan of how we built it, by
engaging area knowledge with a plan for prevailing conditions
and integrating sportfishing conveniences. We did a lot of
theoretical modeling that worked out well in practice. The
boat is dry, travels and reacts as expected, and the fishing fea-
tures are better than planned. It’s a 40' [12.2m] boat that can
comfortably hold eight to 12 people without bumping into
COURTESY COASTAL CREATIVE/JAY WALLACE

each other, then it gets you to where you want to be in comfort

Owner Andrew Purdey specified an open layout and ample
deck for guests and gear while fishing off the coast of British
Columbia in the summer and Baja California in the winter.
and stability.
PBB: What kind of boating do you do?
A.P.: I boat mostly on the west coast of Canada and now
also in Baja, Mexico, for adventure fishing and exploring. In
the summer of 2018 we circumnavigated the Queen Charlotte
Islands and Vancouver Island with Cabo Charlie for sea trial,
along with nine albacore tuna expeditions out of our marinas
in Tofino and Port Renfrew, B.C. Each tuna expedition took
us to the continental shelf anywhere from 80 to 110 nautical
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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 63
DESIGN BRIEF: Aluminum Fishing Catamaran

PBB: How many days per month do you use the boat?
A.P.: In the summer I live mainly in Port Renfrew and am
on the water 20 days a month. Last winter was my first in
Baja, and I was out about 10 days a month.
PBB: What other boats did you have before?
A.P.: I’ve had a 24' and 29' [7.3m and 8.8m] Striper mono-
hull, and then designed with the team [Jutson, Titan Boats—
Ed.] the Charlie Cat in 2015, a 35' [10.7m] West Coast fish-
ing cat that has been through the wildest weather off Cape
Flattery, searching for tuna and salmon.
PBB: How did your experience with that boat inform the
design of Cabo Charlie?
A.P.: Charlie Cat is a great boat that gave me great memo-
ries and allowed me to share every adventure imaginable in
safety and comfort. I’ve had my wife and daughter 80 miles
[129km] offshore whalewatching, and 18 buddies on an
inter-island cruise around Nootka Island. It’s built like a
Panzer. We took [what we learned] from Charlie Cat’s con-
struction and operation and perfected ride and perfor-
mance. On Cabo Charlie we switched heaters and the closed
cabin for air conditioners, dehumidifiers, and open-air
operation, and big sportfishing maneuverability. We can
handle large marlins with the walk-around space, can host
eight anglers comfortably while maintaining 40-plus-knot
cruising speeds.
PBB: Why aluminum?
A.P.: I am focused on safety, worked my life to enjoy the last
25 years. Materials, construction, and design were chosen for
safety and redundancy. The design/build team took my wishes
and incorporated all the safety systems needed to survive
impacts of up to 22 knots and reasonable sea states. Nothing
I do is mission critical, so I manage the weather. However, we
have been in large seas and in steep waves of 6 meters [19.7']
that were driven by an ebb tide, and still remained dry.
PBB: Besides fishing, what are some other intended uses?
A.P.: I plan to explore Baja and all islands within my safe
range. As fishing varies during the seasons, I plan to fish every
derby and explore from Magdalena Bay to Loreto. We can
comfortably live on board for three days with lots of room to
sleep and move around, with large ice chests, a fridge, and
cooktop. Fuel is the constraint. With the 300-gal [1,135.6-l]
bladder I extend my total capacity to 1,000 gal [3,785.4 l].
PBB: What specific fishing amenities did you add to the
boat?
A.P.: Elliot Stark was instrumental in setting up the game-
fishing creature comforts and requirements. His stable of

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64 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
COURTESY COASTAL CREATIVE/JAY WALLACE (BOTH)

PBB: How does the cat’s perfor-

Above—One of two, this 66-gal (250-l)
livewell is at the stern.
Right—The driver and two passengers
have shock-absorbing seats.
experts in Florida assisted our Canadian team (with only
salmon fishing experience in cold weather), with function-
ality for offshore sportfishing: two livewells, four tuna tubes,
and rod holders with fighting chair locations, as required.
The low-level doors and walk-around spaces let you move
around the boat at the end of an intense fight. All require-
ments have been met, and we’ve landed some big marlin in
our first few days in Baja.
mance compare to conventional
bluewater sportfish boats?
A.P.: I can’t compare, as I’ve never
owned one, but at the Cabo tuna
shoot I had the speed for the holeshot,
and [even] in the 50-knot-range the
vessel is very dry. It’s a very stable and
open walking platform. Some folks
who have conventional monohulls
say it’s like two boats in one.
PBB: Explain your choice of
builder and designer.
A.P.: I did my research because I
wanted a safe, reliable boat to enjoy
the West Coast. I tested many builders, and from my activities
in Australia and Alaska I landed on a cat. If the Kiwi [Ameri-
ca’s Cup] sailing team had a cat to move them around, I
thought it must be what I needed. Then I found the best
designer and builder, and frankly, I would never look any-
where else. It was tested on the water and always returned
safely. My friends and family have always had a great time. It’s
like a fast dance floor you can fish from. —Dieter Loibner

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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 65
 DESIGN BRIEF: Aluminum Fishing Catamaran
Continues from page 62
Jutson says Cabo Charlie’s four 350-hp
Mercury Verado outboards offer advan-
tages over inboard engines: lower cost,
easier repower, more space for systems,
and greater safety.

resurfaces in the design of other craft

like a fast fishing catamaran.
COURTESY COASTAL CREATIVE/JAY WALLACE

About the Author: Dieter Loibner is an

editor-at-large of Professional Boat-
Builder.

with no room for engine boxes. Water
intakes, manifolds, plumbing, etc., a
lot of stuff related to bait wells went
in there. I’d go inboard above 50'
[15.2m] of LOA.” Lastly, there is the
safety aspect. “Outboards pop up when
they hit something,” Jutson said.
It’s but one example of how his
experience as a former racing sailor—
who knows about the damage a high-
speed collision with a UFO (unknown
floating object) can do to a boat—
Resources
Elliott Stark: starkfishllc.com
Mercury Verado: mercury
marine.com/en/ca/engines/
outboard/verado
Scott Jutson: jutson.ca/blog;
powercatamaran.ca
Titan Boats: titanboats.com

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66 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
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Brooklin, Maine 04616 and repair

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Patty Hutchinson
$300/issue Classified Sales
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hutch@woodenboat.com
= $1,800/year 207–359–7726

68 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
 To place a Classified Ad, call 207–359–4651 or email classified@proboat.com
Deadline for the April/May 2020 issue: February 5
AvAilAble: WeST SiDe bOAT SHOP. A 45-year-
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“A tourist remains an outsider throughout
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—Anne Davison
DireCTOr Of SAleS & mArKeTinG. located in
Tarboro, north Carolina, World Cat builds cata-
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ommend to friends and family. We are seeking a
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key foundation. The job is fast-paced and results-
oriented. While there is urgency to goal achieve-
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sults needs to be shared and effectively delegat-
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style that can enliven, engage and positively im-
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The job has a variety of tasks and is dynamic and
changing. The core of this position requires a
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manage direct reports in sales, marketing, and
service. miSSiOn: build the most successful
outboard boat brand through highly motivated
dealers and innovative branding. QUAlifiCA-
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and the CAT ride. Competent training dealers
gain customer trust, present, sea trial, and over-
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Go online to place your
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advertising-information
SYSTemS enGineer. located in Tarboro, north
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TO APPlY: email resume to Judy Contreras,
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27886.
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 69
 MOLDS FOR SALE SEA FROST
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Directory of
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70 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
 Index to Advertisers
ABBRA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - www.abbra.org - - - - - - - - - - - 35
Accon Marine, Inc. - - - - - - - - - - - - www.acconmarine.com - - - - - - - 65
AIRMAR Technology Corp. - - - - - - www.airmar.com - - - - - - - - - - 57
Airtech International - - - - - - - - - - - www.airtechonline.com - - - - - - - 11
Alexseal Yacht Coatings - - - - - - - - www.alexseal.com - - - - - - - - - 29
Axalta Coating Systems - - - - - - - - www.axalta.us/marine - - - - - - - 47
Blue Guard Innovations - - - - - - - - www.bluebgi.com - - - - - - - - - - 34
Carling Technologies - - - - - - - - - - www.carlingtech.com - - - - - - - - 22
DIAB International AB - - - - - - - - - www.diabgroup.com - - - - - - - - -7
Epifanes North America - - - - - - - - www.epifanes.com - - - - - - - - - -6
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Ventilation Solutions - - - - - - - - - - www.ventilationsolutions.com - - - 51
Wallace Marine Services, Inc. - - - www.willyvac.com - - - - - - - - - - 60
Ward’s Marine Electric - - - - - - - - - www.wardsmarine.com - - - - - - - -1
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FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 71
 PARTING
SHOT
Is Compliance Enough?
compliant firetrap.” This quote
“A in the Los Angeles Times comes
from a respected marine surveyor
describing the Conception, the dive boat
that caught fire and sank in early Sep-
tember 2019 off the coast of Southern
California, killing 34 people, and con-
sidered the worst maritime disaster the
state has seen in more than 150 years.
The implication is that even though
the Conception was documented as
being in full regulatory compliance, in
reality the boat’s design and construc-
tion presented a high risk of danger in
the event of a fire. A relatively small
boat at less than 100 gross tons and with
fewer than 49 berths, the Conception fell
under the U.S. Coast Guard Small Pas-
senger Vessel regulations, which in gen-
eral require two means of escape from
accommodation spaces located as far
apart as reasonably possible.
What made this boat potentially so
dangerous? Factors cited by investiga-
tors and surveyors include the boat’s
wooden furnishings and hull (wood
covered with fiberglass), which pro-
vided ample fuel for a fierce fire. Addi-
tionally, the below-deck berthing area
consisted of 46 bunks arranged in rows
and columns fitting together so closely
that divers familiar with the boat
referred to it as a “cattle boat” configu-
ration, creating challenges for the rapid
escape of all occupants.
One of the biggest concerns cited by
experts was that the forward stairs and
aft hatch, which were the only ways out
of the lower bunk space, both led into
the same enclosed galley/mess above. If
this galley area was completely engulfed
in flames, as was reported, then neither
escape route would have been a viable
option. Also, one investigator was sur-
prised by how small and difficult to
access the escape hatch was, which
required climbing up a ladder and slid-
ing across one of the bunks.
The incident is still being investigated
72 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER
by Mike Telleria
by the National Transportation Safety
Board and others, and it could be
months until final reports are available
on what started the fire. The Coast
Guard issued a safety bulletin to opera-
tors of passenger vessels about a week
after the fire, with reminders to always
educate passengers about safety proto-
cols; to ensure that escape routes are
functional, labeled, and clear; and to
limit the unsupervised charging of lith-
ium-ion batteries and extensive use of
power strips and extension cords. This
last recommendation has supported
speculation that the Conception fire
could likely have been caused by a series
of electrical outlets in the galley/mess
area with too many electronic devices
plugged in for overnight charging.
As a builder of expedition yachts
headquartered in Southern California,
we were rattled on multiple levels by this
horrific loss of life at sea so close to
home. Initially it was grief and compas-
sion for the families and friends of those
lost, who obviously had a passion for
diving—shared by many of us and many
owners of our yachts.
Then came introspection. What
about our boats? Our escape routes?
Our fire-prevention systems? Our edu-
cational efforts? Even though as a recre-
ational builder we follow a different set
of construction standards than a builder
for a small commercial passenger vessel
like the Conception, surely a stringent
review of our designs and procedures
could only benefit our boat owners,
their loved ones and passengers, and
our company.
Newspaper headlines right after the
incident gave us some direction: “Lack
of escape routes in California boat fire
becomes focus as investigation intensi-
fies”; “California dive-boat fire high-
lights need for more than one exit from
sleeping quarters”; and “Some Concep-
tion passengers said they weren’t told
about emergency escape hatch.”
Clearly, escape routes were getting
serious attention, and we wanted to be
sure we knew the latest standards and
were ready to answer any questions cur-
rent or future owners might have. In
ABYC H3 and ISO 9094:2017, we dis-
covered a couple of areas that deserved
immediate action. One was for a deck
hatch planned for a brand-new model
in production that would have to be
designated as a second means of escape.
The planned hatch with flush fittings
would require a winch to open from the
outside, so the specification was changed
to a hatch that could be opened from the
inside and outside without any tools.
Another discovery was that some own-
ers might put a carpet over an interior-
deck escape hatch, or a dinghy or other
item over an exterior escape hatch.
Those areas would need to be addressed
in our owner education, manuals, and
escape route drawings.
Lastly, we held a training session to
keep all managers, engineers, technical
writers, and others up to date on escape
routes, especially because our semi-cus-
tom boats can change a lot from one
project to the next, often affecting
escape-route planning. In this session,
one challenging question kept coming
up: Is being “compliant” enough?
Certainly we have a solid procedure
to ensure compliance with ABYC, ISO,
and even ABS, MCA, and other entities.
But is it really enough if the boat is on
fire and someone needs to get out right
now? I think our answer is embedded in
the mandate that concluded our train-
ing session: all should voice their con-
cern at the highest level if they think our
efforts can be—or need to be—improved
for the safety of our boat owners, even if
those efforts go above and beyond what
is required for compliance.
About the Author: Mike Telleria is an
engineer and technical writer at Nord-
havn Yachts, in Dana Point, California.
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