CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/620463
JANUARY 2016 44 CompositesWorld FOCUS ON DESIGN World's largest center console with single-skin hull design Navy RHIB concept goes commercial in the new HydraSports Custom Sueños high-performance offshore fishing boat. » In business for 40 years, HydraSports Custom (Islamo- rada, FL, US) is a specialist in outboard-powered, center-console boat designs that provide useful "walk around" freedom on one level, with no bulky inboard engine. Although its popular 43-ft/13m model did well as the boating world recovered from the recession, center console enthusiasts made many requests to boatbuilders for more — more size, more creature comforts and more power. Alex Leva, president of HydraSports Custom, dreamed of producing the world's largest center console craft with four powerful outboard motors, capable of a 300-mile fshing trip, but equipped with stylish amenities as well. Fast team design Te design team had nine months to come up with the 53-ft/16.3m vessel's overall design, employing Dassault Systèmes Solid- Works (Waltham, MA, US) for CAD work, and Cosmos (part of SolidWorks) for fnite element analysis (FEA). Says Hydra-Sports Custom's director of engineering Kurt Bergstrom, "We imposed the tight timeframe because our competition was stif and we wanted to quickly bring a new product to market. Our goal was to design a new center console that minimized hull weight but allowed speeds in excess of 70 mph with multiple outboards." To take weight out of the hull, sole (deck) and transom, Berg- strom assembled a team that included Structural Composites' (Melbourne, FL, US) president Scott Lewit and co-founder Dr. Ronnal Reichard, a structural engineer and a professor at Florida Tech (Melbourne, FL, US) for hull and transom design, and Marine Concepts' (Cape Coral, FL, US) Sid Lanier for tooling design. Te team revisited a US Navy Advanced Combatant Craft Technology concept envisioned by Reichard for a rigid hull infatable boat (RHIB) years ago (see "Learn More," p. 47). "We knew Structural Compos- ites and their work on the Navy projects, and approached them," says Bergstrom. Rather than a thick sandwich design to resist fex loads, Reichard had used a thin uncored solid laminate hull, or "membrane," that transfers loads to low-section frames. Because the membrane design is not fexurally stif, it relies on in-plane tension strength and the multiple, closely spaced low-section frames to absorb loads. "Te combination of thin skin and low-section framing allows the laminate to transition from conventional bending to membrane tension, where it can support really large loads and absorb a lot of energy. Absorption of impact energy from wave slamming is achieved through linear elastic deformation of the Tech transfer: Military to luxury yachting The Sueños 53 (16.3m/53-ft long) luxury center console fshing boat from HydraSports Custom (fore- ground) is based on single-skin, uncored hull technology originally developed for the US Navy's small rigid-hull infatable boat (RHIB) combatant craft by Structural Composites. Both vessels are shown here. Source | HydraSports Custom By Sara Black / Technical Editor