Resin hull sails forth to create history

A team of 40 was needed to complete the resin infusion of Sensation Yachts' latest superyacht. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Building the hull of its latest 47m superyacht was a $400,000 gamble for Auckland boat builders Sensation Yachts.
And the weekend brought relief to the company with the successful completion of its second resin-infused hull.

The Henderson-based company is pioneering a process of vacuum infusing a gauze-moulded hull with resin.

Although the process has been used overseas before, this was the first time for a boat of this size.

General manager Graeme Duffy said it was a volumetric first.

The team of 40 were on edge as 2800 litres of resin were sucked into the mould, which is 6m at its highest point.

The process took just under an hour and it was dry 12 hours later.

Duffy said this, added to the month it took to build the mould, brought significant labour cost savings compared with traditional hull-building methods of layering up resin-soaked strips of gauze, which could take about a year.

Resin infusion also reduces the overall weight of the boat and allows for better quality control.

The boat is the second of five tri-deck superyachts Sensation Yachts has designed and is now building for a European customer. Each boat will sell for about $23 million.

Duffy said the anxiety levels during the infusion process on Friday were slightly tempered by the success of the hair-raising infusion of the first hull a few months ago.

Also breaking with tradition is the way the company is pre-building all the yacht's compartments, such as the engineroom, and then importing them into the vessel.

Until now, a 36m hull is believed to have been the largest built using resin infusion.

Duffy said that although the difference between a 36m hull and a 47m hull did not sound that big, the volume was actually much bigger.

"We've taken it to the next level," he said.

Demand was growing globally for composite or fibreglass boats. The company is expecting once this order has been successfully completed more jobs will come its way.

Managing director Ivan Erceg said: "We used to get an inquiry every month for steel and aluminium projects but, just lately, since we started to promote this composite line, we have been getting seven to 10 inquiries a week."

Erceg wants the company to become the world leader for resin infusion in boat building.

"As far as we're concerned, the potential for the composite superyacht has not yet been properly exploited," he said.

Sensation Yachts, which is now 20 years old, was bought by Erceg seven years ago.