Two Gunboat 80s are sold and in production, and these first photos reveal one of the unique characteristics of this project - full prepreg carbon fiber construction.
Two Gunboat 80s Break Ground
As with each series, the Gunboat 80 is optimized in its own right. Great attention is paid to employing materials and technologies that will make her exceptional – that are proportionate to her stature and the interests of her owners. Where structure is concerned, a rigorous evaluation of the 80's potential landed us squarely on prepreg construction, and we've enlisted the expertise of two high level racing boat builders - Fibre Mechanics and Groupe Carboman (Decision & Multiplast) - with the brief to build these Gunboat 80 components to a level of quality typically only associated with custom racing yachts.
The raceboat teams at Fibre Mechanics and Groupe Carboman have worked together for many years, collaborating on a number of high profile Volvo Ocean Race and IMOCA yachts as well as giant Ultim trimarans - delivering the highest quality and precision.
"At Fibre Mechanics, laminating techniques and oven cure processes have been developed side by side with the increasing ability of NDT specialists to ‘read’ a cured laminate. We have been working with the best Ultrasound experts in the business for many years, and as their accuracy improved we have been able to adjust the way we do things to eliminate the faults and flaws that used to be notoriously difficult to detect." - Geoff Stock
CNC-machined female tooling ensures accuracy, and machined-interface templates are used to double check the components for a perfect fit.
Hull #1 components by Fibre Mechanics will ship to Gunboat in France for construction.
Prepreg carbon fiber construction sets the 80 ahead highest quality and facilitating a remarkably efficient build time for yachts in her class (including custom). Gunboat is leveraging industry expertise and advanced technologies from 3rd parties for certain components, which we’ll integrate into the build at our factory in La Grande-Motte, France.
The 80 project brought about a new realm of possibility, in the obvious ways like pure sailing potential and expanded living space, but also behind the scenes. On the production side, 'building upon the success of the 68' is more than a nod to design characteristics. It references our success employing processes and quality control mechanisms to manage risk and deliver on promises - handing over custom Gunboat 80s that are truly exceptional.
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