DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION

Strong enough to withstand the swell of the English Channel!

Hull Design

Carl Douglas is a Chartered Engineer and takes hull design seriously. His skills in fluid mechanics, structures and materials science are used to the full in designing these unique, ultra-light racing shells. With computer-assisted hydrodynamic design, our racing boats are out-and-out racing machines.

We know no faster design. Our boats do less than any other boat to slow you down. They run true and stay dry. Their minimum-drag hull geometry knifes through water, smooth or rough, helped by our deep-Vee bow section.

Hull sizes
Each athlete/crew needs a hull to their own weight. Few boat builders offer genuinely different sizes. We offer a suite of hulls, from the same set of master lines but enlarged or reduced in all dimensions, each tailored exactly for best performance in its crew-weight bracket:
<60kg, 70kg, 78kg, 85kg, 92kg, 100kg, >125kg.
 

Construction

General principles
As a major element in our advanced technology composite construction we use wood, laminated with Kevlar under heat and pressure.

Wood evolved over 400 million years to withstand stress, fatigue and shock. It is strong, durable, stiff, light and amazingly mouldable. Our craftsmen have the know-how and skill to build in wood. Our varnished finish cannot hide mistakes. We combine it with the excellent man-made fibres of Kevlar and carbon with a particular precision. Every kind of fibre is used exactly where it gives best effect.

The shell
Hulls and decks marry the properties of wood and Kevlar, bound with epoxy resins, to give incredibly stiff boats with skins tough and springy enough to absorb huge impacts unharmed. And on the Custom you can choose the wood we use.

High-elasticity aircraft-graded spruce is used for all longitudinal members.

The shoulders
These carry all the stresses from the riggers, yet weigh only 400g in total. Shoulders are wood and carbon fibre, aligned and bonded in pressure dies. In other shells the shoulders are far softer than the riggers – just go round the boathouse trying them. Ours are incredibly strong and stiff.

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