Rovings

from Professional BoatBuilder magazine No. 145Compiled by Dan Spurr

Marc Phillips (ALL)

When Marc Phillips (inset) was asked by the owner of a Hines-Farley 63 (19.2m) to make it the longest and fastest Hines-Farley ever built, space was secured at the Jarrett Bay Boatworks in Beaufort, North Carolina, to extend the transom. The completely refitted, finished boat (above).

Hines-Farley Makeover

Professional BoatBuilder No. 54 featured an article about the engineering and construction of the first Hines-Farley 63 (19.2m) sportfisherman, reputed at the time (1998) to be the fastest of its size and type, and certainly one of the highest quality—favorably compared to the iconic Rybovich brand. Paul Lazarus, then PBB’s editor, wrote the introduction; naval architect Lou Codega described the design and engineering; and Mark Atkinson’s photo essay of the shop showed the luxurious vessel coming together, including Corian countertops and joinerwork of koa, teak, quilted mahogany, bubinga, and kawazinga.

On page 60 is a photo of two men in the engineroom working on the air-intake system for the twin 1,450-bph 16V-92 Detroit Diesel engines; one of them is Marc Phillips, described in the caption as a “jack-of-all-trades mechanical and electrical.” The Hines-Farley yard closed its doors in 2005 after eight builds, and Phillips went on to work for Hatteras Yachts (New Bern, North Carolina) and Impulse Yachts (Bridgeton, North Carolina) in construction management. In 2009, under the banner Phillips Project Management, he was commissioned to oversee the building of the 81′ (24m) sportfisherman Georgia Girl, which took two years. Then, by a quirk of fate, the current owner of that first Hines-Farley 63 found Phillips and commissioned him to do a major refit, including extending its length 3′ 1″ (0.9m). It makes a good story. First, some background.

The receiving cradle for aligning the transom extension, built at Jerrett Bay Boatworks.

Sonny Hines was once a commercial fisherman, but quit in 1969 to build the biggest, fastest sportfishermen, first on a clay bank near Rescue, Virginia. Physician Peter Farley commissioned a 47 (14.3m) and invested in the company. For naval architecture, Hines went to Donald L. Blount & Associates, where he met Blount employee Lou Codega, who soon after was on his own.

For the 63 Why?, weight control was key. The budget was 78,000 lbs (35,334 kg) full load, 60,000 lbs (27,180 kg) dry. Every item that went in was weighed; at launch she came in at 60,500 lbs (27,406 kg), and the center of gravity (CG) was within an inch (25mm) of design. Targeted top speed was 42.5 knots. After arduous prop trials, Codega says she made 43.5 knots.

Why? was built over a male jig. Cored with Airex PVC linear foam, with Kevlar in the laminate. Biaxial 0/90° and +/–45° in vinylester resin. Skins were 1/4″ (6mm) and the core was two sheets of 3/4″ (19mm) Airex glued together. Marine plywood was installed in way of the engineroom, and Divinycell foam was used in the deck, bulkheads, and furniture panels.

The 3′1″ (0.9m) transom extension was attached with a 20:1 taper. First, the inner skin was glassed with vinylester resin; the core was removed, and the outside of the inner skin was glassed. After the core was installed and the exterior skin tapered, adding the final layers of glass with epoxy ensured the strongest bond.

Phillips’s refit began in January 2012 with a call from Sonny Hines, who asked if he’d be willing to talk to the current owner, a Texan who said he wanted the longest, fastest Hines-Farley ever built.

Phillips wrote PBB, “I told the Texas gentleman [who’d renamed the boat J&B] to give me a week to research what had to be done to meet his needs and see if it was even feasible. Lots of players would have to come onboard Team J&B for this one to happen. I started with Lou Codega, one of the engineers who designed her running surfaces; Jarrett Bay Boatworks [Beaufort, North Carolina] since I needed a shed and crew; Gregory Poole Marine Power [Caterpillar dealer also in Beaufort], since I needed a high horsepower/low weight engine package with all the bells and whistles. Everybody said yes, they wanted to be part of something special.”

But first, Phillips wanted to see the boat, and it turned out to be 4,000 miles (6,437 kg) away in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. So he flew down and discovered the boat to be “as beautiful as ever,” but the mechanical systems tired “from eight years of doing battle with big Pacific marlin.” The J&B crew was asked to deliver the yacht back to the States. Prior to her arrival, Phillips was able to secure 30 days at the old Hines-Farley facility, where he and Sonny’s son, Melvin, built the transom extension to a laminate schedule specified by Codega.

When J&B arrived at the Jarrett Bay Boatworks yard in April 2012, she was stripped of her tower, riggers, and all exterior hardware. Then the lazarette, cockpit deck, engines, and other engineroom systems were removed. The entire bottom was stripped to bare fiberglass and refaired with epoxy products.

“After careful blocking of the hull,” Phillips said, “building a receiving cradle to align the new part, and establishing a solid centerline, it was time to cut. We came forward 1″ on either side of the hull and set the cut line with a laser level. Then we connected those two points below the waterline, and the rest was simple: cut it off!

“Within a few days the new part was scribed to a tolerance of ±1/16″ [1.6mm] to the original lines. We added back 3′2″ [1m] to ensure our customer had indeed the longest Hines-Farley. Stringers and longitudinal bulkheads where removed 2′ [0.6m] forward of the cut line so the new parts would overlap the original structure. Using vinylester resin on the interior and epoxy on the exterior, the new part was attached using a 20:1 taper to ensure a superior bond. The inner skin was glassed first, followed by new stringers and bulkheads. Once the inner glass work was complete we removed the core from both the original hull and the new transom section out 4″ [102mm] on each side and glassed the inner skin from the outside using one ply of 1708 and one of 2416 with vinylester. Next we installed Corecell back into the remaining void and gave the exterior skin a 20:1 taper and added the final layers of glass with epoxy for insurance, so the bond would be the strongest spot on the hull.

“Our next big task was to remove the original forward fuel tanks located under the crew stateroom, companionway, and master stateroom. After removing the furniture and decking, the old tanks were passed through the master bunk headboard. New decks were vacuum-bagged using two layers of 6mm [1/4″] okoume plywood and Corecell core in sandwich, as were all other decks and bulkheads that needed repair or additions. Where additions were made, we overlapped the okoume by 6″ [152mm] and glued and screwed the joints together followed by some innovative tabbing.

“Before the port tank went in, we tabbed-in the longitudinal bulkhead between the forward tanks, having applied a release agent on the bulkhead to make it removable, but creating a flange for epoxy glue after the tank went in; otherwise we had no access once that port tank was in. After installing the port tank, on the starboard side we glued the bulkhead to the flange and tabbed with two plies of 1708 0/45° unidirectional cloth and one of 2416 0/90°; then the starboard tank could go in. All tanks were fully supported by longitudinal stringers with 1/2″ [12mm] rubber under the inboard and outboard sides as well as under the baffle. Brackets were fabricated to hold the tanks in place and were also covered in the same rubber.”

The new 1,925-hp (1,444-kW) Cat C32 Acert diesels had to be mounted 18″ (46cm) aft of the originals in order to locate the center of gravity correctly. This required lengthening the beds by 30″ (76cm) and installing athwartship stringers. At this time the original Seakeeper gyro was removed, returned to the factory for inspection, and reinstalled.

Twin Disk 1.74:1 quick-shift two-speed transmissions with Cat 360 joystick controls were part of the propulsion package, as well as a GPLink monitoring system that allows remote monitoring of engine functions via the Internet.

The massive refit involved many other systems and parts of the boat, from new gensets to a new dinette (retaining the original table with inlaid sailfish design), an updated bridge console, galley countertops with Black Galaxy granite, and a complete Alexseal paint job of the trademark Hines-Farley Cream.

The project took not much more than a year. As of this writing, J&B is en route on her own bottom to the West Coast, where she will once again be chasing marlin. The owner is supremely happy, and Phillips is ready for another project, but what does one do for an encore? He said there’s no way one can call this job a refit—too big, too complex, too beautiful.

Any Takers?

Designers can’t help themselves. When business is slow, they keep drawing, trying to imagine what might attract a client. Sometimes this lull provides an opportunity to design the yacht they have always dreamed about for themselves. In the past few years we’ve received more than the usual number of press releases from naval architects and builders presenting plans that are ready to build. Computer rendering is so good nowadays that one must look closely for confirmation that the yacht is in fact not real but a very accurate depiction of what it could and will look like, if and when a customer plunks down some serious change.

Herewith are a few concept designs that have come across our desks in the past year.

Blohm + Voss Shipyards

From Blohm + Voss Shipyards (Hamburg, Germany), we have a 364′ (111m) motoryacht, inspired by the classic yachts of the 1930s. The press release says, “The expert team of Blohm + Voss is developing various pre-designed custom yachts allowing clients to profit from the Blohm + Voss experience in large yacht newbuild.” Period features include the bowsprit, raked funnels, classic “cruiser stern,” and “sideways arranged air intakes.” Modern design elements noted are the “bulbous bridge wings and the forward deck hoods.” And the helicopter platform. Twin 3,413-hp (2,560-kW) diesels deliver a 4,000 nm range at 15 knots. www.blohmvossyachts.com

Ivan Erdevicki Naval Architecture & Yacht Design (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) teamed with Icon Yachts (Harlingen, The Netherlands) to “complete the concept analysis and cost estimate” for a high-performance yacht tentatively called the ER175 (53m). The prospective builder was to make a 1m (39″) scale model to exhibit at the Monaco Yacht Show last September. If a client can be found, the semi-displacement boat would be built in aluminum, displace 292 tons, and have a 31-knot top speed. Alternatively, it could be configured as a displacement hullform with 12-knot cruise speed and transatlantic capability. The evil-looking bow profile seems to be a marriage of the ax bow and Tom Fexas’s “droop snoot.” www.ivanerdevicki.com

Ted Hood: 1927–2013

Dan Spurr

Ted Hood’s remarkable career included winning the America’s Cup, building one of the world’s largest sailmaking businesses, revolutionizing sail-handling systems, and building sail and motor yachts on several continents.

A seminal figure in yachting, Frederick “Ted” Hood, succumbed to pneumonia and heart disease in Middletown, Rhode Island, last June 28. He was 86, needing just a little over half of those years to establish himself as one of the most accomplished yachtsmen in American history. Consider these achievements: first sailmaker to weave his own cloth; skipper of the 1974 America’s Cup winner Courageous; designer of numerous distinguished boats; and a boatbuilder of high-quality sailboats and motoryachts.

Professional BoatBuilder’s first coverage of Hood was a profile by Paul Lazarus in No. 33 (February/March 1995). At that time, Hood Enterprises Inc. (HEI) had three distinct divisions: a repair/refit/marine boatyard in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, run by son Robert; custom yacht construction managed by Frederick; and yacht design overseen by chief designer Ted Fontaine (who in 2001 bought the design business from Hood). Third son Richard was chief operating officer of HEI.

New-boat construction included the Black Watch line of sportfishermen, Little Harbor cruising sailboats (built in several locations over the years, including Taiwan), and some projects for the U.S. Navy.

Hood was raised in Marblehead, Massachusetts. His father, Ralph Stedman Hood, was a mechanical and electrical engineer, who owned a 40′ (12.2m) Friendship sloop. In his autobiography, Ted Hood: Through Hand and Eye (PBB No. 103, page 15), Hood says he was introduced to sailing at the age of one month and that his father often remarked that his son spent the rest of his life trying to make up for that one lost month. Veteran boatbuilder and fiberglass pioneer Palmer Scott taught 11-year-old Hood how to caulk a boat; a year later he converted a rowboat to a sailboat and made his own sails, the first of thousands that eventually would be made in his Marblehead loft and in the dozens of Hood franchises around the world. Hood’s innovations include the crosscut spinnaker and custom weaves for different applications based on load paths.

In a logical extension of his worldwide sailmaking business, Hood began developing breakthrough hardware: the Seafurl headstay furler and Stoway Mast roller-reefing systems that were instrumental in enabling a small crew to handle large cruising sailboats, and the Gemini racing headstay, in which the boltrope of a headsail is fed into a narrow groove of an aluminum extrusion, eliminating hanks and greatly improving sail shape and lift.

In the 1980s Hood devoted increasing time to design and construction. His “whale bottom” hullform, with moderately heavy displacement, contradicted the prevalent trend toward lighter displacement; but some of those boats performed very well, such as the 60′ (18.3m) American Promise, in which Dodge Morgan set a record for the fastest American skipper to sail solo, nonstop around the world: 150 days in 1985–86.

Hood was a member of several prominent yacht clubs, including the New York Yacht Club, and was elected to the America’s Cup Hall of Fame and the National Sailing Hall of Fame.

Freeze Frame

Google the phrase “static wave,” and you’ll get, among other things, all sorts of explanations for standing waves, which we know as two opposing waves that form a single stationary wave.

According to a report from the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s online magazine, E&T, researchers at the University of California–San Diego, and the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid were able to create a static pipeline wave, in a laboratory, “that moves neither forward nor backward.” The purpose of the experiment was to create a motionless wave that can be studied for the purpose of predicting impacts “against marine structures like ports, off-shore oil rigs and ships and help anticipate the damage they might cause.” The scientists made a long canal with a semi-submerged panel “with a square corner that partially obstructs the flow” of water. The created wave is reconstructed in three dimensions using a laser, digital processing, and visualization techniques.

Veljko Kazulin: 1925–2013

Marice Pelletier

To escape communist rule, Veljko Kazulin emigrated from Croatia to Canada in the 1970s and founded Kazulin Boats, designing and building high-end runabouts in wood and fiberglass.

Longtime readers of PBB may remember a feature article on Kazulin Boats in No. 65, and more recently, an update in this column, in No. 141. Based in Ontario, Canada, Tony Kazulin and his partner, Marice Pelletier, build several models of high-end runabouts—in wood and fiberglass—that industry observers have compared to the Italian Riva. Tony Kazulin learned the trade from his father, Veljko Kazulin, who in the 1970s emigrated from his native Croatia to Canada to escape the communist regime. The elder Kazulin built his first fiberglass boat in 1959, and is thought to have introduced the first series-produced fiberglass boat in Eastern Europe in 1965, a 17' (5.2m) utility boat. Tony Kazulin believes it is still in production today, numbering in the thousands.

Veljko Kazulin was born in Sumartin, on the island of Brac, Croatia, in 1925, retired there 12 years ago, and died there last April. The following is a tribute to him from his daughter-in-law, Marice Pelletier.

“My father-in-law, Veljko Kazulin, came to Canada in the mid-1970s from the Adriatic coast of Croatia. While he had many lives—from guitar builder, shop foreperson, to fulfilling his passion of boat design and building—to me he was a gentleman first. When I first met him in Vancouver, B.C., in 1995, he was warm and welcoming. His knowledge of world events, Canadian history and politics, as well as his own personal travails in a communist country, was wonderful. His pride of being a Canadian and the freedom this offered his family made me look at my homeland with even more appreciation.

“As a designer (artist), he looked at things intently. Veljko never did not notice which color nail polish I had on, and he enjoyed the whimsy of new styles and fashions even though he was conservative and classic in his own style. While spending time in the Kavalk [a line of luxury speedboats] shop, I was allowed to use his special hammer, and he loved seeing his son Tony and me working together on their family dream. When Professional BoatBuilder published a 15-page article on his boats, including a sidebar on his history, he thanked me through misty eyes; he was not afraid to show emotions, which made me love him more. Though he and his wife, Nikolina, would spend their summers in Brac building their retirement home, he was always a presence in the shop.

“In 2001, Veljko and Nikolina decided it was time to return permanently to Croatia. It was their dream to spend their twilight years there. For the past 12 years, Veljko lived his last dream while maintaining his interest in Canadian events, designing and keeping his small shop to build boat models and furniture.

“Even though he has ‘moved on,’ his legacy remains in our hearts and in the boats he designed and built both in Croatia and in Canada.”

Alnmaritec (ALL)

UK workboat builder Alnmaritec recently delivered the 54′7″ (16.4m) Ellen Louise (top) to Hebridean Mussels for commercial harvesting of shellfish, and the Supplier class Concordia Baby (middle) for service in the Falkland Islands. It also is working with Effect Ships International on the development of Air Support Vessels (bottom).

New Workboats From Alnmaritec

United Kingdom aluminum boat builder Alnmaritec specializes in workboats and prides itself on developing solutions for custom, often-challenging—and sometimes very interesting—service requirements. In 2007, in PBB No. 108 (page 23) we looked at the company’s newest launch: a 17-ton, 49′2″ x 19′7″ (15m x 6m) offshore crew boat to provide support services for offshore wind farms. With growing demand for non-fossil-fuel energy sources, land-based wind turbine installations have proliferated, and in some countries where available land for such use is limited, such as The Netherlands and the UK, the movement now is into coastal waters. And Alnmaritec has capitalized on it.

In 2007, Alnmaritec managing director Chris Millman described the main criteria for such boats: fast, seaworthy yet shallow draft, comfortable for crew, ability to carry cargo and sometimes a deck-mounted crane, and perhaps most uniquely, a bow configuration that allows it to “dock” with the turbine piling to transfer crew back and forth, and maneuverabilty to remain on station for extended periods.

But check out Alnmaritec’s other niche markets: oil spill response; aquaculture; hose- and line-handling tugs; survey and dive support; pilot and patrol; fire, rescue and ambulance; and passenger and cargo ferries. A year ago it designed in-house and built in nine months one of its 54′7″ (16.4m) Wave Worker class boats, for Hebridean Mussels, which commercially harvests mussels on the west coast of Scotland. It’s set up with a hydraulic boom crane powered by an air-cooled diesel donkey engine, three hydraulic davits with double winches and retracting arms, and a removable bow door.

More recently, Alnmaritec delivered the Wave Supplier-class Concordia Baby to Workboat Service Ltd, where it will provide service for the M/V Concordia Bay, a 149′ (45.5m) landing craft that operates as a passenger and cargo ferry in the Falkland Islands archipelago. Due to the rugged coast, many “dockings” are made on beaches, and in some instances it’s impossible for the mother ship to do that, hence the need for a smaller landing craft to work in tandem with it. Millman said the design was a challenge but that her “powerful engines and sterndrives give her good speed and exceptional maneuverability for operations in this part of the world.”

Alnmaritec boats are constructed of aluminum alloy 5083 H111 for plating, and 6082 T6 for extrusions. Design software AutoCAD and Maxsurf are employed, and all boats are designed to meet the UK’s MCA (Maritime and Coastguard Agency) Category 3 standards.

Workboat Services manager Adam Cockwell said Alnmaritec’s track record and its ability to customize were key in awarding it the contract. Those sentiments were echoed by the owner of Hebridean Mussels, Cree Mackenzie, who is quoted on Alnmaritec’s website as saying, “There has been much talk of the decline in British engineering and manufacturing over recent decades, but this project has proved that a British yard can deliver quality as good as anywhere in the world, and at good value.”

The company also announced recently that it has entered into a “collaboration agreement” with Effect Ships International (ESI), a Norwegian company that has developed a patented Air Support Vessel (ASV). Alnmaritec will build and market the boats in the UK. The concept is to reduce frictional resistance by separating much of the hull from the water by means of fans pressurizing hull cavities.

LPG Tank Recall

Steve D’Antonio

The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued a recall of fiberglass liquid propane gas tanks made by Lite Cylinder, which is no longer in business.

When fiberglass propane tanks were first introduced, many people were skeptical. Liquid propane gas (LPG) already carried a level of sensitivity for boatbuilders, on a par with or perhaps even exceed­ing gasoline. Fiberglass LPG tanks, however, have grown in popularity for good reason: they are corrosion-proof, won’t scratch or otherwise damage decks even when dropped, and are lighter than steel and aluminum tanks. In many cases, LPG tanks are stored in lockers that are far from dry, making fiberglass a good choice for corrosion resistance alone.

Unfortunately, Lite Cylinder Company, of Franklin, Tennessee, was not as diligent as it should have been in its manufacturing processes and quality assurance. The company is responsible for a litany of procedural failures and Department of Transportation (DOT) and other federal agency violations. The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued an emergency order on May 31, 2013, mandating a recall of cylinders manufactured by this company, as well as terminating its authority to requalify and manufacture DOT cylinders. The latter limitation is of little value, as Lite Cylinder is no longer in business, which means owners of these tanks have little recourse other than to discontinue their use. The recall affects more than 55,000 tanks manufactured by Lite Cylinder. It appears that in addition to the failures of side wall and the bottom leaks reported by owners, the testing failure rate of some 2012 tank models exceeded 9% for standard barbecue-size 20-lb bottles, and over 30% for larger bottles.

Language regarding this recall from the federal government is understandably ominous, stating in part:

Emergency orders are issued when PHMSA determines that the continued use of such an item would constitute an imminent hazard. Removal and recall of these composite cylinders is a serious safety matter that should be promptly addressed by cylinder owners, gas fillers, shippers and carriers of hazardous materials. In accordance with the emergency order, Lite Cylinder must immediately contact all cylinder owners and provide instructions about how to safely discharge, purge and remove the valve from the cylinder and how to safely return those cylinders to Lite Cylinder.

Marine industry professionals should be on the lookout for these tanks. If you encounter one, alert the owner of the vessel immediately. It’s important to note that not all composite LPG cylinders are covered by this recall, only those manufactured by Lite Cylinder.

Smart Battery Combiner

Magnum Energy’s Smart Battery Combiner model ME-SBC delivers up to 25 amps, can service two banks, and has adjustable connect and disconnect voltages.

Proper battery charging is a passion of mine, and I hate to see batteries fail prematurely as a result of inappropriate charge regimens.

Magnum Energy, a manufacturer of rugged, high-quality inverter/chargers, is a leader in the field of intelligent battery charging. Reviewing its website recently I saw a product called the Smart Battery Combiner (SBC), designed for charging start or other small batteries or battery banks. I contacted the company to request a sample for testing, and I haven’t been disappointed.

Housed in a 4″ x 3″ (102mm x 76mm) metal-and-plastic housing, the SBC is compatible with 12V or 24V systems straight out of the box, and is capable of transferring up to 25 amps. If greater ampere-carrying capacity is required, the SBC is also designed to drive a solenoid. In most cases, 25 amps is more than enough to charge and support a start battery. It’s also equipped with automatic high-temperature and high-current shutdown capability. The SBC incorporates adjustable connect and disconnect voltages using three ranges: connect voltage, as well as low- and high-voltage disconnect. This adjustability is valuable in that it can be tailored to various battery types and applications.