 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Product Search |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||
|
FPB SeriesA New Paradigm for CruisingDesign Objectives Heavy Wx Issues
FPB 64 On Deck FPB 83FPB 83 On DeckFPB 83 InteriorFPB 83 SystemsDrive Line PassagesHow Things Are Working Out |
FPB 64 - Update
We're in the process of wrapping up many of the details which precede construction on one of our projects. In this case, Todd (center) and Steve (left) are aboard Wind Horse running through systems and interior dimensions (it helps to have a full sized model with 25,000+ miles with which to work). This process is much more efficient if done somewhere pleasant, like the South Pacific, or maybe the fjords of Greenland, but for right now, Marina del Rey (with Starbucks nearby to keep us going late into the night) will have to do. Meanwhile, in New Zealand, Circa and Dave DeVilliers are hard at work on the production design work. They are scheduled to begin cutting metal in about four weeks (end of April 2008). Aluminum is on hand, and a bay in the shop is being cleared for initial lay out. Our approach to the boat business has always been to work through as many of the details in advance as possible. What we are doing with the FPB 64 is a good example of how this is handled. We start with four thousand photos covering the construction of Wind Horse, sort through them, and then create documents by category of work with photos and captions detailing what will be similar and what is to be refined. Next, there are over a hundred pages of notes, drawings, and photos, going through each area of the boat and discussing structure, systems, interior and how they interact. This set of data is used to ensure that the structural design affords not only the factors of safety we've targeted, but that it works efficiently with the rest of the boat. When this process is completed in the next few days we will review these items with Circa (again). Determinations will be made throughout the boat on how things will be done, and then this data is reduced to a document we call the "Build Guide". The Build Guide breaks the data into disciplines - electrical, mechanical, interior furniture, finish, structure - so that each crew on the shop floor has a complete set of documents to which they can refer over the next 18 months. This is an arduous, intellectually demanding process. And there are a lot of hours involved. But it brings together almost all of the elements which make for a successful cruising yacht ahead of construction, before they are locked into place in the shop. We have learned over the past 28 years there are no shortcuts to this process.
|
