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To meet the transatlantic
range requirement, C. Raymond Hunt designers kept the hull bottom as smooth
and uncluttered as possible. There’s only one running strake on each
side of the hull beginning at the stem on the waterline and extending
aft at a uniform distance below and inboard of the chine, following the
natural flow lines of the water along the hull at low speed to minimize
added resistance. But at high speed, with a different flow pattern over
the bottom, the strakes perform their primary function of deflecting spray
downward and adding dynamic lift.
Another necessary component
to meet the range requirement was tank capacity, about 4,000 gallons of
diesel fuel, plus freshwater, graywater, and holding tanks, in an array
of integral composite fuel tanks that span almost the width of the hull’s
inner bottom and some two-thirds of its length. But the critical element
in satisfying seemingly incompatible range and speed requirements was
to minimize weight.
Employing materials
and construction processes rarely used in motoryacht construction, NEB
achieved impressive weight reduction, an estimated 20 percent or more
of the yacht’s total displacement. On the down side, more expensive
materials and more labor-intensive processes upped the cost about 30 percent
compared to conventional fiberglass construction. But that’s not
a fair comparison, because the yacht would not have met her performance
goals if built in the conventional way, or she would have given up interior
space for bigger engines and more fuel tanks.
Next page >
Part 2: The hull was laminated with Kevlar and E-glass woven into a quadaxial fabric. > Page 1,
2, 3
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