Don't take me wrong, classical means not that the boat is not very fast, means only that it is an evolution on older designs, without nothing really new, except the fact that it is probably the only medium production cruising boat built in carbon (not an option) and just that makes it outstanding.
Well, maybe not only carbon since on small letters they say: "Hull and deck of sandwich construction of carbon fibre reinforced vinylester with a 20 mm core of Divinycell. " so what they are talking about? Reinforced with what? If it is a full carbon hull it cannot be reinforced with something else. Even if not fully in Carbon the weight (9550kg) indicates that carbon use is somewhat extensive.
The design is from the NA that had designed all other Arconas on the line, Stefan Qviberg and that explains the conservative design that is very similar to the other Arconas. Does not mean I do not like it, in fact the hull design is very similar to my own boat or the Comet 45s....but the Comet 45 is a 10 year old design.
Anyway the performance I am sure that will be there (due to the light weight) even if I believe that it will be a poor boat in compensated racing and nothing special going downwind, as we can see by the speed and wind they show on the video.
Regarding cruising it will be another story, the performance will be super, a top building with a very good interior comfort. However I don't like at all the interior design that seems of bad quality to me (they should have it redesigned by an interior designer) and the standard water tankage (320L) is small for a 14m boat.
Thanks to Thomas Larsson that brought this boat to my attention :-)
Well, maybe not only carbon since on small letters they say: "Hull and deck of sandwich construction of carbon fibre reinforced vinylester with a 20 mm core of Divinycell. " so what they are talking about? Reinforced with what? If it is a full carbon hull it cannot be reinforced with something else. Even if not fully in Carbon the weight (9550kg) indicates that carbon use is somewhat extensive.
The design is from the NA that had designed all other Arconas on the line, Stefan Qviberg and that explains the conservative design that is very similar to the other Arconas. Does not mean I do not like it, in fact the hull design is very similar to my own boat or the Comet 45s....but the Comet 45 is a 10 year old design.
Anyway the performance I am sure that will be there (due to the light weight) even if I believe that it will be a poor boat in compensated racing and nothing special going downwind, as we can see by the speed and wind they show on the video.Regarding cruising it will be another story, the performance will be super, a top building with a very good interior comfort. However I don't like at all the interior design that seems of bad quality to me (they should have it redesigned by an interior designer) and the standard water tankage (320L) is small for a 14m boat.
Thanks to Thomas Larsson that brought this boat to my attention :-)
you can't build a boat out of carbon without a resin, so whats up with the small letters??
ReplyDeleteYou are right regarding the resin. I altered the post to express what is my doubt.
DeleteGood point.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the author referred to the (non) use of epoxy (instead of vinylester). But then again weight gains in €/kg may not be justified
My comment: If they have such high building standards and they can produce rigid, sturdy yet light hulls, it would be really interesting to see them proposing in the market a modern hull (beamy, powerfull with form stability, double rudders). Briefly a Pogo with swedish finishing and quality!
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThat's this phrase on the specifications that leave me suspicious:
ReplyDelete"Hull and deck of sandwich construction of carbon fibre reinforced vinylester with a 20 mm core of Divinycell."
If it is Carbon fiber all the way why talk about reinforced? Reinforced with what?
Not a Pogo and not only due to a completely diferente type of hull but mostly because besides his type of hull what caracterizes the Pogo is to be a not expensive high performance boat.
ReplyDeleteCuriously the 465 is not that expensive and costs about the same as the Pogo 50 that it is not a Carbon boat.
The Pogo 50 is a much more beamier boat and a longer one (15.2/5.5 to 14.1/4.2). The Arcona 465 made of Carbon, using the same kind of building techniques that are used on Pogo should be way lighter than the Pogo that is a eglass boat.
But it is quite the contrary, the Pogo weights 8900kg and the Arcona 464 weights 9550kg.
Ok, the Pogo is less substancial in what regards the interior that surely is lighter but if you look at other bigger 15m luxury fully Carbon boats with a luxury interior you will see that they weight proportionally less than the Arcona. For instance the Mylius 50 weights 9900kg.
To keep costs at reasonable heights, it makes sense to use only locally carbon fibers at highly stressed areas and in all others eglass. Could be the case of the Arcona 465.
ReplyDeleteAs for Pogos, apparently it is not at all easy to do better than them. No wonder why very very few can match the sturdiness, price and still be able to run a succesful business (not just a few boats)
That's what I thought, taking into account the way they describe the hull materials, even if probably there is more Carbon on the Arcona than on the ones that say that the hull is reinforced with carbon.
DeleteRegarding Carbon or Carbon/reinforced boats and clarifying all the situation ICE yacht is exemplar, I would say also in building quality. They propose you for the same hull 3 options being the first Eglass with carbon reinforcements and the last one full carbon and they give you the prices for each one. The hull strength is about the same the weight is obviously different.
I talked once with a ICE shipyard engineer that was very proud about the quality of the work on the hull and that loved to explain and show every detail and building process on the ICE 52. Quite an experience and the opposite of the one on the More 55 where they really didn't know if the hull was monolitic or a sandwich LOL.