Yesterday we made the final weight calculation based on produced parts. With the first boat we will hit our targets: 583kg hull weight (only 3kg above the calculated weight) and 1658kg total weight. The 8kg we will remove in the next boat for sure, too. It took some time, but the result is awesome!!! 😃😁👍💪 ... that will be fast for sure 😎
583kg hull weight ... means we make your sailing life easier, because heavy boats make sailing life hard. And all this only because most boatyards have saved on the material of the hull: since the 60's most boats are built of polyester and fiberglass, a 30 feet ship weighs 4t or more. All the components become heavier as well, the sails have to be stronger, the mast thicker, the engine bigger, etc. In parallel, everything becomes more expensive.
272kg Hull weight bow
+ 331kg Hull weight stern
- 20,5kg forgotten stuff in the hull
= 583kg hull weight. https://www.aeoloscomposites.com/aeolos-p30-RACER
To build yachts that offer pure sailing fun, we take a different approach: we use carbon prepreg in series production and can thus use much lighter components, they also become lighter and MUCH cheaper. These prepregs are fibers which are already impregnated with resin and can be applied with temperatures up to 28 degrees. After 5 days the layup has to be finished and the product needs to be cured in an oven with a temperature of minimum 70 degrees. During the layup we do a lot of debulking. The process is strictly defined. Air removal prior to cure is critical for limiting porosity during vacuum bag processing of prepregs. We have done tests of every layup process to check the effects of pre-cure dwell temperature (debulk) on air evacuation and defined guidelines for debulking cycles.
We have developed also the prepregs and manufacture them within our sister company NOTUS Composites. This allows us to offer fast, inexpensive boats that are incredibly fun to sail and can easily break the 20 knot mark in downwind reach.
The R&D team at NOTUS Composites has has checked every phase of the production process. We are testing all kinds of sandwich composite used in the hulls of our boats.
Light deckhouse made in Prepregs.
Comparison prepreg/infusion: With prepreg you get a higher repeatability, or you have to calculate less material addition for errors. Prepreg is approx. 10% stiffer and has 35-45% resin content, infusion 40-50% if you do it really well. So about 5-10% lighter. But the best part is the health and safety aspect and the high process accuracy.(Sources: Hexel Seminar/own tests - coincide)(Sources: Hexel Seminar/own tests - coincide)
It is important that the wetting of the foam and the deaeration is done correctly. That's why we test every laminate structure beforehand. After that it is simple ...
Check out:
A Dufour 32 from 2022
weighs 4,9t and has only 1,33t ballast.
An Aeolos P30
weighs 1.6t and has 0.8t of ballast.
An AEOLOS P45
weighs 4t and has 2t of ballast.
We think you deserve to have fun with sailing.
That's why we are breaking new ground in series production.