Yachting World - July 2018

SUPERSAIL WORLD 76 JULY-SEPTEMBER 2018

technical director at the Vitters-owned Green Marine, which

he left to set up Fibre Mechanics in October 2016.

Stock, the managing director and co-owner, is driven

by a mantra of ‘making experience count’. Alongside his

40 years in composite yachtbuilding, the Fibre Mechanics’

management group also recognised the years of expertise

available in the Lymington area, especially following

the liquidation of Green Marine last October. They were

determined not to let this go to waste.

CUSTOM CARBON SKINS

They also believed their unique boatbuilding know-how could

work alongside North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT), a company

using automatic tape laying machinery (ATLs). NTPL can

make the pre-preg carbon tape to a weight of just 30g/m^2 ,

although Fibre Mechanics normally use 150 g/m^2. It’s the

ability to tailor-make the carbon skins for panel construction

by machine that is so appealing to composite boatbuilders like

Fibre Mechanics.

NTPT is a sister company to the North Technology Group,

which invented the 3Di technology used for grand prix

racing sails. It has plants in Switzerland and Poland, where

customers range from golf club shaft manufacturers and

high-end jewellery makers to Airbus and F1 racing

car component suppliers. Fibre Mechanics is working

with NTPT to build custom carbon skins made to its

precise specifications.

ACCURATE RESULTS

Once the carbon skins, or pre-form, has been laid by the ATL,

it is ‘de-bulked’ (compressed to remove excess air) and cut to

the required shape by a computer numeric controlled (CNC)

cutting wheel, or ‘pizza-cutter’. It is then transported to Fibre

Mechanics in Lymington where foam or Nomex cores will have

already been CNC cut to size, including apertures for carbon

inserts to reinforce the bulkhead penetrations. These could

be for anything from doorways and cable trays to pipework

and limber holes. With the components bonded together, the

item can be cured at the correct temperature in an autoclave

and then be ready for installation. The ATL not only eliminates

the labour-intensive task of hand laying pre-preg carbon

materials, but also produces a far more accurate result

through its computer-driven mechanisation. It might mean

‘It may mean fewer boatbuilders,

but the customer won’t have to

wait as long for his yacht and it

should, in theory, be cheaper’

THE AFT BEAM

BULKHEAD FOR THE

NEW GUNBOAT 68 IN

BUILD. THE FIBRES WERE

PLOTTED BY THE TPT

MACHINE BELOW