Feature 4 | MEGA YACHTS Measuring beauty
Can an index be conceived that establishes a cosmetic, as well as a technical standard for the appearance of a mega yacht? R Kattan, of coatings specialist Safinah Ltd picks over the evidence.
O
ne of the most important elements of a mega-yacht is its visual impact and a large
part of this impact is attributable to the appearance of the final coating finish of the external hull. For many years the assessment of the
• Newbuild application
hull and superstructure coating has been based around terms such as “Super/ Mega-yacht standard”. Coating work is generally focused on three separate activities:
• Crew maintenance and wash down
• Regular re-coating at designated repair/ overhaul intervals.
Studies (1) have shown that typically
faults in coating work can be broken down into a number of categories:
• Poor vessel design
• Poor product selection • Poor product
• Poor management processes • Poor preparation/application • Poor maintenance •Poor repair
Figure 1 Focus on surface. Waviness (short and long waves).
Figure 2 Focus on reflected image. • Poor climate/environment control Tus, there is a surface focus caused
• Poor worker skill Not all of these are in the control of one
entity. In fact, the designer, the yard, the owner, the paint supplier, the contractor, the paint inspector, the crew and the maintenance facility all contribute in one way or another to either the success or poor performance of the coating resulting in a failure to reach Super-yacht standards. Before discussing possible solutions
for Super-yachts there is perhaps a need to discuss what makes a surface appear visually pleasing. Quality of visual appearance is
ultimately dictated by the uniformity of the surface that is being observed. Te question though is: to what standard has that uniformity to be achieved?
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by surface effects and the reflected image effects. Examples of some surface effects and reflected image effects and how they can interact are shown in Figures 1 and 2. So a surface of uniform appearance
is one where the values of the elements that make up appearance are consistent over the whole surface. This may be easy to achieve over small areas such as a car body panel but is not so easy on a yacht, which may be in excess of 60m in length with surfaces at a variety of angles from horizontal to vertical and when the surface may be viewed from close up or at a distance. Terefore, the standard to which the
• First time coating or touch up • Substrate type and quality • Orientation of surface
surface is assessed should be defined. Te factors that influence appearance are:
• Concave or convex surface • Application process stability • Lighting and environment
• Human observer Appearance is a function of waviness
and definition of image (DOI) and colour. Waviness is defined by the orange peel effect, which is a surface effect and reflection, which is indicated by the DOI, and which is a reflected light effect. Waviness is itself dictated by the coating surface structure and size and can be long wave, short wave or a combination of both when areas are repaired. Appearance can change with observer
distance and lighting conditions or angle and, for a yacht, this is a real problem as the need is for both good long wave and short wave characteristics and the lighting conditions can vary considerably during a given 24 hour period, let alone
The Naval Architect July/August 2009
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