Design


Down to business A


After building successful one-off prototypes for the AC40 and HSV chase boat, McConaghy has now put both of them into production


fter the Kiwis’ impressive America’s Cup win in Bermuda back in 2017 few could have predicted how big the changes were going to be in both the


Cup world and the broader reaches of the sport.McConaghy Boats have been in grand prix racing a long time; they’ve been at the leading edge of raceboat construction and have claimed many manufacturing milestones from the first prepreg laminate in a boat to the first prepreg Nomex cored maxi. But not even they had any inkling of what was going to be on their shop floor six years later. No one did. Yet, to be building 12 (and very possibly


more) of the most advanced and certainly the quickest foiling monohull one designs in the world is an example of just how far the racing world has come with the AC40s. Since taking delivery, Cup teams have


been hitting speeds well in excess of 50kts during training. Few predicted that either, and few dare to guess what they might achieve when the pressure of racing for real comes to bear. But if that isn’t


enough to illustrate just how advanced this new breed of boats is, try taking a look below decks. The AC40 may have a rig and a soft sail


and look much like a raceboat from the outside, but inside you might as well be looking at the inner workings of an Airbus passenger jet with its mass of hydraulic pipework, manifolds and electronics. An AC40 is a machine in every respect. ‘A lot of what we


very technical boat and the build tolerances are to points of a millimetre. ‘There is no getting away from the fact


do is not very conventional, we've always been in the esoteric racing world, so building the AC40s was not a leap,’ says McConaghy CEO Mark Evans. ‘But if you compare what we’re doing with conventional yacht building, what we are producing with the Cup boats is like a Formula 1 Ferrari or fighter jet, where every single ply, every single core is designed to a certain length in a certain direction so they can operate in tightly defined load paths. So it's a very,


‘What we are producing with the Cup boats is like an F1 Ferrari or fighter jet. The build tolerances are to points of a millimetre’


that they are very complex systems and it's because of the close partnership between us and Emirates Team New Zealand that we're able to achieve this. They've supported us very well and given us good drawings and good procedures of how to put these yachts together. ‘Every single


carbon fibre bracket, every hose length, every piece of wire has been measured in a 3D model by the


Team New Zealand designers and comes to us in a kit. Basically, we set the mock- up of all the hydraulics on the factory floor and because we have all the bracketry put on the boat before the equipment arrives. We just pick up the hydraulics system and install it in the boat – everything fits the way it should. ‘The result is that when they are


SEAHORSE 73


�


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120