Solid Foam 12 metre

In the 80's Australia's fallen star Alan Bond was instrumental in the production of the 12 meter 'Bengal 111' with an LOA of 16m and a total displacement of 3.5 tonnes.

This hull started life as one monolithic chunk of foam, the foam was carved to shape and the outside glassed. A large dia alloy metal tube was inserted into the solid hull that was mined to accept the tube and that formed the living space and the structural element to take the keel and rig stresses.

The vessel was sold to a Japanese Man Mr Masazuka in 1987.

How well it all worked I do not know but if anyone knows anything of the vessel I would be interested to hear it.

 

Bizarre 12

Man, that is really something-I'd like to hear more too!

 

16 m 3.5 t??????? with keel, rig, hull??? Sounds hard to believe.

 

Yes 3.5 Tonnes sounds pretty light. The design was described as radical. I found the data in "The Cruising Skipper " No 20 1987. I have no idea who the designer was.

 

Well, it wasn't a 12 metre....it sounds (as someone who used to work for the company that produced CS) that the editor was hitting the turps when he wrote that.

Bondy sold his 12s to the Bengal syndicate/operation, and the Japanese (the same ones, I think) built the fully foam boat - but the two were not related in design terms at all. The foam boat was designed (by Takai?????) for the first Melbourne-Osaka. Nothing like a 12 at all. 12s had to be many times that weight and classed by Lloyds.

The foam boat was (obviously) skinny, ultra light, radical and short in rig IIRC. She may have been sailed by a male/female crew (or was that the other major Japanese effort for that race?).

IIRC, she was fast at times, suffered problems, and was beaten by "Commodore" Warwick Tompkins in the Farr 53 Nakiro Dio, a conservative design from the moulds of the Farr 55 cruiser/racer Tompkins was involved with.

A Cherub (Brian NZ) had been built in a similar way a few years before. I've thought of building an Int. Canoe the same way, it's pretty easy when you build windsurfers like that.

 

have u got any ideas of hydroplanes

 

have u got any ideas of hydroplanes

 

Thanks CT

No it was me on the turps.
I just re-read the article. The 'foam' boat was sponsered by Masazuka Kobayashi [ the man who bought Bonds 12m ]. It was as you said designed to win the Melbourne-Osaka race.

It sounds an interesting peice of engineering, I was hoping somone had some initimate knowledge of the building problems and techniques. I expected a short rig and low righting moment to reduce the stresses and keep it light. I should think her motion was uncomfortable for a long narrow ultralight, you would have loved it

otumf......
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