Designing & Building Hammerhead

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Yep Hippo. Same to be said for architects. Those who have ever built a house themselves see things More realistically and from a practical POV than those who spend their lives drawing theoretical pictures on the computer.
 
Hi Hippo,

Just yesterday, I was watching some older footage of Steve Dashew being interviewed. He stated - time and again - that it is the actual experience of boating that trumps anything, when designing a yacht.

Now the Dashews weren't NA's, and calculations and computer simulations have come a long way, but they had a huge and very positive impact on long-distance passagemaking and came from a position of, well, 160k knots under their belt?

Drawing from experience instead of just theory is probably essential for a well-designed ship.

Regards, Edwin.
 
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Mako, great analogy. Happy to add that when Catran and I visited KMYachts, he told me he had worked their (many years ago), helping to actually build ships, welding, etc.

I think this adds an extra dimension, because it means our NA can not only envision the ship from a user experience perspective, but also from the perspective of how the engineers and welders will have to build it.

Regards, Edwin.
 
Edwin, do you have boat building experience? I may have missed it somewhere along in the thread, so I apologize if it is a repeat question.
 
I don't. Our NA does. I am just an inventor and entrepreneur with a love for boating and traveling.

Regards, Edwin.
 
Steve Dashew says "boat design is a zero sum game". Catran calls is the spider web. In boat design everything is related. If you make a boat higher, you probably need to make it sit deeper in the water as well. Start pulling at one end, and realize that all is connected and everything else moves as well.

Here is our second Blog post. It is about our priorities and what we feel is wrong with current motor yacht design. Emphasis on "WE". Everbody makes their own decisions and design compromises. But, again from our perspective, looking at many contemporary designs, well, the choices made do not always make sense to us.

It's a Blog post on how we want to look at our boat. It is not about your boat.

https://www.lmyachts.com/blog/2-whats-wrong-with-current-yacht-design/

Regards, Edwin & Veronika.
 
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Salty Pelican said:
Steve Dashew says "boat design is a zero sum game". Catran calls is the spider web. In boat design everything is related. If you make a boat higher, you probably need to make it sit deeper in the water as well. Start pulling at one end, and realize that all is connected and everything else moves as well.

Here is our second Blog post. It is about our priorities and what we feel is wrong with current motor yacht design. Emphasis on "WE". Everbody makes their own decisions and design compromises. But, again from our perspective, looking at many contemporary designs, well, the choices made do not always make sense to us.

It's a Blog post on how we want to look at our boat. It is not about your boat.

https://www.lmyachts.com/blog/2-whats-wrong-with-current-yacht-design/

Regards, Edwin & Veronika.
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In all deference to your priorities and choices, which of course is what building a boat is all about, I disagree with pretty much every one of your underlying assumptions.

Around 6-12 Nordhavns alone make ocean crossings each year. And that’s just one boat brand. I agree there are probably more crossing capable sail boats than power boats in the size range we are focused on, but I’m not at all convinced that as a percentage more sailboats make crossings than power boats.

I don’t agree that similar sized power boats are less comfortable at sea vs a sail boat.

I think looking to sail boats for inspiration is looking in the wrong direction. 40 years ago ocean crossing power boats were envisioned through the eyes of sail boat design, but over the ensuing 40 years the changes in power crossing boats have all been driven by experience and refinement of what a power crossing boat can be. They have diverged from sail boat designs for good reasons, altering tradeoffs to match their use. Sail boats have been showing us what NOT to do.

Complexity comes hand in hand with redundancy, and with extra systems that provide comfort. You can cross an ocean with or without redundancy. Your choice. But with redundancy comes greater safety, and also complexity. Pick your balance. It’s a zero sum game. And pick your desired comfort level and associated equipment. But with that comfort and equipment comes more complexity. Again, pick your balance.
 
Thanks for sharing, TwistedTree.

Regards, Edwin.
 
Looked at some pics, will dive in deeper, JWellington.

Regards, Edwin.
 
I do see some similarities, indeed. Less range. Curious about systems/lay-out. Underwater-ship quite wide at the back. Hope it isn't a semi-displacement with engines aft ...

Anyhow, I might learn more, once I get the brochure in.

Regards, Edwin.
 
Salty Pelican said:
I do see some similarities, indeed. Less range. Curious about systems/lay-out. Underwater-ship quite wide at the back. Hope it isn't a semi-displacement with engines aft ...

Anyhow, I might learn more, once I get the brochure in.

Regards, Edwin.
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Seems like many good points, and similarities to yours. We continue to look at it.
 
Note the original Artnautica 58 was single screw with variable pitch. Given the voyages that design made a proven design. Still owner feedback caused Denis to offer a twin. Hence his 65 is offered as a twin. Currently twin n/a Betas 75s which have become reasonably ubiquitous. The workroom and multiplicity of available layouts with ability to further customize seems to be a plus as well.
The one thing I like about the LM is the position of the outside helm all the way aft but would prefer a dedicated inside helm seat not liking bench seating in that spot. For all the various designs of this genre would prefer the master to be midship or aft. Well before Dashew multiple boats took this into account such as Ironheart but kept with the long and lean philosophy. Think it’s important on passage to not hot bunk, nor need to convert bunks to other purposes and have them in the positions of least motion. Dark, quiet and stable are a plus. Even with bungle boards queen beds are less than ideal for non couples. Think although I’m a big fan of your design and similar Nordies like TTs do offer a more inviting and possibly comfortable layout on passage.
Still she’s a beautiful design. Agree the Artnautica 65 and Arksen 65 are the competition being truly BW purpose built like yours.
 
... and all three are in the design phase only! :)

Please know we have the possibility to be flexible. This is the boat we design as we want it. We also have a different lay-out with "captain" seats in the salon/inside steering position. Same flexibility is there (or will be there) for beds & bunks of course.

Regards, Edwin.
 
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Edwin, I respect that with your technical background and an inventor's mentality, that the Hammerhead project is likely the culmination of your life's endeavors.

But still, for the effort and time and money that you will invest, there are production and semi-production boats which you could order which would fill the same SOR as you listed in post #1. Working from proven designs, instead of prototype #1, has the added advantage of having worked through a multitude of issues which you can't even imagine will come up.

I work for a rather technical organization also, and our production-run costs are a fraction of the prototype costs, and we see more consistency and higher performance/quality systems as well.

Designing and building is fun, but so is actually being out on the water and exploring the seas. Might be worth taking another look at a Dashew or even go the opposite direction, to a Bering, Nordy or a Krogen. Don't worry about the NA fees you've accrued, that's just sunk cost, and likely has been an eye opening experience as well.

Just a thought.
 
And thanks for sharing. I think two years ago we reached out to Dashew and tried to convince them to make us another FPB64. They wouldn't as they had just stopped. I asked to take over their designs, which they didn't want either.

I worked with the LRC team here in the Netherlands and think I helped improve what now becomes the LRC65, but in the end I felt like it had too many compromises for us, that I wasn't comfortable with.

Having accumulated a lot of info and having gained more and more insight, the best solution was to start designing the ship we wanted ourselves, rather than continuing to help others improve.

The big bellied boats are not what we want. Dashew wasn't available (and if it were today, I'd stick to where we are at with the Hammerhead). Arksen's 65 and the LRC65 are paper ponies, just lik ours, so far. If it's going to be a prototype nr.1, it's going to be ours and not someone else's. :)

Regards, Edwin.
 
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Salty, re the Dashew boats, they were made by Circa Marine in NZ, or at least some were. Couldnt one you get them to make a similar one? Indeed , they even offer a current model that looks the same, bigger than 65' though.
 
Building slots are open for both. Arksen offers a summer 2023 delivery for the 65. Think Artnautica is on #5 for the 58 and has orders on the book for the 65.

From a email to me
Arksen 85
The Arksen 85/03 and 85/04 are both currently available for a 2023 delivery.

Arksen 65
The Arksen 65/01 is available for summer 2023 delivery.
 
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LM65h/01 is available for summer 2023 as well. ;)

Regards, Edwin.
 
Hi there all,

Not about boating, but important to us none the less. Our daughter is the goal keeper at Ajax. Today she signed her first pro contract. She's 19 year's only and the youngest goal keeper of the Netherlands national soccer (we call it football) league. The youngest, and of course the best!

Regards, Edwin (proud daddy)
 
Salty Pelican said:
Hi there all,

Not about boating, but important to us none the less. Our daughter is the goal keeper at Ajax. Today she signed her first pro contract. She's 19 year's only and the youngest goal keeper of the Netherlands national soccer (we call it football) league. The youngest, and of course the best!

Regards, Edwin (proud daddy)
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Congratulation the you and her!
 
Salty Pelican said:
Hi there all,

Not about boating, but important to us none the less. Our daughter is the goal keeper at Ajax. Today she signed her first pro contract. She's 19 year's only and the youngest goal keeper of the Netherlands national soccer (we call it football) league. The youngest, and of course the best!

Regards, Edwin (proud daddy)
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Woot! Awesome! :thumb:

Later,
Dan
 
Thanks, we are very proud. Some pics on the signing event later today.

Regards, Edwin & Veronika.
 

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Thanks! Please indulge me for a final picture of the whole family celebrating ... After that back to boating? :)

Regards, Edwin.
 

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Ah, women's football isn't that lucrative yet! But we are talking about #2 with a few interested parties.

Regards, Edwin.
 
Rationale Cabin and Engine Room Placement

Here's more on the rationale behind the cabin/bedroom placement, especiallly in relation to engine room placement.

Let us start with that engine room: we like it to sit in the middle. Why? Because it is (together with tankage) the place where weight is concentrated. Putting it in the middle, close to the point of buoyancy, creates a nice & natural rotational movement of the ship, pitch-wise.

With buoyancy and weight as close together as possible, the influence of running the ship (at the end of a longer voyage) at lower fuel level also creates minimal intrusion. Less trim issues, as the ship rises overall, instead of "nose first" or "stern first".

For the cabins, we often see them located near the nose of a ship. Given potential pitching, that's not the best place to try and get some rest. In our design, first comes the anchor chest, then the large forepeak, and only then the guest cabin. Closer to the center of the ship means less pitching and more comfort.

Aft, when considering the placement of the master bedroom, we followed a similar approach. First the lazaret, then the master bedroom. Pitching is less of a problem aft, so less space is needed, relative to the stern and guest cabin location/situation.

To minimize sound/noise/vibrations in the sleeping quarters, the wet cells (showers and toilets) serve as buffer between the engine room and the cabins.

Regards, Edwin & Veronika.
 

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