This was the first Motor Yacht that we built. The Yacht was given a traditional exterior styling and a raised cherry wood panel interior, giving this a very classic look indeed. However the look was somewhat deceiving. "Behind the surface" was a very modern high-tech, high performance motor yacht starting with a very deep V hull shape to using Epoxy, Carbon, Kevlar vacuum-bagged laminates in order to reach high and comfortable performance.
Sound isolation was a challenge, because the owner wanted a very quiet yacht. So we went to great lengths to reduce the sound and vibration. Togehter we worked very closely on this with sound specialists to achieve the level required, (this really was a science within it's self). When working with something as challenging and exciting as this, you always have to have some understanding of whether the noises are airborne or structure-borne, and also have some understanding of natural frequencies from different materials in different environments.
The motorboat was primarily of a carbon construction, requiring good sound insulation. When you install pumps and equipment that create noise, they have to be mounted in some kind of isolated fashion or be placed on flexible mountings. Everything on this motorboat was soft-mounted, even the hydraulic tubes. Nothing, which made a noise or vibration, was connected directly to the carbon, they had to be soft-mounted. We completed "Far Niente" in 1997, and building this motorboat taught us many things about sound insulation that we have carried through to subsequent sailing boat projects. |
