BALTIC 73 PERFORMANCE CRUISING YACHT WITH PILOT HOUSE
Once again Baltic Yachts is setting a standard for
luxurious cruising yachts that excel in sailing performance. Drawing of
the experience of building the Judel/Vrolijk designed 87FT pilot house
yacht in 1996 and several custom yacht projects between 60 and 97 feet
since then, the design team at Baltic Yachts together with a European
client created this 73 FT. The project was started spring 1998 and was
delivered in late 1999.
With the rising popularity of pilothouse and raised deck
salon yachts there is a new challenge in retaining great sailing
performance. There is additional weight in the superstructure and
generally more equipment in this type of yacht, compared to the more
"traditional" cruising yacht that we have grown accustomed to.
This means that the builder and designer have to spend increasingly more
effort in keeping the displacement, sail are and ballast ratios in the
correct relation. High tech materials such as Carbon fiber, Aramide in
combination with Epoxy resin plus Balsa, Foam or honeycomb sandwich
materials and in addition utilizing vacuum bagging laminating technique
are tools that when used correctly have made it possible to make the
necessary weight savings possible.
The goal that we have set out to achieve is a light/medium
displacement yacht with a Ballast to Displacement Ratio in the vicinity
of 40 % and a tall non overlapping sail plan, a very stiff and powerful
yacht. Systems engineering and equipment choice is aimed at simplicity
yet use all the best components available today. Many of these
components are inherently heavy which puts additional emphasis on weight
control in the construction process. The hull is Carbon and Kevlar
fibers with foam core sandwich the deck and superstructure will are all
Carbon. All laminates are in Epoxy and utilizing vacuum bagging
laminating techniques.
