SP, the marine business of Gurit (Isle of Wight, U.K.), has teamed up with M Boats, the Argentinean yacht builder, to supply materials for an innovative production race boat project, the S40 - One Design (SD40-OD). The S40-OD is a modern racer designed by Javier Soto Acebal Naval Architects and, while conventional in its construction, it is radical in its design. The boat is 40 ft/12.3m in length with hull lines that are the result of a long research period that aimed to achieve a combination of speed and balance.
SP has been involved with the project for more than 15 months, supplying a selection of composite materials, including epoxy laminating and adhesive systems as well as SP’s marine structural foam Corecell and reinforcements for the hull, deck and bulkheads.
SP’s laminating system, Ampreg 22, which is designed for manufacturing large, high-performance composite structures due to its long working time and low exotherm, and the low-viscosity Spabond 340LV adhesive system, were chosen. Corecell also provides increased strength and durability in return for weight reduction, making the boats faster, stronger and more economical.
The fifth S40-OD was launched earlier this month and is the first boat to hit the water that uses SP’s new Corecell M-Foam, a core package comprising high shear strength, low weight and high elongation, low resin uptake for infusion processes and high-temperature stability for prepreg processes.
The first two yachts produced have been running the Circuito Atlántico Sur Rolex Cup and, on 5th July 2009, all four yachts constructed raced at Ilhabela Sailing Week in Brazil where they demonstrated their potential and competitiveness.
