Lexus' new sport yacht concept featuring CFRP construction

Earlier this month, Lexus unveiled a running proof-of-concept for a Lexus Sport Yacht, which featured plenty of CFRP construction. To produce this single example, the Toyota Marine Department selected the Marquis-Carver Yacht Group of Pulaski, Wisc., based on their in-house engineering and manufacturing capabilities and their skill in large hand-laid composite structures.

The design of the Lexus Sport Yacht concept has the upper deck and outer hull seamlessly bonded around the inner structure, each piece a single massive hand-laid composite of two-part polyurethane epoxy resin reinforced with hand-laid woven carbon fiber cloth.

The Lexus Sport Yacht concept’s unique CFRP construction reportedly saves nearly 2,200 lb (1,000 kg) compared to a similar yacht in fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP). The underwater hull design is stepped to reduce resistance or drag and improve handling balance at high speeds.

The concept is powered by twin 5.0-liter V8 gasoline engines based on the 2UR-GSE high-performance engine of the Lexus RC F coupe, the GS F sport sedan and the new LC 500 grand tourer. Each engine produces 440 horsepower, driving the yacht at speeds up to 49 miles per hour (43 knots) through a pair of hydraulically controlled inboard/outboard stern-drives. A bow-thruster with joystick control aids in docking.

Specifications include:

DIMENSION	IMPERIAL	METRIC
Overall Length	42 ft	12.7 m
Beam (width)	13 ft	3.86 m
Payload	8 people
Power, total	885 hp (873 ps)	660 kW
Top Speed	49 mph	43 knots

 

But don’t expect to see this yacht make a splash on the water anytime soon. While the Lexus Sport Yacht was revealed as a tailored one-off project with no production intent, Yoshihiro Sawa, executive vice president of Lexus International, says that the concept for the sport yacht allows the company to “explore how Lexus design language could be applied to a maritime lifestyle.”  

“For the Lexus Design Center this project has been very exciting,” he says. "The effort is valuable to us as it stirs our creative energies and pushes our imagination to design and lifestyle possibilities outside of the automotive realm we know well.”

The Marine Business Department of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) was founded in 1997 to develop premium yachts. Toyota Marine’s Ponam line has included fiberglass sport-fishing boats in 26- and 28-foot lengths, and luxury cabin- cruisers in 31-, 35-, 37- and 45-foot lengths with durable and quiet hulls of fully-welded A5083 aluminum alloy.