TRENDS How I’ll build you a wooden boat…in infusion

BonezziSailing, a shipyard known for its very fast Contenders, urged by requests to build wooden boats again, made two unique Contenders this winter: the entire first layer of the hull is mahogany wood, but the technique is infusion! Luca Bonezzi was able to devise a technology to dry lay the wood sheet along all the marked curvatures of the hull lines, and have the epoxy resin (authorized by the Contender class since 2012) permeate into the fibers.

A CONTENDER “LIKE A VIOLIN”

The result is extraordinary, and it is beautiful. We asked Luca Bonezzi directly, how he came to come up with this technology: “Certainly the wood construction of the past could not be slavishly reproduced, in fact years of experience in developing techniques related to composite could not be abandoned.

The current construction using the infusion technique allows you to mold boats in a way that is very respectful to the workers who take part: the fabrics are in fact placed dry in the mold, and the resin injected by vacuum only at the end without any contact by the operator who does not breathe or touch the resin.

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Obviously, this technique is not applicable in the construction of all-wood triple-layer boats due to the non-permeability of the wood itself. There are also many differences between plywood and fiberglass panel construction in the deck. The wooden deck is made by gluing together finished panels that require a very complex structure to hold them together. For the bow and stern, the problem is soon solved but the cockpit consists of 7 elements: two bulkheads (bow stern), and 5 panels that need as many as 5 transverse structures to hold them together in solidarity.

The fiberglass deck is one piece, and once it is glued to the hull it becomes a single body as if it were a tube; of course, structures where the maximum stresses reside (mast, shrouds, forestay, drift case) must be provided.”

AN IDEA NEVER BEFORE APPLIED

“So the idea was born to apply a single layer of mahogany to the mold and infuse in one step, guaranteed total resin infusion to the finishing layer as well. This provides additional stiffness. I have noticed, from other builders in other classes, that wood-finished decking is an established practice but never applied to the hull. I am very proud of the achievement, the boat is very beautiful and durable.”

WINNING PERFORMANCE

Danish champion Søren Dulong Andreasen is the first to try it and is enthusiastic about the performance. Bonezzi Sailing’s Contenders boast excellent performances confirmed by world-class sailors, chief among them 7-time world champion Andrea Bonezzi (Luca’s brother). They have recently won the European championship, a world championship, multiple Italian championships and Swiss, French and German championships… they have won just about everything and are consistently on the top podium, occupying 80 percent of the top ten positions.

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FORTY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

“We built our first Contender in 1978, acquiring the builders license since 1991, and went on with wooden boats, until 2011. From that year Bonezzi Sailing was born and started making plastic boats, with traditional and wet system, from 2012 I started making them in infusion. We handcraft the boats in our shipyard in Riva del Garda, thus being able to guarantee total control of production and ensuring a high degree of customization: in fact, our boats can have a wide variety of finishes, from simple painting to the use of aluminized fabrics and wood.”

PRICES AND NEWS

The price of the Vtr boat is about 12,000 euros + VAT, the boat with wood finish costs 2000 euros more (also + VAT). And there is already a new development in sight…. Luca Bonezzi anticipates to us that “we are already thinking, given the success of this idea, to propose for promotional purposes to make SUPs (Stand Up Paddle) with the same hollow technology with which we make boats, which would be so lightweight and equally customizable in wood.”

For info: http://www.bonezzisailing.it/

Luigi Gallerani

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