This owner had enough experience with how he used his boats to know that he would want a part-time captain, but didn't want the captain to have to settle for second-class accommodations. Many small motoryachts are sold without thought to future crew needs, or with a completely separate and cramped hole for a paid hand. One example of a carefully thought out detail is the crew accommodations. A low target cruise speed allowed for a spacious semi-displacement hull with lots of room for machinery, tankage, and generous spaces above and below decks. The arrangement is simple, but carefully refined. As the design developed, the owner pushed us to think outside the box and worked with us to develop a truly unique look that ticked all the boxes of his use profile. The design brief originally called for a very traditional early 1900s aesthetic, inspired by the Elco cruisers and Lake Union Dreamboats. In this case, speed took a back seat to comfort, both at dock and underway. When a longtime sailor considers transitioning to a motoryacht, the design brief is always unique. At the end of it, we have a set of drawings and specifications needed to put together a complete bid package. This phase is called the preliminary design phase. Every change to one area has a follow-on effect elsewhere in the design, so it takes many passes around the design spiral to produce a complete, cohesive design. Every element of a yacht is interrelated, so this isn’t a linear process. Along the way, we continue to meet with the client and incorporate their feedback into our design process. The design process is often referred to as a spiral – starting with broad brushstrokes, we create and refine 3D shapes, engineer structures, lay out systems, optimize the sailplan and powering, and run weight and balance analysis. Once we have a preliminary concept, the real design work begins. This is an iterative process, and typically involves several rounds of sketches and meetings to refine the concept. This is typically a simple 2D sketch of an outboard profile and arrangement, something real to help guide the design process and narrow in on a design that captures the client’s vision. The hefty displacement provides lots of elbow room down below, generous space for tankage, and spacious locker spaces for cruising gear.īased on that brief we will sketch a preliminary concept. The deck-saloon arrangement keeps the raised pilothouse space and above-deck nav station, but brings the galley and living spaces down into the cozy interior. A pilothouse arrangement with the galley up melds inside and outside spaces, allowing for "above deck" living whatever the weather. We developed two arrangement concepts based on the same parent hull shape. This is a great way to go in coastal areas, but when exploring some of the more rugged parts of the world it's hard to beat the seakeeping and carrying capacity that comes with displacement. Our focus is typically on pushing displacement as low as possible to maximize performance and minimize loads. This design was not commissioned by a particular customer, but represents a concept for a handsomely rugged offshore cruiser unlike anything else on the market today. What particularly got his attention was how comfortable this small, but heavy boat was in the big seas and high winds off the coast of Tasmania. While in Tasmania for the wooden boat show, Eric Blake, one of our project managers, had the opportunity to spend some time cruising aboard a lovely little motor sailor. The first Arohadesign to be built is named Nymph and was launched in 2021. But, at an optimal cruise speed of about 10-12 knots, she burns just under 1 gal of fuel per hour - roughly 12 Nmi to the gallon! Her 38hp diesel engine pushes her along at around 15 knots wide open. This design showcases how amazingly efficient a lightweight, long, and narrow powerboat can be with moderate power. Several more have been launched and dozens more are under construction all over the world. In 2021, we launched the first hull to this design. While keeping the overall design of the boat true to Peter's concept, we redesigned the structure and build methods to simplify the construction and produced a full set of drawings and CNC cut jigwork. After years of circling back to this design, we partnered with Off Center Harbor and Peter to bring this design to the homebuild market. Many years ago, Wooden Boat published a tantalizing article about a small yacht called Whio built by Peter Sewell down in New Zealand.
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