Playing an important role in the development of the first WallyCento sailing yacht Hamilton by Wally Yachts, the marine engineering specialist C‐Designs is celebrating her successful launch. As a leader in the design as well as installation of complex mechanical, electrical and hydraulic yacht systems, C‐Designs has been responsible for the complete engineering package onboard the new Hamilton superyacht.
WallyCento superyacht Hamilton with complete engineering package by C-Designs
C‐Designs has delivered highly challenging performance requirements whilst at the same time meeting the exceptionally demanding weight and volume parameters determined by the WallyCento design. The result is a comprehensive suite of innovative, custom systems that enable the WallyCento superyacht Hamilton to meet the class rules requiring that it be a superyacht capable of both fast racing and comfortable cruising.
C‐Designs devoted over 9000 man‐hours to the WallyCento luxury yacht Hamilton, with every detail of the piping, electrical and hydraulic equipment routing planned and modelled using the latest 3D software. Not only did many of the systems need to be configured in such a way that they required much less space than is typical, but they also had to be designed utilising exotic materials to further minimise the weight. Carbon fibre, height strength alloys and titanium were widely used throughout.
One area that demanded particular attention was the highly complex hydraulic system. Hydraulic power is used throughout the Hamilton yacht to manage the enormous loads generated by the rig and the demands of the racing crew for fast efficient sail handling around the race course. The challenge for CDesigns was to create a powerful hydraulic system capable of generating the necessary power and distributing it around the boat, while at the same time keeping total weight to a minimum.
The whole system is controlled by a PLC (programmable logic controller) allowing local control and monitoring over a can bus distributed control network, vastly reducing the amount of cables required.
One feature of this is simple touchscreen control of hydraulic performance, giving the choice of sport or cruise modes and automatically adjusting the settings to allow for either safe short‐handed cruising or flat‐out around the cans racing demands. The use of hi‐tech Aramid hosing throughout the superyacht Hamilton for the hydraulic fluid also helps deliver the necessary weight savings.
Other examples of the challenges that C‐Designs faced included those of trimming the weight of the hydraulic lifting cylinders for the keel, which was accomplished by redesigning them to utilise carbon fibre wrapping reinforced high strength alloy cylinder rather than conventional steel, allowing for the weight saved to be concentrated in the keel bulb to give maximum possible righting moment.
Another was the design of a retractable drive system that would ensure minimal drag when not in use and efficient smooth propulsion when required. This was achieved using a carbon skeg arrangement incorporating a compact spherical titanium thrust bearing and seal arrangement simply deployed by a hydraulic cylinder.
Other solutions for weight saving were carefully considered. Down to the smallest detail of carbon pipe racking and cable support systems, equipment seatings and watertight pipe and cable transits, every practical opportunity to save weight in the systems was given the highest priority.
Nick McGarry Managing Director commented, “This was a very demanding project undertaken on a tight time schedule and I am very proud of the contribution the C‐Designs team has made towards fulfilling the brief. Our long experience in optimising the systems for sailing superyachts undertaking both racing and cruising enabled us to devise solutions for the Wallycento that are both innovative and practical.”
