4/23/12: NEB's Latest Launch – Hull 57 “Pure performance personified”
Hap Fauth’s new Judel/Vrolijk 72 (
www.judel-vrolijk.com) was launched at NEB Monday April 16th. Hap and the Bella Mente crew were joined by NEB partners Tom Rich, David MacBain and Steven Casella as well as the NEB build crew for the occasion. The state of the art IRC Mini-Maxi hit the water to begin tuning and testing in preparation for the upcoming Newport to Bermuda Race in June.
Tooling for components on this project was created in-house with the aid of NEB’s 3D CAD capabilities to program NEB’s large scale 5 axis CNC router. The recent addition of an autoclave at NEB allowed high temperature processing for structural components including the high aspect 4.4 meter rudder and the 3.4 meter – intermediate modulus carbon bow prod in house. NEB’s head composite boat builder, Don Watson, commented that “All of these new resources allow the builder to fabricate increasingly complex parts with the assurance of very high quality”. Some suggest that the methods and technology employed on NEB’s latest launch could rival aircraft technology. In any case, this one certainly looks like she could fly!
An ultra high modulus seamless carbon spar package from Hall Spars in Bristol, RI (
www.hallspars.com) was ready to be stepped and tuned while the NEB build crew completed commissioning. Team Belle Mente’s project manager Rob Ouelette along with boat captain Peter Henderson are anxious to begin sea trials after a winter of long hours working alongside builders from NEB in the company's recently upgraded composites building facility. Structural component design & engineering was provided by RI based SDK Structures (
www.sdkstructures.com).
Click photo to enlarge
Hap Fauth’s new Judel/Vrolijk 72 (www.judel-vrolijk.com) was launched at NEB Monday April 16th. Hap and the Bella Mente crew were joined by NEB partners Tom Rich, David MacBain and Steven Casella as well as the NEB build crew for the occasion. The state of the art IRC Mini-Maxi hit the water to begin tuning and testing in preparation for the upcoming Newport to Bermuda Race in June.
