Designing & Building Hammerhead

[JWellington]

Salty Pellican: I had meant to ask you if when checking out boats, you looked at the dutch, Deep Water Yachts, Korvet 19LR. This boat is rather simliar to yours. Did you consider it, reject it , make comparisons with yours?

 

[Salty Pelican]

Hi JWellington,

I know about the project, and I know the owner of the business, and NA of their projects. We even visited a Korvet 14.

Beautifully made ships, but with a focus on going fast rather than with the stamina we are looking for. These boats have oversized double engines that can take'm up to 18-20 knots. Yes, slowing them down creates a much bigger range, potentially ocean crossing, but I am a bit worried about lower speed sea handling of "bigger bottom" ships at lower speeds, with a hull design optimized for planing.

Our boat can go to speeds of 11.5 knots, but is optimized for continuous speeds of 10 knots. That asks for different design decisions. Our ship is aimed to be comfortable at sea, very efficient, and with an impressive range. We sacrifice some harbor comfort in the process: less living space. But since we are, well, with just the two of us most of the time, 2 rooms and an integrated salon/galley/helm station is perfectly fine.

Also, we wanted an interior lay-out that was very different from Korvet's. An open salon/galley/inside steering position and primary sleeping rooms away from the nose and stern (so closer to the center of the ship), yet with a "layer" between engine room and sleeping room for sound dampening. This "layer" is formed by the showers/toilets.

All ships, as I learned, are compromises. I'd say our ship is the compromise we feel very comfortable with. We don't want top speed, but we do want high continuous speeds for very long stretches.

Regards, Edwin & Veronika.

 

[JWellington]

Salty Pelican......we figured the same and would prefer yours for all those reasons. Thanks.

 

[dannc]

Salty Pellican: I had meant to ask you if when checking out boats, you looked at the dutch, Deep Water Yachts, Korvet 19LR. This boat is rather simliar to yours. Did you consider it, reject it , make comparisons with yours?

K&M have their Bestevaer 53 motor yacht that is similar to the Korvets but it too is a semi displacement hull and not like the full displacement like Hammerhead, the LRCs, FPBs, etc.

https://www.kmy.nl/view-models/motoryacht/

Later,
Dan

 

[JWellington]

dannc.....yes, and my group preffer ful displ. Slow and ugly is for us.

 

[Mako]

Your large forepeak storage area will come in handy on your exploration vessel. There are a lot of heavy weights up there though. Dive compressor, steel scuba tanks (don’t buy aluminum), extra anchor, plus your windlass and ground tackle.

Try to mount the heaviest weights against the aft bulkhead to get far from the bow. Or perhaps can relocate the dive gear to your stern lazarette / steering compartment.

 

[twistedtree]

dannc.....yes, and my group preffer ful displ. Slow and ugly is for us.

Makes sense, but then not understanding why you keep bringing up semi displacement and planing boats?

 

[dannc]

...

Try to mount the heaviest weights against the aft bulkhead to get far from the bow. Or perhaps can relocate the dive gear to your stern lazarette / steering compartment.

And along the vein of thought, could the anchor rode/chain be led back to a storage area further aft? Some of the Bestevaer sail boats have done this to get the weight out of the bow. Having said that, Hammerhead might have enough weight and length so that the anchor and rode weight in the bow is an issue.

First thing I thought of when I saw the forward layout.

Later,
Dan

 

[Salty Pelican]

Thanks for sharing, y'all.

NA is keeping a close eye on weight distribution and trim levels, both at full fuel capacity and (near) empty.

Yeah, we spoke extensively with Euwe and Jildou of KMYachts as well. Their Bestevaer series is a nice off-shore cruiser, but not a true long range vessel. Lovely build quality. Pretty fast. Nice, understated, almost Scandinavian interior and exterior, that I love. But - again - with a semi-planing hull, compromising sea handling at lower speeds and eating away at long range.

Also, now that I think of it, both the Korvet and the Bestevaer had another issue I didn't like. I know it is a personal thing, and many may see it different, but I'll share it anyhow: visibility from the inside steering position.

In the case of the Bestevaer aft sight lines were pretty good, but forward felt limited. Difficult to view over the the bow, looking forward. I really don't like that. Korvet was a bit hampered looking back and either the seats were too high or the roof too low, but I couldn't look left or right, out of the windows, without lowering myself. And I am just 6 feet (most Dutch men are 2 inches taller).

I bring this up, because it made me realize something I want and need in my cars and in my boats as well. Good visibility all around. Now, again, I don't mean this as criticism. Just me sharing my preferences and what I think is important. I sorta see myself looking outside of those windows for the bigger part of the day. And if it annoys me after a short one hour visit, imagine how it will haunt me on longer passages ...

JWellington, thanks for the kudo's and for your interest in our project! If you want to learn more, don't hesitate to reach out. And I think that the Hammerhead is neither ugly, nor slow ...

Regards, Edwin.

 

[twistedtree]

Thanks for sharing, y'all.

NA is keeping a close eye on weight distribution and trim levels, both at full fuel capacity and (near) empty.

Yeah, we spoke extensively with Euwe and Jildou of KMYachts as well. Their Bestevaer series is a nice off-shore cruiser, but not a true long range vessel. Lovely build quality. Pretty fast. Nice, understated, almost Scandinavian interior and exterior, that I love. But - again - with a semi-planing hull, compromising sea handling at lower speeds and eating away at long range.

Also, now that I think of it, both the Korvet and the LM had another thing I didn't like. I know it is a personal thing, and many may see it different, but I'll share it anyhow: visibility from the inside steering position.

In the case of the LM aft sight lines were pretty good, but forward felt limited. Difficult to view over the the bow, looking forward. I really don't like that. Korvet was a bit hampered looking back and either the seats were too high or the roof too low, but I couldn't look left or right, out of the windows, without lowering myself. And I am just 6 feet (most Dutch men are 2 inches taller).

I bring this up, because it made me realize something I want and need in my cars and in my boats as well. Good visibility all around. Now, again, I don't mean this as criticism. Just me sharing my preferences and what I think is important. I sorta see myself looking outside of those windows for the bigger part of the day. And if it annoys me after a short one hour visit, imagine how it will haunt me on longer passages ...

JWellington, thanks for the kudo's and for your interest in our project! If you want to learn more, don't hesitate to reach out. And I think that the Hammerhead is neither ugly, nor slow ...

Regards, Edwin.

I share you desire for good all-around visibility from the helm. We made a number of changes on our boat to accomplish that.


Speaking of visibility, how does that work from your aft/cockpit station? I couldn't figure it out from the various renderings. Is forward visibility through the stateroom windows? Or do you peer around the sides of the house? Or maybe look over the house as you would in a sail boat?

 

[Salty Pelican]

Hi TwistedTree,

For the outside steering position, visibility (well, to me at least) is equally important. There is a steering wheel center line. With a back rest. Steering from that position one can easily see over the roof of the salon. Good sight lines.

Another option is to sit down at the outside settee, which is to starboard. Sitting down, the steering wheel can be manipulated as well. And one can see forward through the windows. I expect one sits down and steers outside only in good weather conditions. So the door to the saloon can even be open, increasing visibility.

I'll see if I can find some pics / representations of sight lines!

Thinking about it ... sight lines and great visibility have been pretty much at the center of my mind, when designing the Hammerhead.

Regards, Edwin.

 

[Salty Pelican]

Sight lines

Here's a pic of the Hammerhead when we still had the fixed solar pannel roof that we dropped. Sight lines forward in the picture and pretty good. That's for the outside standing steering position, center line.

Regards, Edwin.

 

[twistedtree]

Here's a pic of the Hammerhead when we still had the fixed solar pannel roof that we dropped. Sight lines forward in the picture and pretty good. That's for the outside standing steering position, center line.

Regards, Edwin.

Got it, thanks. Now I see how it works.

 

[Salty Pelican]

NA's are working on a few sight-line drawings to make things even more clear.

Regards, Edwin & Veronika.

 

[Salty Pelican]

All right folks,

Here are two more pictures of the sight-lines from the outside steering position. The first picture shows the sight-line from the center line, stand-up steering position. It also shows the sight-line from sitting down, outside, on the starboard settee.

In both cases, the steering wheel or autopilot can be used.

Happy to inform you that also the outside steering position certifies for the 2xLWL rule. See the second picture for that, please.

Regard, Edwin.

 

[dannc]

Also, now that I think of it, both the Korvet and the Bestevaer had another issue I didn't like. I know it is a personal thing, and many may see it different, but I'll share it anyhow: visibility from the inside steering position.
...

Visibility is a big deal, and it seems many boats do not have good, or ANY visibility, aft. Having good visibility aft is a big deal for me.

My guess that my sensitivity about aft visibility is from being in small and/or slow boats, from canoe and kayaks where fast boats are a real threat, but even in decent sized sailboats, one needs to watch for the fast boats coming from behind. So many power boats have limited or no aft visibility.

That is a no go for us.

Later,
Dan

 

[Salty Pelican]

First Blog post on our new website is out:

https://www.lmyachts.com/blog/

We plan to put out many more!

By the way, just thinking of it ... if you have Q's or topics you want us to dive into, please let us know!

Regards, Edwin & Veronika.

 

[Salty Pelican]

Discharge schematics

Here are the schematics of our common discharge system.

Regards, Edwin & Veronika.

 

[Hippocampus]

Just curious-why did you pick Cantran Galema?

 

[Salty Pelican]

Good question! And an important one.

We picked Catran for a number of reasons:
1. His allround expertise based on 20 years of experience;
2. His specific expertise with aluminium as well as sail boats;
3. His experience to deliver at the highest levels, based on his work for Feadship;
4. He came recommended by a good friend of us, that worked in the yachting industry.

But most of all, we selected to work with Catran, because he listens. I am an innovator and designer and engineer. I have changed the alcohol industry with my designs and innovations. For those projects that I am passionate about, I usually know what I want. And what it needs, engineering-wise, to get there.

I knew pretty well what I wanted in my boat and how the specs I desired could be achieved, in more generalized terms. We needed an NA to help us further the project, check what we thought, improve upon it, do calculations, come with additional proposals, and fill in the details and more.

When we had our design brief ready, I first reached out to the most famous Dutch NA. He told us that he was very willing to help. Only, I went in with my plans, and came out with his: a 49 feet trawler that could travel at 28 knots and had rooms and spaces and tanks in the most inconvenient places. Nothing like we wanted, nothing that even closely resembled our design brief. When we spoke about this, he said as much as: "Yeah, that's because you don't have my experience and expertise. Belief me, you want my design, as I proposed it to you." Turns out he had that design ready and was selling it to as many people as possible. So we didn't hire him.

With that experience, I visited the second best known NA in the Netherlands. I explained what I wanted and what had gone wrong with the first potential NA. He said he'd do better ... and then tried to sell us a 2x450 hp Volvo Penta Pod powered semi-planing design. Yeah, both ships could do close to 30 knots and had the range to cross over to England, not to New England (we are in Europe).

That was it. No more prima donnas for us. We needed someone to help us, not someone to dictate us. Our good friend Wim, who works in the yachting industry, was the one I reached out to. Basically to complain and vent-off steam. He suggested I reach out to Catran.

When we spoke to Catran, we did the talking. He just listened and asked questions. A few days later he had drawn up three basic design schetses. Each and every one of them was an almost exact interpretation of what we wanted.

Long answer, but it is an important question. I think that many "established" and well-known NA's have preconceived ideas on what sailors should want. And they upsell you in that direction (maybe "downselling" is a better word, here). You are there to push their portfolio. We needed someone more down to earth, more open-minded, and with a supportive mindset. Supportive to our ideas and dreams.

Catran delivers on that every day.

Regards, Edwin.

 

[Hippocampus]

Why LM ? For us New Englanders LM means Lyman Morse.

 

[Mako]

Edwin, I haven't seen a common discharge system before. Very interesting. A few comments/questions for you:

• The plan view shows the watermaker and parallel drive exiting to port, not starboard like the balance of systems, but the section view shows all six from one header;
• Wouldn't it be preferred to have your black (treatment) at the bottom of the stack, followed by grey and then others, finally with chiller at the top, to promote flushing of the pipe?
• Also, I would be concerned about bacteria working its way back through the discharge lines to your watermaker. Even though this is a remote possibility, for sanitary reasons you may wish to have a separate discharge.
• You show a double seachest with crossover, which is a first class system utilized by ships. I assume the removable tops are above the waterline for cleaning. Will the manifold system be cupronickel (with galvanic isolators) or aluminum? Reference to fouling, eventually that horizontal section will need cleaning of growth, as will the ball valves (what material are they?), so perhaps think about how to accommodate that.

 

[JWellington]

Edwin, exactly re those NAs that want a boat they THINK you should prefer. Stick to your guns on that!

 

[Salty Pelican]

Answering the "LM" question first:

To us it means Liquid Management. It stands for the distillation innovation that we pioneered and that basically funds this boat building project.

And it stands for our approach to the underwater-ship design, that aims to manage the liquids it encounters both efficiently and comfortably. An outside-in approach to ship design, rather than the conventional inside-out thinking towards motor yacht design.

More on that in a Blog post a month and a half from now.

"65" stands for the overall length in feet.

"h" stands for hybrid, referring to the electric back-up propulsion as well as the kite-sail option.

Regards, Edwin & Veronika.

 

[Salty Pelican]

JWellington, thanks on that. And - yes - we will stick to our guns!

Mako, thanks for asking and sharing. Much appreciated. I'll relay your remarks/feedback/questions to our NA, so that we can answer it properly.

Regards, Edwin.

 

[Salty Pelican]

Hi Mako (e.a.),

Hereby the answers of our NA to the feedback and questions given and posed by Mako:

"
Hi Edwin,

Hereby the reply to the feedback:

The common discharge is used by multiple yards building serious offshore cruisers to reduce the amount of “holes in the bottom”
Such as AMEL yard in France.
- The black water has it’s own thru hull for exactly the concern of cross contamination.
- The treated water should be neutral and free of pathogens.
- I like the idea of flushing and we will adjust from “clean” at top to “dirty” at the bottom.
- I see the concern about cross contamination. To my knowledge bacteria wouldn’t like the high salt content of the brine discharge and even if they would make it through they would not fit through the reverse osmosis membrane to contaminate anything.
- The double crossover with sea chest is standard in all yachts I have worked on even as small as 15m. They provide the only way of dealing with contaminated seawater and especially with all the plastic floating around being able to clear the intake while remaining under power is an important safety feature appreciated in bad weather. The entire crossover is made of aluminium to reduce galvanic corrosion issues.
The chests are just above the waterline to be able to clear a clogged intake by poking down.
The ball valves are flanged so the entire cross over can be removed for cleaning if required even with the boat in the water.

Greetz,

Catran
"

Regards, Edwin.

 

[Mako]

Sounds like a great system

 

[Salty Pelican]

Thanks.

 

[Salty Pelican]

The beauty of the whole solution, which, as I now understand, isn't standard practice in North America, is:
- Redundancy (two openings);
- Multi-functionality;
- Safety (placed far apart so that a plastic bag will only clog-up one of the two);
- Ease of operation (you simply poke down, vertically, with a stick to remove the clog);
- Ease of cleaning (via down-flush, thanks Mako);
- Ease of service-ability (whole unit can be closed/detached, even in the water)
- Easy access (for easy hourly visual check-ups while underway)

One of the things Catran explained to me, is that easy access is one of the most underrated "safety" issues in engine room design. There is a natural psychological tendency in human beings to check those things that are easily checked. For those checks that ask from us that we almost break our necks or backs, well, we intend to "invent" reasons why a check isn't needed at all.

That's why this system (and filtration, and fuel level indicators, etc.) is in sight, and close to the opening of engine room.

Regards, Edwin.

 

[Hippocampus]

+1 on Catran’s opinion about servicing. Think he’s likely a seaman. When looking at N.A.s think there’s a difference between those who have had occasion to cruise and operate boats and those for whom design is an exercise at a computer station.