COOMERA, QUEENSLAND – Work on the development of Riviera’s sporty and adventurous new 395 SUV has reached an important milestone at the company’s yard in Coomera, south-east Queensland.
The 395 SUV will have its World Premiere at the 2018 Festival of Boating beginning on Thursday, May 24.
The plugs that will be used to develop the moulds for the hull, deck and accommodation deck headliner have been separated and moved to the lamination facility.
The hull plug has been turned upside down to complete fairing that ensures a super-smooth surface, with special attention being paid to the Riviera running surface, including the keel and strakes, designed for optimum performance with Volvo Penta IPS propulsion.
That completed, painting of the hull plug has begun. This is a two-coat process – first an undercoat is applied, allowed to dry and then sanded smooth. Then the grey topcoat is applied, heralding the next step of moulding.
All plugs have now been completed and will be moved to the mould shed progressively. A number of the plugs are critical to the build and take priority. While the hull, deck, hard top and windscreen plugs are obviously important, there are a number of small parts that will also take priority.
Middle: The faired running surface with keel and strakes carefully designed for optimum performance with Volvo Penta IPS propulsion.
Bottom: The 395 windscreen plug ready for mould lamination.
The battery boxes are small parts that are critical to development.
While they are small and may seem relatively insignificant, their position in the motor yacht is vital to its stability and they must be placed during the engineering phase of a build when all of the engine room components are installed and before the deck is joined.
Some small parts, on the other hand, will not be needed until the final fitout stage of the build.
Close attention to detail includes the addition of flanges on all plugs. The flanges are used when the many fibreglass components that make up the 395 SUV are lifted from their moulds. Because they must lift straight out, flanges are the only way to grip the component.
Once released from the mould, each flange is cut away with high precision. A diamond cutter runs along the flange, cutting exactly 5mm above the flange surface to complete the precision part.
Locator marks are another important addition to this stage of the process. These show the team exactly where two parts come together to be glued. Each of the two parts is carefully designed to ensure that excess glue is pushed outward to be discarded, not inward, ensuring that there is no excess weight in the yacht.
We will continue to follow the progress of the build on this exciting new motor yacht through each stage as she moves toward her world premiere on May 24, 2018.
