Working closely with luxury yacht shipbuilder Van der Valk Shipyard, Refitech designed and supplied a series of detachable carbon fibre poles to support the sun awnings of the yard’s latest model, the BeachClub 660 Flybridge. This not only adds ease of handling and aesthetics of the carbon look, but has the additional benefit of corrosion resistance, an important quality in the salty environment of a seagoing luxury yacht.
‘Our BeachClub 660 Flybridge features numerous deck sockets that are integrated in different areas of the yacht,’ explains Valentijn Roos, Project Engineer at Van der Valk Shipyard. ‘The sockets are positioned in such a way that both the front deck and the cockpit deck of the yacht can be protected from direct sunlight. They allow for the poles of the sun awning to be set up quickly and easily when the yacht is moored or anchored. And of course they can be easily disconnected and stored, when the yacht is underway. Further, as we want to maximise the living area on our yachts, room for storage is limited. Therefore the two taller awning poles were produced in a 2-piece version, enabling them to be stored in a compacter space’.
‘In close collaboration with Van der Valk’s engineering department, we produced a combination of three client-specific inserts that fit into carbon tubes,’ adds Bas Nijpels, Sales Engineer at Refitech. ‘The inserts are CNC-milled out of stainless steel and POM (Polyoxymethylene), a high performance thermoplastic that is ideal for precision parts requiring high stiffness, low friction, and dimensional stability, as well as corrosion resistance. Two male inserts mount the poles into the deck sockets, while the combination of male and female inserts give the client the option to unscrew the 2 meter lang front poles into two 1 meter sections in order to be easily stored.’
‘We came across Refitech a few years ago when we needed a carbon plate for one of our yacht designs and found those on Carbonwebshop.com, Refitech’s web shop for standard carbon components,’ continues Valentijn Roos. ‘In December 2021 we contacted them again to help us build an awning for the sundeck of our latest yacht, the BeachClub 660 Flybridge. We already had some experience with carbon components and wanted to use it for this project because of its strength and low weight. However, we were under a lot of time pressure, as the yacht was to be showcased at the 2022 Dubai Boat Show that took place in March. Luckily Refitech lived up to our expectations in every aspect. Communication was quick and easy, as we are based on the same industrial estate. And they came up with a design that fits perfectly into the luxurious design of this beautiful yacht, and in time for the boat to be shown at the Dubai show. We’ll definitely will work with them again in the future.’
The BeachClub series was launched by Van der Valk Shipyard in early 2019 and won them the prestigious World Yachts Trophies award Cannes Yachting Festival in September of that year for ‘Most Innovative Yacht’ in the 45ft to 64ft category.
