World's first titanium anchoring system

Challenge

Baltic Yachts has a good working relationship with Bowmaster, most recently working on the successful launch of Pink Gin.

When Baltic approached Bowmaster to design this underwater system, it was an unusual request from the outset.

They were planning to use the new Bowmaster subplough system already drawn by designer Malcolm McKeon, however the design team at Baltic wanted to add another twist. The owner wanted a system as light as possible to ensure the vessel was competitive in racing.

Solution

This was the first time Bowmaster had fabricated in titanium. The process undertaken was original and unique. Whilst the team followed design principles from
previous fabrication, fabricating it from grade 5 titanium posed its own challenges.

The team started with the build of a titanium cleanroom. Titanium is highly reactive and so Bowmaster had to ensure that there would be no stainless steel impurities in the room during the welding process. They also installed a positive air pressure system for the room to ensure that clean air was continually feeding the room.

The welding was certified to the American Welding Standard and Bowmaster enlisted help from a NASA technician based in San Diego in order to complete the welder certification.

The process of welding titanium is a lot slower than conventional welding due to the gas shielding that is required but the team reacted and evolved, different cutting and forming was employed to manipulate the plates and a process was devised that brought the team up to speed with the new techniques.

The system design was also different with much thinner sections being utilised due to the high strength nature of Grade 5 titanium.

While the challenge was uncharted waters for the design team, it was a massive success and the final design exceeded all expectations. S/Y Liara debuted at the 2019 Monaco Yacht Show.

https://bowmaster.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Baltic-Liara.pdf