Luxury yacht deck vent was improved with the help of GrabCAD engineers.
Saare Yachts is a luxury yacht builder making yachts from 38 to 46 feet. Their craftsmen’s skills are employed creating an ensemble of the best of time-tested composite materials and components supplied by well-known manufacturers. The minds behind Saare Yachts are Karl-Johan Stråhlmann, a renowned Finnish designer, Stig Nordblad, founder of Finngulf Yachts OY, and Saare Paat’s own CEO Peeter Sääsk. Karl-Johan Stråhlmann’s vast experience has translated into a well-balanced cruiser that is a pleasure to sail even with limited crew. Saare yachts are spacious and safe while also capable of dashing across water at racing speed. Saare Yachts was a nominee for European Yacht of the Year 2009/2010.
The challenge was to design and engineer a deck vent solution that works both when the sailboat is on the sea and also when docked in the harbor. Deck vent lets the fresh air into the yacht's cabin to keep the humidity levels inside and outside as even as possible.
The ventilator had to be easily adjustable to let in as much or as little air as the crew wishes, it needs to operate smoothly (seawater and dirt are constant concerns), have a visual indication that shows how open or closed the vent currently is, and be low maintenance.
The vents currently used had a couple of problems – a threaded system is not the best for the sea as the dirt and salty sea water can enter the thread, making the adjustment of the vent difficult or impossible. Secondly, the threaded system is not the most user-friendly option as it can take more than 10 turns of the knob to fully close the vent. As said earlier, there are also no indicators telling whether the vent is open or closed. In addition to that, Saare Yachts wanted to see alternative materials instead of stainless steel.
The Challenge deadline was set to 12 days - enough time for the engineers to develop their work. Among GrabCAD's 22,000 engineers there are hundreds of them with marine industry background so 100 results at the end of the challenge was not a big surprise. Saare Yachts chose the winner from the results: robust and foolproof closing mechanism was the reason why Tanel's design came out at the top. There's no doubt this one can be closed firmly and opened in a quick move. Simple design, few parts, different approach to the closing system - it was all there.
The yacht company retained all rights to the IP of the results.
Saare Yachts took away:
- Large selection of practical solutions for the design challenge
- Saved time and company's own engineering resources
- Great additional ideas for further product development
- Technical and design solutions 'outside the box' - models the company's own engineers had not thought of.
Please have a look at the Challenge details, results and comments here.
Read the winner announcement here.
"The Challenge delivered us lots of great solutions which we can develop further and integrate into our yachts."
Peeter Saask, Managing Director, Saare Yachts
In summary the Challenge has helped the yacht company to improve the deck vent solution for their yachts which is an essential component for their customer experience.
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