Italia Yachts 14.98 Technical Briefing

With its way of being IY14.98 represents the step towards a new goal. It’s the new interpretation of the performance cruiser with comfortable interiors and luxury sailing style. Fully capable in cruising and regattas.

Objective: Performance

The design process starts from a simple drawing that leads into 3D models to form the construction plan of the hull. The lines of IY14.98 are born from the precise intent of obtaining the best performance in every occasion and condition.

The waterline hull shape, modelled with the help of a Velocity Prediction Program (VPP), is slightly biased towards the bow, thus ensuring a good volume forward for allowing for stability and not to sink in windward sailing, avoiding excessive broaches and giving excellent control at close angles to the wind. At the same time, the lines open wide at the stern to give excellent control at speed.

The hull lines are designed specifically to lengthen the waterline and increase buoyancy (and therefore increase the boat speed) while remaining symmetrical even up to medium-high heel angles, this allows the new yacht of the Italia Yachts shipyard to mount a large sail plan, with an eye to lightness but giving superior control and handling even at high heel angles.

Structural Design

The performance of a performing yacht like IY14.98 is directly linked to its structure. In racing, in fact, where the boat settings are brought to their limits and where the weather conditions that can be tackled can be extreme, the entire hull structure is subjected to intense stresses.

This required a careful structural analysis by the designer, which guarantees the correct longitudinal and transverse rigidity to ensure the hull shape does not deform from great pressures during sailing. Precisely with this objective in mind the structure of IY14.98 was designed, looking for high-level structural rigidity but trying to maintain a marked lightness and therefore excellent performance in terms of speed and manoeuvrability. To do this, we have tried to combine the great experience of Italia Yachts on the racecourse with the equally great experience of a more than renowned study of structural design, obtaining a mix halfway between the structures that can be found today in a high-performance cruising yacht and a pure thoroughbred racer.

For a structural size that guarantees performance that Italia Yachts wants from IY14.98, we started from the parameters of the structural standards of cruising yachts, looking then, through the use of advanced tools such as Finite Element Analysis, to get the necessary structural rigidity that also allowed for the needed lightness, this is, trying not to unnecessarily oversize and lose performance.

In order to accomplish this, it was necessary to start with the choice of technology to be used for laminating the hull and carbon fibre reinforced structural grid with vacuum infusion.

Bulkheads

Much of the structural rigidity and function of holding the shape of the hull is by the marine plywood bulkheads, which become the structural members with the deck and the hull thus allowing for the unloading of stresses across a large surface.

Structural Ring Frame

A basic concept for excellent structural rigidity, longitudinal but above all transversely, is the structural continuity which is obtained with a closed ring to release stresses across the hull and deck. This is fundamental for the standing rigging of the mast, in IY14.98 this is obtained starting from the Y-shape of the shrouds, which continue down the structural rib into the grid. This also ties into the deck as once it is joined with the hull they form a one-piece structural ring with an overhead that is specifically built to work as an internal finish and form a structural component.

Structural Grid

The main structural heart is composed of the grid, a structure pre-laminated in carbon and fibreglass and finished by a layer of gelcoat. It consists of unidirectional fibres to guarantee structural rigidity in the rigging and keel, then longitudinally and transversely. To ensure the grid absorbs and redistributes all the loads, it is not simply glued in place but forms part of the hull by being bonded and tabbed in place.

Rigging Attachment

The use of a Y-shape for unloading the rigging stresses has a twofold advantage, a reduction in mechanical connections each of which could lead to structural weakness and above all a better hull load discharge capacity of the stresses coming from the rigging.

Vacuum Bag Infusion

The vacuum bag infusion process is an alternative structural lamination technique to manual lamination. In this process, a precise amount of epoxy resin is infused into the layers of carbon and glass and uniformly saturates the laminate. This creates a light but extremely durable structure. The fabrics are laid bidirectionally with added reinforcement of high load area with unidirectional carbon fibres. The core PVC foam and solid laminate in areas of high load.

Infusion has major advantages over manual lamination, as well as being controllable at every stage of the process in a repeatable way, without the need of the operator’s hand, this allows better absorption of the epoxy resin and this has a positive impact on the quality of the composite: less material (and this guarantees more lightness) and a better ration of fibres per unit of material composite, i.e. better mechanical properties.

Sail Plan

The hull lines, the specifically studied structure and the construction technologies used allows IY14.98 to carry a powerful and oversized sail plan with respect to the size and especially the weight of the boat. This requires careful and correct allocation of weight on board but above all the use of ballast the guarantees an adequate righting moment.

The T-keel with a lead torpedo (ORC) is designed in two different sizes, 3m (9’ 11”) and 2.5m (8’4”) and the shape of the foil used has been studied through fluid dynamic analysis software specifically to optimize the blade in IRC competition. A shoal-draft 1.9m (6’ 3”) keel is available.

With a stainless steel core to ensure its secure rigidity and stability, it has a shell laminated by vacuum bagged infusion on a female mould in order to ensure the moulding precision of the keel profile and therefore the perfect flow of the fluid dynamics.

For further information about the new Italia 14.98 Bellissima or Fuoriserie, brochures and price lists, any information on any other boat in the Italia Yachts range, please contact us.