Super Yachts: Building World's Most Technologically Advanced Yachts | Free Documentary

we live in a fast-moving world all around us the most extraordinary processes [Music] with access to some of the most fascinating factories i take you behind the scenes to reveal their production secrets from craft workshops to international industries [Music] join me francesca quirando as we explore the world's ultimate processes [Music] today it's all about boats i'm out on the water finding out exactly how they're made from handcrafted cruisers to these state of the art super yachts using cutting-edge technology and with looks to kill how much would we be looking at for one of these 20 million euros i'll take one come on [Music] we follow the construction from beginning to end making them demands experience and a mastery of some amazing processes including the use of carbon fiber to make the sale it was a very innovative product the first building in the world with the carbo fiber mask carbon fiber how from the painstaking skills needed to mold a hull right through to the final launch and what better place to begin this journey than the south of france [Music] here on the french riviera supermodel yachts jostle for attention but there's one that stands out above the rest and that's the wally it stands out because wally has an impressive track record and has been building boats for the last 22 years [Music] demanding clients want the very best in design if you have a good idea from the beginning the process can be very fast if you don't the process can be very long today on ultimate processes we're going to find out how wally's super luxury boats are made and how they handle [Music] what really sets these super sleek yachts apart is how they look i've always believed that the owners want more than the comfort more than the performance they want their boat to be the most beautiful of the harbor or the most beautiful of the bay this is really what the owners the passionate owners love on their boats each boat we have to design and to build very much influenced by my tastes my ideas i i always try to pass to to our clients [Music] what i would like to do for myself i like to design and to build something better not just something different which i think it's essential we know a wally yacht is expensive if you were to ring to find out the price you might be in for a shock [Music] if you have a client you ask for the prize we say listen if you ask for the price probably you cannot afford it so don't ask for the price [Music] okay so i'll let you into a secret wally yachts can cost anything between eight to over 50 million euros the sky really is the limit they're expensive because they are packed with the latest design and technology the high performance sails can be raised just by the push of a button and the motor ops can reach speeds of over a hundred kilometers an hour to show me how they're operated luca gives me a guided tour let's imagine you are the captain or the owner of the boat so you're here you're steering the boat and you have the control of the engine here and the bow thruster and everything's controlled here electronically there's no you don't do anything by hand on this though no it would be dangerous to you because you have uh such a high load on the sheets that you it's better not to touch the sheets under the load you can sail your boat alone one person one person i mean you need let's say other two persons to uh to hoist the sales but once the sales are up you can control 55 meters then you can control you can not only steer but you can as i said trimming the sails you can tack you can drive so literally at the end you control my push button the wall boat everything everything everything the engines the sails the systems it's every everything push button so by having everything controlled like this can you have less crew than you would normally have on a boat of this size absolutely absolutely because you can sail 40 meters yacht like this one with a crew of two maximum three people so even though so much is controlled electronically you're almost having a better sailing experience because there's less people here with you uh let's say that when you have to say about of this size you need to have a big experience but the difference is that you can sail with two or three people instead of 15 or 20 which makes a big big difference from many point of view on deck a lot of care and attention is taken to making sure it's kept clear ropes and hoists are hidden away it's great for safety and keeps those lines looking smooth and sleek this is possible because technology also gave us the possibility to hide maneuvers it's a design feature but it's also a function because you hide maneuvers on a 24 meter boat i mean you hide ropes with tons of loads can be dangerous so it's again design form function everything is working together wally boats are built exclusively in italy basically we have the sea just outside the yard so no it's very easy to lift into the water do then all the sea trials the company was launched in 1994 by luca bassani production varies from year to year it all depends on what projects they get commissioned some here we have three up to four boats under construction other years we only have one but maybe it's a much bigger boat [Music] four builds may not sound many until you look at how much they're worth the total value of these contracts might be around 50 million euros budgets are big time scales are long let me say that an 80-footer sale yards takes 18 months to be built since the signature of the country a hundred footer takes two years and a hundred and forty 150 let's say 40 50 meters a year takes up two or three years to be built [Music] with yachts sales are really what they're all about one company specializing in sales is sanders based on the south coast of the uk well a boat without sails a boat is just drag it sits in the water it has goes nowhere it'll go back and forth with the tide so it needs to have some form of forward propulsion the propulsion on the yacht comes from the sails while wall-e yachts do have an engine it's actually the sails that provide most of the propulsion at the back of the boat is the mainsail this is the most important sail for catching the wind and driving the boat forwards at the front is the jib it helps with propulsion but also provides stability and reduces turbulence a third sail which is sometimes deployed is called the spinnaker it can certainly help your speed especially when racing how sails work is very complex but essentially they act like an air foil just like an aircraft wing air travelling over the curved side travels faster than air on the inside this creates an area of high pressure behind the sail and an area of low pressure a vacuum in front of the sail and because it goes at a greater distance has to go faster to keep up with the wind on the inside and that acceleration of wind creates a vacuum on the actual curved side of the sail and the sail then move into that vacuum so the yachts you actually are creating this different differential speeds and therefore the sail will lift into that vacuum and therefore go forwards because the sail pulls the boat into the area of low pressure that's why the boat speeds forward the further and faster you want to go the bigger the sail area needs to be the largest of the wally yachts has a total sail area of 1100 square meters now that's what you call a real big rig you can't buy a sail like this off the shelf sales for yachts like wally are made here sanders sales design and manufacture for all kinds of boats racing classic and cruising it's an intricate process that takes a lot of skill a lot of time and a lot of space the first step is to lay the groundwork preparation is key to make a great sale you've got to take the trouble to actually make sure you design the sale to suit that boat therefore that means visiting the boat measuring the boat not relying on a sale plan not relying on the an old sale to copy that is so critical if you don't start with the right information you're just wasting your money and wasting your time so you have to measure the boat up and take the right details then design the sail to fit that boat the shape and how the sail will function in the wind is all worked out on a computer once you measure the boat up we then incorporate those measurements into the computer onto the design program which then generates the cell in both a 2d mould and a 3d mould today they're making a sale called the spinnaker it's made of 36 individual panels the computer works out how to cut them from a roll of fabric with minimum wastage different cloths have different cloth whips depending on the manufacturer um so with this cloth which we're using which is called nylite90 it ten it comes in one meter 50 wide so i can then nest the panels to that width to maximize the amount i can get on a table minimizing wastage of the cloth which especially with the more exotic fabrics is very important because you don't want to waste anything you want to save money this process of arranging panels with cool efficiency is called nesting and that's all done now and then i can switch over to the laser cutter nest it all in get the cloth on the table and cut the process of making a wally boat can take years and with four being made at any one time they're often at different stages of construction i'm here at the fawley shipyard where i've come to see two wally boats which are nearly completed this is where the boats start to take shape and where the luxury starts to show i'm really excited [Music] here to show me around is production manager lorenzo mascarucci lorenzo can you tell me what's happening here what we have on the shipyard we have on this side 26 meter motor yachts and on the other side we have a sailing boat 110 foot we are nearly to complete the construction we have three months left to delivery of the wally yachts power boats and four mounts on this side to delivery the the selling boats it's a very exciting moment because we can touch and feel the hand of the boat and so this this moment is really amazing the boat i particularly want to see is one of wally's sailing yachts so lorenzo what's this this is a volley 110 and this amazing sailing boats we are almost on the last phase of the construction the paint job is already done it's a brilliant surface as you can see it's like a bowl as this is like a mirror no it is fantastic so lorenzo is this one of the more luxurious wally boats that you make here yes it is it's incredible boat is amazing it's a full of technology design and you can spend all your time with this boat to make a party you can go to race because the performance has top performance has incredible piece of heart fantastic so it's performance and leisure performance collider specialist and design how much would we be looking at for one of these 20 million euros i'll take one come on of course i'll take one in my dreams not all boats of course take quite as long as these to build we visited another shipyard where they use more traditional methods this is spirit yachts based in the uk at the port of ipswich many of the boat builds here are based on fiberglass combined with a wood epoxy resin construction but the process is very similar to carbon fibre layers of the stuff are pulled over a wooden mold they're coated with a resin mixed with a hardener rollers are used to make sure the resin fully saturates the fiberglass sheets and to get rid of any air pockets the team has to work quickly before the resin begins to harden then it's onto the next layer until they reach the required thickness finally it's wrapped in a giant plastic bag and any remaining air is sucked out the new fiberglass and wood epoxy hull is then left under vacuum for a few hours to cure back in italy once the design and production schedule has been agreed the boat build can begin stage one is to create an individual mold for the boat's hull for this build we're on italy's west coast obviously the hull is the fundamental part of the boat it's the water type membrane or body and gives it buoyancy building the hull of a wally yacht takes several stages so the first phase we are doing here is the mold them the mold is critical it gives the hull its shape the most important point about a wally hull is what it's made from they use one of the most technologically advanced materials in the world carbon fiber and it's about nine times as expensive as the cost of fibreglass it's one of the strongest and lightest materials ever invented and the key to constructing a wally boat they employ a leading carbon fiber expert to make sure they get it right effectively it's carbon atoms which create a very stiff filament and this is encased by an epoxy resin which gives incredible stiffness and lightness there of that of one and a half times lighter than aluminium i think three and a half times lighter and stiffer than steel from the the 80s it's changed yachting completely and and i think these days it's used through through most industries carbon fiber has revolutionized many modern processes it's usually associated with the aerospace industry with motor racing formula one and medically with the construction of prosthetic limbs it's composed of very thin strands of carbon bonded together thinner even than human hair it's great quality is it's very light normally carbon fiber is used in automotive in aerospace but here we are at wally where we're building boats ranging from 30 to even 50 meters of size variably between 300 and 700 square meters of hull of which each layer of carbon fiber has to be applied by hand the hull is known as a composite that simply means it's built up from several layers of material to create one piece broadly speaking the hull has three layers first a carbon fiber skin then a layer of flame resistant nomex honeycomb and finally another layer of carbon fiber this sandwich of carbon fiber and nomex creates the composite once we have the molded then we can start the lamination of the hull shell the lamination of the hull shells means starting from the fabrics of the carbon fiber that is actually something like this textile material and we lay down all the layer into the into the hull mold that can be ten or more layers depending on the engineering this is painstaking work and takes months to complete as each layer goes down vacuum bags suck out the air to make sure the sheets of carbon fiber bond perfectly air is a bad conductor of heat so if there's any still inside when the carbon fiber's heated the bonding could fail and a centimeter too thick will make all the difference before moving on to stage two it's time to turn up the heat we cook it into this big oven to be to make sure that the carbon become a solid piece of carbon that can make the boot safe this entire room is one giant oven it will cook the hull's laminated carbon fiber layers into one incredibly strong skin but it's a nervous time for the team as they wait for the process to be completed it's basically like cooking a cake so you start with something soft and you get something solid part of the critical middle layer is nomex it looks a bit like honeycomb cardboard and is used because of its flame resistant qualities so as soon as we finish the carbon fiber lamination we start to placing all the foam into the into the hala that is actually the activity we are doing now this material helps to make the the hull shell uh stiff and rigid enough it's important the hull is super light these boats are built for speed and style but above all they have to survive the sea the boat must be strong to heat waves so that's why the next step is placing all this core material between the layer of carbon fiber one more layer of carbon fiber and the shell of the hull is complete we do the same also for the deck we have to produce a mold and then to laminate the deck on the mold poscuare in the oven at that point we have let's say an empty shell which is the howl and we have the deck separated [Music] wally use ready-made carbon fiber strips that have been saturated with a temperature sensitive resin before being baked into a permanent shape they have to be stored at just the right temperature so the sheets can be molded whilst they're still flexible [Music] once we get the carbon fibre cloth which is refrigerated because the resin is in a state that needs to be cured so uh we get it out of the freezer and we lay this these tablecloths or wallpaper over a mold and once we cure this carbon over any form that we desire under under heat it remains to that shape for the rest of its life the real value of carbon fiber is that it's so light it completely changes the power and speed ratio of whatever is being built so you could think about building a boat in wood which historically every boat was made in wood but ultimately a carbon boat of the same size could be half half its weight [Music] so that is in today's market where where things are going carbon fiber is important for ollie baits because basically it's the best material available today in the world [Music] before anything gets built every single aspect of the design and engineering needs to be signed off nothing is left to chance i'm in monaco where wally yachts have their hq this is the nerve center where they create the designs for their customized boats it's here back in the south of france the wally design team go over what their client requires they're responsible for making sure every detail is correct before the build begins they use 3d computer modeling to show them exactly what they're going to get so tamasa we're in the headquarters of wally this is the hq this is the nerve center of design yes you're the head designer yes can you tell me a little bit about the design process well we started with a brief and then from here we try to visualize as better as possible with virtual images this for example is a 3d render it's how we show to a client his dreams in reality it's not real obviously it's not build up it's not real it looks so so you are able to show to the client from the very first sketches and and initial ideas down to a perfect perfect render basically a perfect image of what they will be receiving so they know exactly you have understood what they want absolutely before starting the construction of a 53 meter boat we try to give him the most clear idea of every single detail of the boat he is building the designers then hand the job onto the technical team it's down to them to turn the designers vision into reality we make a full 3d model of all the components of the boot that is at the beginning a general model and then we go in the detail of each very little part as an example we have the steering system that is designed if in each screw so we can see here the steering system and on the steering system with the rod the connection bar and we design each screw in which parts of of the system to be sure that there is no interference and that everything works in the proper manner the design and technical plans are incredibly detailed they form the basis for how the boat should be built what we do is to design make 2d drawings that are doing use it to build the boat and those drawings are very precise with defining in niche ethan with very small tolerance and the builder can build both in a very precise manner but being a mechanical engineer is not without its challenges the engineering of the worldly 110 the boat that we have in the yard at this moment take around the two years of six engineer to be completed and obviously we we started the production of the boat before we complete the full engineering and we proceed in in parallel with the with the construction to finish the engineering of the boat as an engineer is the real challenges to balancing the cost the quality and the timing is not easy the inside of a wally boat gets just as much attention as the outside they go to extraordinary lengths to get it right i'm at mondolpho on italy's adriatic coast where the interiors for the wally boats are made they work from 3d designs that have been fully approved by the client and they have a very clever way of ensuring that the interiors are light yet strong and of course elegant hi welcome francesca to the best furniture thank you i'm meeting wally interior specialist tomaszo costa to find out how he goes about creating the interior of a yacht basically when we start a new project our focus and our targets is always the same is to have the lightest and then solid and high quality furniture to to achieve the same basically we have a couple of skills and tools i mean engineering and the use of the lightweight material on the market just like the hull and deck the interior of the yacht is made using composite materials the outer layers are carbon fiber or plywood and the core is foam or again honeycomb nomax it's used not just for the interior walls but the cupboards and shelves as well since we built a performance boat we're looking at perform high performance material i mean if a boat is lighter obviously we'll be faster and will be also solid when you bang with on a wave or you are cruising everything is lighter supposed to be also with much more performance to build the interior it has to go through several processes the first stage is the cut we used a specific machine called the cnc machine this is computer numeric control cut and we need a special worker to put the panel inside the machine and start the program the cnc machine takes the design and cuts the panel to exact specifications to make sure they're getting it right they assemble the whole interior of the boat the walls the fixtures the fittings everything before it's installed inside the hull so the client can see exactly how the inside of their boat will look before it's anywhere near the water [Music] since our clients has a very high standard we used to discuss with them the first time they come to see the furniture if everything is correct or even they have a new request and we have to do to reply and obviously our totally care about the customer is a part of the game to be kind and give them what they they want when it comes to dealing with customers there's one golden rule with our company we make all possible things to make our climate happy and we said in italian including a simple region that means the climate is always right once the customer is satisfied the interior is carefully reassembled inside the hull back in the uk at the spirit yacht workshop another boat is under construction the bulkheads go in adding to the strength and integrity of the vessel then it's fitted out even on water we still want all our mod cons finally a new yacht emerges more and more people want to get out on the water this boat will soon be ready to be launched boating and sailing is growing in popularity around the world it's estimated that globally thousands of people a year take up the sport some quick skillful work by the lift operator and this new boat gets its first taste of the water even though it has a small engine it maneuvers well it's just the mast that's missing [Music] the process of installing it is called mast stepping it's lowered into place by a crane into a hole in the center of the boat which is called the mass step it needs a little assistance with the aid of some lubricant and a helpful boot but it doesn't take too long to get it into place [Music] now it's launched it just needs some finishing touches back in italy and i'm getting the full tour of a wally yacht that's almost complete it costs a cool 20 million euros we're deep down inside the hull checking out the boat's electrical system it might be hidden from view but even here it's still got to look right i want to show you our hidden quality in through of this switchboard is very important for us to make attention of our all our installation if you open every single inspection every single part of the boat you can get this kind of perfection so any part of the boat even though it will never be seen yes it's all this tidy this perfect this is perfect this is an example for the electrical part but system of the boat or other equipment is made like this and that's the quality that wally works this is the quality of welding looks are everything so when it comes to the anchor they have a rather impressive solution normally all the other systems or all the other boats have the anchor arms is is on the bow that is is a visible chain our system is coming out from the bottom of the of the hull and is completely hiding and with this system we change the the point of view because what is what we want is to have a pretty both clean in all conditions it's a simple idea but it's very clever although it's a sailing yacht it still needs an engine to get out of the harbour to the open sea [Music] this is the engine of the new wall-e 110 is a six-liter marine engine with a 350 horsepower i thought with the sailing boat you sailed and sailed the sailing boat doesn't need a big engine so this is 350 horsepower is enough just to go at 11 and not a cruising speed when we're talking about big engine as on our uh wally power we're talking about 2 000 horsepower so this is quite different quite different yes the team craned the engine up from the factory floor and into the vessel [Music] this is a critical moment because we have a very small space between the hedge so they have to we have to come down carefully just to don't touch it to don't damage any equipment in the engine room and just fit it in just perfect yes it's an anxious moment but soon the engine is secure great guys braviragassi yeah back in the uk sanders are busy on a special project spinnaker sails are made of thin delicate nylon it's difficult to cut with scissors or a blade which is why they use lasers what we do the laser first is it will draw all the panels on first with a byway which shows the line where you need to stick the panels to and also will draw the numbers on so that every panel has its own unique number so we know which order we have to stick it in to replicate the cell from the design that we made the laser is so accurate it can cut panels with just two millimeters between them it will go 900 millimeters per second when it does the laser so it can go nice and fast and you wouldn't even know it's going it's a very thin white light where it's just making contact with the cloth so underneath now that's cut by completely clear and the vacuum just holds the holds it to the table completely still until it cuts every all the other panels on the table in just two minutes the laser has cut seven panels with pinpoint accuracy the panels are removed from the vacuum table and spooled ready for the next stage so in this case we allow a two millimeter gap between the panels and as you can see here there's a zero movement that's still firmly in place and that's held together by the suction of the table and the laser moves over the top and cuts it for you [Music] next up the panels are assembled ready for sewing using double-sided adhesive tape and this is quite important because lawyer wants to make sure he replicates the same tension on both panels when he makes the scene and all always doing is he's just following the bio line that was drawn by the laser it's essential for the seam to be perfect if any part of it's wrong the sail simply won't work you and then check the tension to make sure it's nice and smooth and then you can then go into the next panel and do the same process again on the next one until we then complete a section which can then be taken to the sewing machine and we can put the first row of stitching in to hold it in place that's how a spinnaker is made but when it comes to the mainsail and jib it's a whole different story for these sales sail makers need tougher stuff than nylon in the modern era most are made from materials such as dakron a kind of polyester there's lots of different types of dacron and if you have the cheap ones and expensive ones so we actually offer a range other materials become available that provide more durability or less stretch which is probably the main criteria looking for stretch is the enemy of speed it literally takes the wind out of your sails less stretch means more miles covered with less effort better for the boat more enjoyable for the crew and this is where carbon fiber comes back into the story not only is it used to make the hulls of super yachts because it's so strong and light it's perfect for the sails as well so this is an example some of the copper might use um here which is a carbon fiber cloth which is laminated with yarns of carbon fiber going along there and then on here it's just a polyester yarn which is just used to help hold it in place carbon fiber is designed to give zero stretch or minimal stretch and a lot of strength from the cell carbon fiber is so strong it doesn't need to be tightly woven so with a woven fabric it's just you've got to have it completely woven tight so that no air can go foot whereas with this you can then use a very light weak myla over the top and then strengthen it with the carbon yarns which in this case are spaced out to give you maximum strength so as you are saving your weight that way which means you can go for a lighter cell and be able to maximize the sail area to give you performance in the racing boat where cell area is very important whatever the material making a panel sail takes a lot of space in this huge stitching room workers are using floor-mounted sewing machines to assemble a carbon sail they stand in pits beneath the raised floor the panels are stitched in sanders signature colour two lines of tan stitching and if it's needed a line of white stitching next the corners are patched these are the areas under greatest strain they're reinforced by building up extra layers of material on top of the sail finally they finish the sails by adding rings and if necessary extra panels to the corners at sanders they have an experienced team but on some projects it's not just that the sales must perform they have to look good as well someone phoning up you might have a lolly for instance you know which is obviously a beautifully made italian yacht will launch something far more exotic very low stretch and a lot more flash to look at because obviously the boat is very flashbacking itself and that means an ultra high-tech membrane sail which unlike many other types is designed and made in one single piece rather than a panel sail whereby we're buying a roller cloth cutting into patches and into pieces and stick it together again with the membrane sail we actually designed the sail designed the yarn type design the yarn content and then have the sail laminated to our design but for peter sanders the pleasure of seeing his finely crafted sails being installed far outweighs the pain of creating them designing the cell here cutting in here manufacturing finishing here and then sitting out the boat that's good that's that's an ego trip it's it's it's worthwhile one of the most distinctive features of a wally yacht is the mirror-like finish sometimes you think it's not actually there [Music] this is about four months of work where there are many guys uh which are sanding by hand with 20 coats of paint applied each coat needing its own application and its own sanding procedure any excess filler is always removed every extra gram of weight could make a difference we don't want to add too much fill out to create weight so we're sanding the fillets until we're touching the carbon fiber we're always looking at where we're at we're applying numerous fills of filler until we get the perfect form that is smooth it's like glass over the next few months the wally team here in for lee will work day and night to complete this yacht with the deck and interior being finished off and the mast and canting keel fitted the team will move on to water checks before handing over the sails the making of a modern boat is testament to the latest technology materials using the best in design and style i've gone back to the start where designs are dreamt up and watched plans being put to paper i followed the interior being built and witnessed carbon fiber lamination first hand plus i've seen what goes into fitting out a super yacht but before my mediterranean dream comes to an end i head back to the south of france to join luca bessani on one of his prized yachts [Music] he's franciscan thank you and this is the living of the boat so the big feature of this saloon is the connection with the outside between the interiors and the exterior of the boat in fact with the terrace of the sea solo you have this big windows and you don't lose the view of the city straight exactly you're just there exactly you've connected totally to the sea still exactly this is the aim not to lose the exterior when you come inside and i love i love these windows so you you're not coming into a cave you're the level that they're at you just as you come in you immediately see the sea straight away yeah in fact you still keep 270 degrees of view of the sea so beyond this beautiful living we have four cabins for eight guests we have a big galley and we have three cabins for the crew because this boat is able to go around the world so you need to to be able to stay involved for weeks or for months so you need everything it's like let's say a floating house but still has to remain a boat you don't have to forget that you are on a boat that you are sailing that you are leaving the sea so because with all the electronics you can have fewer crew so that means there's a lot more living space for everybody who's here exactly exactly so all the electronics that make the running of the boat also make the living part more comfortable absolutely yes and this is usually or it was usually a problem yeah on this kind of boats because getting the birds bigger you uh you needed more and more cruise and at the end the boat was was getting bigger only for the crew not for the owner and the guests i'm finally out at sea on a wally yacht this is certainly a life i could get used to [Music] we probably all dream of life on a luxury boat when all you can hear is the sound of the sea and wind in the sails to buy a wally you will need very deep pockets acquiring a spirit yacht would cause less damage to your wallet both prove we still have a great love affair with life on the open seas [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 270,540

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), engineering documentary, engineering, technology, technology documentary, tech documentary, mega manufacturing, yacht, ships, boats, yacht manufacturing, ship manufacturing

Id: 3WXSCalt4cI

Length: 48min 14sec (2894 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 25 2022