New Starts

I have not been updating the blog lately as I have been wrapped up in yet another rapid expansion of my yard. The latest has been precipitated by a large order from the Middle East for a series of vessels – the first stage of the mould for the first of which, a Samawy 44, is pictured above – as well as other new custom orders, including another Wharram Tiki 38 sailing catamaran, below, in red cedar composite strip-plank for a New Zealand owner.
I am having to build a new yard in Jomtien, as well as expand my existing facilities. Necessarily, I am also wanting to employ additional management staff, particularly younger boat-builders and engineers who have the experience to supervise a series of projects at the same time (if you're interested, please don't hesitate to emal me!).
In between all this half a dozen vessels are nearing their launch dates, especially at the Jomtien yard. But more on these soon!

A Revolutionary Rig

I've been commissioned by a couple from Hong Kong to build a 40-foot sailing catamaran to a custom design by Albert Nazarov. Construction begins at the Jomtien yard this week.
Designed for short-handed, long-distance cruising, it features an unusual, even revolutionary rig called an 'aft mast' – a phrase coined by its designer and energetic developer, Brian Eiland, who also refers to it as a 'single-masted ketch' – because the slender, lightweight spar is set well aft and sets two large headsails but just a very small, high-angled, short-footed mainsail (imagine a low-aspect ratio windsurfer rig!) set within a wishbone. The lack of a boom makes a spacious flying bridge a practical option, without the danger of a boom close overhead.
The headsails are roller-reefing and easily managed with adequately sized two-speed winches. The alloy mast is simply supported, with twin backstays led to the transoms of both hulls and an aft-swept diamond arrangement for the uppers and lowers. The hull is sandwich coremat, while the bulkheads and superstructure will be mainly closed-cell Nida Core. I plan to deliver the vessel by sea to Hong Kong in the spring of 2009.

Running Out of Room

With order books filling up quickly and the construction of half a dozen new vessels scheduled to start in late June and early July, my company is running out yard space.
We already operate two yards, one in Pattaya and another (which is effectively two separate yards) in Jomtien. Now I am hoping to expand the existing Jomtien yard into land recently required adjacent to it as well as building a third complex a mile or so down the road. I've already had to sub-contract the construction of small vessels, such as run-abouts, sailing dinghies, and sight-seeing pontoons, as well as some RB34 components, to other, smaller local yards working under our supervision.
The unarguable success has not been without some growing pains. I am having to hire for a number of new positions, notably in project and logistical management, while also negotiating banking arrangements for the greatly increased financial requirements of such a large operation.
Above: One of two covered yards at Jomtien, enclosing four very different vessels, ranging in overall length from 38 feet to 60 feet, at various stages of construction.

An Ocean Cruising Cat'

Working with Albert Nazarov again, I've been developing a new addition to the RB range of power and sailing catamarans. The RB45 Blue Water is an obvious evolution of one of our first collaborations, the RB45 motor sailer, launched a couple of years ago. However, this latest design is intended for long passage-making offshore, with better performance under sail but still a high degree of interior comfort and load-carrying capacity.
Its aesthetics have also been refined, with obvious styling notes taken from current high performance European multihulled cruiser-racers. The relatively high-aspect cutter rig is easily managed by two people and yet still offers plenty of sail area for the light winds of the Asian tropics. The open deck spaces aft are expansive and well shaded.
Construction is expected to begin in just a couple of months.

Kicked to the Curb

In the early days of my company, I had so few workers, it didn't really matter where they parked. Most had – still have – motorbikes rather than cars and they parked them in the yard itself, often right under the boat they were working on. In my first yard in Pattaya, which was also my first house, even I had to park on the street because my car port had been turned into a boat shed and saw mill.
Things are a little different now. At the Jomtien yard, which is actually two yards in separate, large, hangar-like, concrete-floored, corrugated metal sheds, we have had to create a formalised parking space outside, not just for workers and management but also the increasing number of current and potential clients who visit. Right now, one of these yards alone employs maybe 30 people aboard two power cats, one 45-foot long, the other 50-foot, as well as a 60-foot traditional motor yacht, and a Tiki 38 sailing cat, all in advanced stages of construction.
Below: Workers' motorbikes parked outside the long, concrete wall of RB's yard, on land reclaimed from jungle near Jomtien, south of Pattaya.

Roadside Junk

The range of projects that I've taken on during the decade my business has been based in Thailand has necessarily been eclectic – and sometimes downright unusual. In July, this year, I'll launch a traditional motorised junk, the second or third I've built. Seventy-five foot long, planked in varnished teak, this one will operate as a floating restaurant.

Tax Audits and Tugboats

Madonna! It's been three weeks since I last updated this blog – three weeks during which I've been dealing with the torturous and stressful process of an end of year audit of my yards, their inventories and accounts prior to my submission of an annual tax return.
At the best of times, navigating a course through Thailand's company tax and corporate governance requirements can be testing, particularly for a foreigner, but it is especially so at the end of a year of unprecedented growth which has seen revenue jump by triple figure percentage points. This despite an horrendous fall in the value of the US dollar which, until last month, was the currency in which all my foreign build contracts were negotiated (we now quote only in euros or Thai baht).
Meanwhile, RB Power & Sailing continues to receive orders and requests for quotations every day, even as we explore how best to expand our range of production vessels. One idea I'd like to revisit a very robust, powerful, diesel-powered, 30-foot tug. The Soawanee (pictured above) was first designed and built by my company as a GRP service vessel for Unocal's operations off the coast of Vietnam. It would make a fine, heavy displacement fishing or diving boat and could be further refined as a coastal day cruiser.

Re-Imagining Timelessness

Part of the function of a good boat-builder is to make people's dreams come true.
One dream I am particularly enthusiastic to realise is that of an American expatriate who works for a large oil exploration and drilling company and who has, for many years, wanted to build a cruising yacht with traditional, timeless lines. To this end, I suggested that he commission Albert Nazarov to design it. Needless to say, Albert immediately fell in love with the project and within a month, had put together a first draft of the plans and engineering specifications for a 44-foot ketch reminiscent of the elegant ocean-going designs of William Gardener.
Construction of the jig is scheduled to begin in June, this year, and the hull will be built of red cedar strip-plank composite. The timber is already being dried in a local kiln.

A Classic Cruiser

A few years ago, I built a lovely small motor cruiser, a modified version of the 26-foot Lobster Boat. I was into classic designs back then and like many of my projects, this one featured lots of varnished teak and brass. I sold just three – two to owners in Thailand, the other to someone in Denmark.

Drawing In The Details

Mr. Paul, who commissioned the Nazarov T60 currently under construction at my Jomtien yard, is a university professor in Belgium but also a very talented designer. He has a very clear vision of the interior details of the design and often sends me drawings (some examples below) to enable me to understand his requirements, which are always very well thought out.
Some builders don't like their clients becoming too deeply involved in the build – and often with good reason. However, other clients help propel and energise a project, with precise instructions and a realistic understanding of the limitations of budget, local materials and time. Mr Paul is one of the latter.

In the Frame

Construction of the framework of my new Warrior fast motor cat has begun and already the generous size and volume of what is, after all, a relatively small cat' in terms of LOA, is apparent. It will be a few months yet before it really begins to take shape but the beginning of a new build is always an exciting moment for an owner – even when the boat owner is also the owner of the yard!

A Sea-Going Private Resort

Part of what I enjoy about designing and building custom vessels is the diversity of personalities, ideas and objectives that I encounter with each project.
One project now on Albert Nazarov's drawing board – and still in its early stages – is for a well-travelled Thailand-based businessman who exports Thai seafood and other products to international markets. It is for a prototype of a 'floating resort': a heavy displacement, motor catamaran, built in ply. It is intended that the interior – and to a small extent, the exterior – replicates a traditional Thai bungalow, with teak walls, carved decorations, stone floors, and a 360-degree views from the very high bridge-deck cabin.

Not Every Good Idea Works

Every boatbuilder has a pet project that failed. Mine was the 40-foot Wave Piercer multihull, a slender toothpick of a boat inspired by S.E. Asian fishing proas. Powered by a 40hp outboard it could reach 20 knots – very fast and yet economical. Unfortunately, its several advantages as an exciting tropical beach cruiser were outweighed by its wet – but very stable – ride.
Maybe one day I'll revisit the project. It was a lot of fun while it lasted.

Cruising in the Fast Lane

I wanted a boat for myself as well as for a particular type of client I was coming across in Pattaya. After several, sometimes heated discussions about my requirements with my friend Albert Nazarov, he came up with a proposal for a 30' LOA catamaran powered by two 210hp stern drives, with a top cruising speed of 35 knots. Construction of the vessel began at my yard this month.
The new catamaran is ideal for the sheltered waters around the Gulf of Thailand and has a day-cruising capacity for ten guests. It will also have stowage for both a jet ski and a 110cc motorbike. I insisted on full standing headroom inside while maintaining a very sporty, fast-looking styling (I am, after all, Italian!) and a moderate displacement. I also wanted to be able to beach the boat sometimes on one of the many, sandy-shored islands and empty beaches scattered around these waters.
I prefer a jet ski to a dinghy. Dinghies rarely last long. If they're timber – aluminium looks awful – and big enough to be useful, they're too heavy. Inflatables take forever to pump up and the material rots quickly in the local heat and humidity. On the other hand, jet skis are fast, fun, increasingly affordable – and durable. They can be used in almost any sorts of conditions – Hawaiian and Australian lifesavers use them in very heavy surf and professional board-riders are towed behind them onto the faces of 10 to 25 metre waves off the coast of California and Hawai – and they're very practical when it comes to exploring less accessible stretches of coast.
In order to get the jet ski aboard, I am thinking of fitting rollers on the transom and a powerful winch, either electric or linked to one of the engines. But that's an argument with Albert for another day!
By the way, the provisional model name for this boat is the Warrior but I'm open to suggestions. Maybe one of my readers here has a better idea!

Little Miss Bianchetti

Meet Alice Bianchetti, my youngest daughter, who has her Thai mother's beauty – grazie, Joy! – and already, my own Italian impulse to negotiate. I introduce her here because she will probably grow up to be the CEO of my business and a be a far more capable and charming manager than I could ever hope to be. Besides, who could resist those big eyes and that wry smile. I know I can't.

A Different Kind of Catamaran

I don't think there is a European-owned boatyard in S.E. Asia that hasn't built at least one James Wharram catamaran for a client.
All of Wharram's hand-drawn designs are intended for home-builders as is his choice of material: epoxied ply. Inspired by the narrow, symmetrical hulls of ancient Polynesian catamarans, right down to the low freeboard, V-shaped hulls with no centreboards, lashed crossbeams and low-aspect ratio rigs, these so-called 'double voyaging canoes' are simple, seaworthy and reasonably comfortable to sail, if not to live aboard. However, they offer the skilled professional builder few, if any, real challenges, so, as much I empathize with Wharram's philosophy, I haven't been that interested in building more of his boats.
That is, until I met Creed O'Hanlon. Creed is a very experienced seaman who has long been a fan of what he describes as James Wharram's "ethnic approach". Like me, he saw compromises in the aesthetics of Wharram's designs necessitated by the choice of sheet ply as the primary material. Creed wanted to adapt the design of Wharram's Tiki 38 to enable it to be built in strip-planked red cedar composite. Among other things, he wanted to eliminate the chines (or 'knees') near the water-line, increase the camber of the decks, as well as slightly increase the overall displacement. In my opinion, these changes make for a stronger and more beautiful boat, especially as he has also decided to do away with a rather stubby centre steering pod on the wing-deck that is also a feature of this design.

A creative thinker, as well as something of a madman and a gypsy, Creed has commuted regularly between Australia and Thailand to follow the build closely. At the beginning, he and I worked to redraw the hull lines to better suit strip-planking. At every other stage, he has been willing to invest in experimentation with materials and design details – we built two versions of the steering pod before deciding to discard it completely, and rebuilt all the hatches – in order to create a boat that is still recognisable as a Wharram, with all its Polynesian ancestry intact, right down to the lashed beams, wing-deck slats, and rudders, but somehow more refined. Nevertheless, it is still a very different kind of catamaran to the RB production range.
Throughout the build, Creed has maintained a very readable, well-written blog, titled A Tiki In Thailand. His descriptive style and insights have inspired others to approach me about building the Tiki 38 with Creed's modifications. One boat has already been ordered by a New Zealander, Warren Matthews, and its construction will begin in May, this year. A Belgian couple is thinking of commissioning another. I have even built a smaller Wharram design, the Tiki 30, this year, as part of what Creed refers to, laughingly, as "RB's ethnic division". It's not really such a joke!
Above: (Top) The English general manager of my Jomtien yard, Chris Harrell, climbs the starboard hull of the Tiki 38. (Bottom) The two hulls side by side, awaiting their crossbeams.

Making Good Copy

Even before construction of the T60 got under way, the project attracted the attention of the yachting press, even in Europe and the USA. The prestigious Italian glossy, Yacht Design, devoted a page to Albatross Marine's computer renderings and gave special mention to RB Power And Sailing's expertise in timber construction – even though, technically speaking, the hull, deck and superstructure are of composite materials rather than traditional planked timber. Maybe the editors were a little too distracted by the vessel's traditional styling!
Sometimes, I think many in the developed world are taken aback by the high skills of Third World craftsmen, especially when it comes to marine construction. Nevertheless, the Third World has long been a resource of some of the finest boat-building timbers and there are generations of understanding here about how to work with them. Part of what RB Power And Sailing provides local craftsmen is an opportunity for this understanding to be adapted to working with modern materials – glues, resins, and honeycomb cores – and deliver sound, attractive, well-priced yachts that can compete in a world market.

A Classic Inspiration

Last year, I was contacted by a Belgian couple who wanted me to oversee the design and construction of a private motor yacht derived from a classic Camper and Nicholson design, the Romara, built in 1936.
The T60, designed by Albatross Marine Design, is the result. A single-screw passage-maker. powered by a heavy duty, 255hp Yanmar diesel, her rounded, bilge-keel hull is 60 feet LOA, with a 17-foot beam, she has been built in triple diagonal, cold-moulded ply, epoxied inside and out.
The objective has been to produce a stable, comfortable, spacious live-aboard motor yacht in a very traditional style but equipped with all the modern conveniences. To this end, she has just three double cabins and three heads, a large galley and like many of my other big boats, mono- and multihulled, plenty of indoor and outdoor entertainment areas. With a top speed of around nine knots, her range at cruising speed will be 3,000 nautical miles.
The T60 is very different in style to nearly all the other projects in my yards right now. Because it was inspired by such a beautiful original design by one of the very best yacht designers and builders of pre- and post-war Britain, I have a real empathy for the owner's requirements.
The owner, too, is very particular about the details of the build and fit-out and has visited regularly to keep an eye on progress. In this, he is like many of my clients, who often have very a clear understanding of what they are trying to accomplish. For some, the boats I am building are their second or third, so they bring a deal of personal experience (and taste) to each project.

Above: (Top) An old magazine photograph of the 1936 vessel, Romara, which inspired the T60. (Middle) A computer rendering of the T60 itself. (Bottom) The massive, rounded hull under construction at my Jomtien yard.

Big can be Beautiful Too

If the RB34 is proof of my yard's ability to produce a versatile, value-for-money production motor-sailer in a size that will suit most couples and families, the RB50, which is now under construction for a client at my largest yard in Jomtien, is the vanguard of a range of much larger, more luxurious and yet still very competitively priced vessels over 50 feet in length.
Designed by Albert Nazarov, like the RB34, the RB50 is much larger than most other motor vessels – even other catamarans – of her length, with four large staterooms, two heads, and various interior and exterior seating areas (including a sunbathing area aft of the generously dimensioned fly-bridge), all fitted to a very high standard. Powered by either two 75 hp, 100hp or 160hp Volvo Penta shaft drives, its projected speed (with a pair of 100hp engines fitted) is around 15 knots. Its projected range at cruising speed is around 1,650 nautical miles.
Oh, and the price? The base is around $US300,00!

A Dream becomes Reality

Although the RB34 motor-sailing catamaran is not, by any means, the biggest built at my yard, it is one of the most important to me as it represents my first foray into series production. It is something I have wanted to attempt ever since I went out on my own as a boat-builder.
Designed by the Russian naval architect, Albert Nazarov and his Pattaya-based design team at Albatross Marine, the RB34 is a relatively heavy displacement (for a multihull) family cruiser, with plenty of interior and exterior space, and fitted to a standard that belies its highly economical base price of $US135,000. It makes an ideal charter vessel for the tropical waters of Thailand.
Built in GRP and Nida-Core closed cell honeycomb sandwich, it sleeps eight in four double cabins, with two heads and a large, comfortable saloon with plenty of teak trim and joinery work. However, the most notable feature is a flying bridge for the helmsman, providing clear, 360 degree vision over the vessel and the surrounding waters and leaving the after deck clear for the passengers, who can sprawl comfortably on the wide, cushioned seating. Because of the cat's high displacement, the after davits are able to hoist a jet-ski.
Since the first RB34 was launched, less than four months ago, another six have been ordered. With enquiries from local and overseas buyers being received nearly every day, the RB34 has become the backbone of one of my yard's projected cash flow this year. So much so that the design and production of larger models in the RB catamaran series have already begun – but I will write more on that later.

RB34 basic specifications:LOA: 10.46mBeam: 5.93mDraught: 0.54mDisplacement: 7.35 tonsWorking Sail Area: 50 sq. mts.Engine 2 x 14hp Yanmar Diesel Sail-Drive
Above: (Top) The computer-rendered interior layout of the RB 34. (Bottom) The series' prototype undergoes sea-trials off Jomtien, south of Pattaya, Thailand.

From the Beginning

I came to Pattaya, Thailand, ten years ago with just enough money to last me a couple of months. The first things I did were buy a Honda two-stroke, 110cc motor-scooter and rent a cheap room. Then I went looking for a house with a yard where I could set up a boat-building business. I found it the same day through an old man I met at the Foodland supermarket.
The house looked exactly like a pumpkin but it had a big yard. I moved in within an hour of seeing it. An hour after that, I bought a load of plywood and planking and set about building my first product as a Thai boat-builder – a small dinghy. I was a long way from home, a long way from my first years as a builder of much bigger vessels in Italy, and a long way from where I find myself today.
I decided to start writing this blog because I recognise that for the past decade I have been enjoying an unusual adventure, not just in life but in boat-building. It's an adventure that I want to share. Since that first fateful day in Pattaya, I have been married twice and had two beautiful daughters. I have also built more than 100 vessels, not counting the scores of small boats I built in the front yard of the pumpkin house the first year I arrived. I have become part of the culture and economy of this part of Thailand, with two boat-building yards – both under the RB Power And Sailing banner – employing over 100 local employees and contractors and three foreigners, as well as various other investments.
These days, the vessels I build are a lot more ambitious – large sailing and power catamarans designed by a local naval architect to my specifications as well as custom monohulls and multihulls by many of the world's best-known naval architects – and they are no longer in wood alone but fibreglass, composite, and even steel, for clients who come to me from the USA, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and all over S.E. Asia.
Above: My first, very successful production series, the RB 34 catamaran, designed by Albert Nazarov, at anchor after sail trials off Jomtien, Thailand, in late 2007.