Custom Cabs
Though many of the restoration projects in the Tagliapietra yard show the telltale signs of traditional construction, a variation on the cold-molding technique was used in the recent construction of a 32.8-foot, 10-person bespoke tender for the superyacht Issham Al Baher.
“Because the very curvy hull form would have made standard construction overly complex, we used a male mold made out of machined foam and then applied the mahogany veneers — 13 layers of one millimeter each — on top. The hull sides were then planked using continuous lengths of timber that were glued under vacuum for additional stability and strength,” Andrea Tagliapietra said.
Out of the water, the hard-chine hull form is also intriguing, with a markedly rounded keel at the forward apex of the V shape. Tagliapietra explained the rationale behind the design using a solid-wood scale model of the hull.
“Because a lot of the weight is placed aft but the owner is seated forward (in addition to a day-head and mini bar, the interior also features a thronelike armchair in the bow for its Arab owner), a traditional hull form was not the ideal solution,” he began. “The hull needs to get up on the plane quickly, and because of its long, narrow shape and weight distribution we could only achieve that by modifying the underbody. So we moved the planing pressure point aft to the almost flat stern section and introduced a rounded keel forward that provides additional buoyancy and avoids uncomfortable slamming.”
During a test drive, the hull performed exactly as described above by rising smoothly to plane at 2000 rpm and maintaining a horizontal trim in the choppy cross sea of the lagoon.
Read more about Venetian water taxis, and see the photo gallery.
