Author: adrienstratosphere

In July 2019, we met the French composer Michel Redolfi (michelredolfi.info), specialized in underwater music. For his next show, scheduled for August 24th in Deauville, he needed a special piece allowing him to “sit on the water”. Having found no satisfying products on the market, he asked Strat-o-sphere to design this new custom-made item.

This element had to be at the same time stable, light, resistant, wide, floating but staying at the limit of the water, and needed a certain style to be integrated in international shows.

Strat-o-sphere designed and manufactured this custom made fiberglass piece in a few days by Infusion Technology

After consultation with Michel Redolfi, we chose a white gel coat finish and bamboo plating in the center, on the seat part.

This unique piece was delivered in time for the show in Deauville, where we saw the French-American director and actor Jean-Marc Barr lend his voice to the underwater concert “In the dream of whales” …

This 37 meter motor yacht build in 1967 by Clelands Shipbuilding Company needed a passerelle for her charter seasons.

The passerelle should fit in an inside volume of only 2M10 in the lazaret, and should also be used as a ladder to access to the bathing platform.

No existing passerelle in the yacht market would be adapted to the situation.

A careful study unabled us to find the right design and our answer has been a passerelle made of two parts:

• One part being located into the lazaret when at rest
• One part remaining outside and being used as a scale to reach the platform from the main deck

All the elements were made in carbon and glass fiber, and the movement has been made possible thanks to a strait collaboration with GZ Nautica for the rams and electronic.

This boat being used intensely, we followed her in Lavagna and Napoli for the first study of dimensions, constructed all the elements in our workshop, but installed them during the annual shipyard session in Olbia Sardinia.

Length when fully extended : 4 M 70 from transom
Working capacity : 350 Kg

Monaco 2013

Finding an accessible storage place for the fenders was the main issue on this 58 foot motor yacht.

The idea of opening an access into the garage door was evident, but made difficult due to the reinforcements  and  stringers  located  in  the existing door.

The decision was taken to build a completely new garage door including a small, easy to open, aperture.

The use of composite under infusion process, allowed us to reduce the door weight by 50 % compared to the old one, thus increasing the storage capacity.

Monaco/Viareggio 2012

This new 92 foot motor yacht was unable to get his shipyard made settee delivered in time.

The new settee should of course look like if it where original.

A careful study of the existing furniture design, allowed us to find a shape matching the style of the boat.

Alpes-Maritimes 2012

Approaching the coast with a tender and landing people was the request of the client.

If building a passerelle is simple, installing a removable passerelle on the rocks was a real challenge.

Drilling holes on the stone made it possible to install discrete bolts where the passerelle can be attached in 30 seconds by one person.

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat 2012

On this wonderful Olin Stephens design from 1937 the wooden passerelle needed to be light but strong.

Being on a wooden boat, the finish needed to be “varnished wood”.

The  solution  of  a  carbon/infusion  process construction was chosen for weight consideration. The finish is perfect “wood like” paint. (being close to the real teak bulwark capping rail would not allow an approximate result)

The pleasure of handling a light passerelle is now compatible with the respect of the wooden style of sailing yachts.

Monaco 2011

The request of the client was simple : make a Jacuzzi on his boat that could be used in 20 min, the time for him to reach Monaco from Nice airport.

The boat had not previously been designed with a Jacuzzi on deck so several issues were to be solved:

• would the stability of the boat permit the addition of 700L of water on deck?
• would the structure of the deck sustain it?
• would the electric installation on board be powerful enough to heat 700 L of water at 34°Celcius in 20 min time?

A study of the metacentric height showed that the foredeck was a place low enough to locate 700 Kg with no significant influence to the stability.

An extra beam underneath the Jacuzzi would distribute the extra weight to the existing structures of the hull.

The addition of water heaters in the front area allowed us to have enough “ready to use” hot water at our disposal to quickly prepare 700 L of warm water.

New teak surrounding surfaces and access steps contributed to give a new life to the foredeck area of this 33 M motor yacht.

Antibes, 2010

The original cabinet was not to the liking of the owner.

The new BBQ furniture should of course look like if it were original.

The respect of the style of this renown shipyard, has been our permanent guide from design to construction.

Viareggio 2008

The request of the client was to install TV suspended from the ceiling on the main and upper deck. The time given to us to complete our intervention on board was only three weeks.

While several good lift and fold systems exist on the market, none of them would fit in the very thin volume left in each ceiling.

A studied and specially created mechanical system based on gas and electric rams driving a composite frame made it possible to fit the screens on their dedicated place.

With all the systems tried and tested in the workshop, the remaining work on board within the limited time was to cut the ceiling and finish off with a small gel coat cornice.

Our skill and experience allowed us to find solution where an existing device would not satisfy.

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat 2013, 

On this 23 M motor yacht, the old bimini made of stainless steel tubes and canvas suffered each year from the sun and rain.

It was too weak to be left out with big winds and was not giving much protection from the summer heat. It was thus decided to replace it with a hart-top situated in front of the existing roll bar.

This permanent part needed to be strong enough to sustain all bad weather conditions the boat might encounter while remaining light enough to avoid needing extra reinforcement and weight in the upper area.

The careful design of the new shape and its air flow simulation enabled us to keep the windage low even when facing an eighty Knots apparent wind.

A light composite construction allowed us to keep the weight to a minimum. The addition of three apertures equipped with smart glasses made it possible to look at the stars at night while enjoying the shade during the hot sunny days.