Infusion

22  May  |  2012  •  www.europeanboatbuilder.net

YARD VISIT Salona Yachts

www.europeanboatbuilder.net  •  2012  |  May  23

Sailing cruisers

Salona sunshineSince adapting the vacuum infusion moulding process to include a stainless steel grid, Salona has been making some of the lightest yachts on the market BOB GREENWOOD REPORTS

The deck moulding of a Salona 38 is enclosed in its vacuum bag ready for

infusion. All laminates are infused with vinylester resin

Final checks are made of resin tubes to ensure that infusion will be steady and

even, without air pockets or excessive build-ups of resin

Inside the hull of a Salona 38 a blue peel-ply release sheet is glued on top of the

triaxial E-glass fibre and Airex core pack, so resin tubes and vacuum bag can be applied for infusion

Infusion packs for Salona yachts include extra thick aircraft industry-standard

membranes for resin transfer in bulkheads for racing-specification IBC versions of the sailboats

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“Investment in production processes and vacuum infusion moulding has raised the bar for sailing cruisers”

It’s hardly news that builders of production sailing cruisers have been seriously financially affected by the continuing economic turmoil in the major boating 

markets. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, but in countries around the Mediterranean (beset as they are with their own ongoing Eurozone crisis) they are far and few between. 

One company in this region that is clearly succeeding in spite of the odds is AD Boats, which, since 2002, has been building GRP vessels at Solin, just outside the Croatian port city of Split. In 2007, its Salona performance sailing cruiser brand began to be noticed as an emerging global entity, just as the 

dam of the world financial markets was about to break.

In spite of such inauspicious macro-economic timing, the company has done well by any standards. Having been recognised in its home market by winning the Croatian Boat of the Year award in 2006, the company’s benchmark Salona 37 went on to win 

the European Boat of the Year award at the 2007 Düsseldorf boat show and the Cruiser/Racer of the Year accolade awarded by Sailing World magazine. The yacht essentially set the trajectory for rapid and sustained business growth. 

“This year will be our best ever,” says Krešimir Secak, Salona Group’s managing director. “We will double our 

above The newest model in the Salona range, the S35, was launched at this year’s Düsseldorf boat show. She has the trademark Salona twin helms and steel-frame reinforced vinylester infused hull that make her exceptional stiff and light

z Size of facility: 6,000m2

z Direct employees: 90z Sizes it can build to: 21mz www: www.salonayachts.com

Salona Yachts builds performance sailing cruisers and small open powerboats at its yard in Solin, just outside the Croatian port of Split

Yard key facts

sales value compared with 2009.”AD Boats has achieved its strongest 

growth under the ownership of the German multi-national Prevent Group, which produces leathers, laminates and components, mainly for the automotive market. Sales have particularly increased over the past couple of years to Northern European customers.

Before 2007 the boat company was owned by Croatian injection moulders AD Plastik, which produces automobile 

components, and from which it continues to rent its production premises. With new investment in production processes (most notably vacuum infusion moulding) and product development, AD Boats has raised the bar for the design and manufacturing of production performance sailing cruisers, and arguably, for the performance cruiser genre as a whole. 

As far as the company is concerned, the Salona 37 was a landmark model because it introduced vacuum infusion moulding into its production — a process that the boatyard has gone on to refine in its own way. 

Resin infusion is now commonplace in the boatbuilding industry and was becoming so back in the mid-2000s. But what AD Boats do that is highly unusual, maybe 

above This low-rise Communist-era industrial unit currently houses AD Boats’ tool making, lamination and assembly for its Salona 35, 38 41 and 44 models. An estimated 55 units will be built this year

below For Norwegian boatbuilder Hansvik, low production costs and AD Boats’ lamination skills make the company an attractive subcontracting proposition. AD delivered 50 Hansvik 6.3m day cruisers last year

“Low-centre-of-gravity keels are made by the West System using epoxy resin and foaming epoxy”

13mFLAGSHIP SINCE LAUNCH IN 2009

18mFLAGSHIP TO BE

LAUNCHED IN 2013

20mSALONA 65 ON

DRAWING BOARD

24  May  |  2012  •  www.europeanboatbuilder.net www.europeanboatbuilder.net  •  2012  |  May  25

Sailing cruisersYARD VISIT Salona Yachts

even unique, is to combine it with an A4 marine grade stainless steel grid. 

This is attached to the hull with Scott Bader’s Crystic Crestomer methacrylate adhesive to produce a bond, which, according to Leo Curin, AB Boats’ R&D manager, is stronger than the laminate itself. 

“It actually penetrates into the stainless steel, almost like an acid to create a really strong bond,” he says.

STRUCTURAL INTEGRITYThe grid forms the structural spine of the boat. The keel is bolted into it while the chain plates (which are also part of the grid and bonded to longitudinal 

stiffeners moulded into the interior of the hull) take the stresses from the rigging. Although the composite laminate is also integral to the structural strength of the  boat, less stress is placed upon it than in most other composite structures. 

Leo Curin compares the inner steel frame concept with some of the composite-bodied racing and sports cars of previous decades, such as the classic British Caterham 7. 

“The relatively thin laminate works like a membrane, and the whole construction is very stiff and light,” Curin explains, pointing out as an example the 14m (46ft) Salona 44 model, which is reinforced with 500kg of 

in place. The full repair took just two days to complete. Yards that build in composites generally don’t like this kind of repair work because they won’t make a lot of money out of damages. For us though, it’s not a big issue.” 

IN-HOUSE PRODUCTIONAD Boats’ craft are infused with Reichhold epoxy-based vinylester resin using Selcom triaxial E-glass fibre mat around Airex solid PVC foam cores above the water line, and monolithic E-glass reinforced laminate below. All lamination is done in-house using tooling made under the same roof. 

Although much of the groundwork for the Salona brand was done with the help of J & J Design, AD Boats claims ownership of the stainless steel structural grid concept, having designed and engineered it. 

All furniture for the yachts is produced using a CNC cutting machine in a carpentry shop that’s owned by the company in neighbouring Bosnia. From there it is shipped directly to AD Boat’s main factory at Solin for installation and final assembly.

Although AD Boats fabricates its own steel grids, a subcontractor supplies lead-bulb fin keels. The exception to this rule are the keels that are produced for the IBC (infusion, basalt and carbon) racing versions of Solana cruisers. These low-centre-of-gravity keels are made in-house by the West System using epoxy resin and foaming epoxy.

The IBC yachts are optimised for 

IRC or ORC handicap competition. IBC indicates that the boats are vacuum infused for strength and lightness, have basalt woven fibre mat structural bulkheads (again to save weight and for increased torsional rigidity) and use carbon fibre for rudder foils, masts, booms and spinnaker poles for similar reasons. As a testimony to  their structural integrity, all Salona yachts have A-class Ocean Germanisher Lloyd certification.

Production is currently centred on four Salona models, the 11m, 12m, 12m 

and 13m (35ft, 38ft, 41ft and 44ft). While the predominant laminating technology is resin infusion under vacuum, some 

customers still prefer to opt for traditional hand-laid moulding. 

“About 70 per cent of yachts produced are infused,” says Sušanj. “Not so long ago the ratio 

of infused to hand-laid was equal.”This year AD Boats will complete 

around 55 Salonas, which compares with peak production in unit terms of 70 boats in 2007/8 — although the proportion of larger and more 

steel, yet the finished and fitted-out boat weighs in at just 9t. “It’s currently one of the lightest production yachts of this size on the market.” 

Nenad Sušanj, AD Boat’s head of sales, and a qualified engineer, points out that because there is more structural emphasis placed on the steel grid than on the laminate, repairs to damaged hulls are easier, quicker and therefore cheaper to do.

“Structural damage is really very rare,” he says before citing a previous instance where a Salona yacht hit a rock at 8kt. “There was just localised damage. 

“The grid was just 2cm out of alignment and all of the fitted furniture stayed 

Lamination

The West System epoxy laminated keel of an IBC version Salona yacht. The

fully lead keel offers a lower centre of gravity than a standard steel and lead keel

The monolithic structure of the hulls below the waterline are laminated

with transparent gelcoat. This allows visual checks for trapped air bubbles, which is a more accurate method of spotting them than using ultrasound

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right The structural bulkheads in IBC-version Salona yachts use woven basalt fibre reinforcement for strength and lightness, and also for aesthetic effect

Learn morewww.teleflexmarine.com

POWER ASSISTED STEERINGULTIMATE COMFORT

Power Assist virtually eliminates all steering loads allowing the boat to be driven safely and easily by the whole family.

Contact your local distributor for details.

EXPERT EQUIPMENT FOR YOUR BOATSeaStar Power Assist hydraulic steering provides boaters the same level of steering comfort and control found in cars.

Steel grid

26  May  |  2012  •  www.europeanboatbuilder.net

YARD VISIT Salona Yachts Sailing cruisers

Once in place, the structural steel grid is cemented in place using Crystic Crestomer

special adhesive. The Salona construction system is certified by Germanischer Lloyd

The smaller, and more recently released, Salona 35 and 38 models also have steel

structural grids, but these are embedded in an inner hull liner

A steel reinforcement grid is lowered into the hull of a Salona 41. This will hold the

keel and provide the anchorage points for the rigging chain plates

Stainless steel grids, such as this one for an S44, form the back bone of all Salona

yachts and are key to their rigidity and lightness. They are fabricated by a local subcontractor

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valuable boats this year is higher than in previous years. 

This proportion will increase as a new 18m (60ft) flagship model comes on-stream. The moulds for this were being completed, ready for lamination to commence when EB visited the Solin factory in May. The first Salona 60 is due to be launched sometime next year, but already there is a 20m (65ft) boat on the company’s drawing boards.

CURRENT MODEL SALESMeanwhile, at the foot of the range, production is now well underway on the latest Solana model to be launched, 

the 35, which had its market debut at this year’s Düsseldorf boat show. So far, six have been sold. 

Moving up, the Solana 38, introduced in 2011, has sold 22 units so far, while the 41, launched in 2010, has been delivered to 25 customers. The present flagship, the 44 launched in 2009, has so far sold 17 units. Going back, models no longer in production notched up 23 units for the Solana 34 (2008-11), 24 units for the Solana 42 (2007-10) and 40 for the Solana 40 model. 

The oldest Salona model, the 45 (2003-09) was built in 71 units, but all of those were moulded by hand so cannot 

be counted among the present vacuum infused generation. All however are outstripped by the pioneering 37, of which 117 were produced from 2005-11.

IBC variants account for 15 boats so far, so upwards of 340 Solana yachts have been built, or are at present under construction or have been ordered since the first one came off the production line at Solin in 2003. However, those figures do not include a second line of production — small open powerboats. 

AD Boats moulds, assembles and finishes two motorboat models under contract to Norwegian builders Hansvik and Rana Plast, respectively at 6m (20ft) and 5.5m (18ft). Last year, it delivered 50 Hansviks and 40 Rana boats.

For Nordic countries, where the costs of production are high, the prospect of subcontracting building work to a cheaper location must be appealing. However, cheaper need not necessarily mean inferior quality, as AB Boats clearly demonstrates. 

Sušanj points out that in a country where the average monthly pay for industrial workers is around $450 (twice what it is in Bosnia) the cost of labour is not high compared with the European Union and countries such as Norway.

POSITIVE OUTLOOKWith a pool of skilled labour in and around Split, there’s expertise aplenty. As the builder of small fishing boats in GRP going back to the 1960s, and then later Maestral RIBs, the AD group is at the centre of this pool. At the moment, AD Boats has plenty to keep its workforce of 90 permanent employees busy, and has the capacity to build up to 90 boats per year up to 21m (70ft).

Moreover it has on its doorstep, in the form of the Dalmatian coast, one of the finest cruising grounds in the world, and a long and warm boating season. 

It’s small wonder, therefore, that boaters are keener than ever to exploit this resource. In recent years they have replaced the local Italian market, which once accounted for 50 per cent of Salona’s customer base. 

left Interior furniture modules for Salona yachts are constructed by a subsidiary carpentry company in Bosnia

��� TO VIEW AN INTERVIEW with Krešimir Secak, managing director of the Salona Group, simply use your smartphone to scan this QR code. A good QR reader app will automatically redirect you to EB’s informative links and exclusive videos.