The tooling for moulding the hulls and decks of the new yachts is in several parts for each model. As the mould tool is prepared for the laminating of the hull to begin, the port and starboard halves are bolted together, the keel part is attached and the transom tool bolted in. This easily allows the choice of which keel part – standard or centreboard – and also which transom choice – vertical ‘extended’ transom or the more traditional forward sloping ‘retroussé’ transom. The deck tooling has been made over-length so that it is very easy for us to mould the transom and deck of choice without modification and ‘built to order’. It is worthy of note that the waterline length changes very little with the transom options. The extended transom option has so far been chosen on two out of the three Oyster 745s built to date. It has been chosen for two out of the three contracts just signed for the new Oyster 595 and for one of the six new contracts signed for the Oyster 565. It’s a very personal choice. For some, the upright nature of the extended transom doesn’t appeal to the eye – for others, the shape matches the near vertical profile of the bow better and the advantages of a longer aft deck provides not only an enhanced entertaining space but also, a huge lazarette. A well thought through engineering approach to the tooling design across the twin rudder range was the starting point for Oyster to be able to offer this flexibility and then the next steps also became easier. Would you like a large hydraulic-controlled bathing platform opening up from the transom? Would you like a dinghy garage instead of carrying the dinghy on davits or on the foredeck? This in turn then created options with the interior to move the Owners’ Cabin forward and to provide twin aft cabins either side of the front of the dinghy garage. The choice of bathing platform and a dinghy on davits then creates another challenge – how to get to the dinghy once it has been lowered with the davits? The owner of Oyster 675-01, as pictured below left, chose some fixed teak steps built in to the transom and bathing platform. This prompted the design of a beautiful flush fitting and folding set of steps that can be fitted across the range from the Oyster 565 to the new 895. Sized to match each yacht of course, we are now engineering an option to be able to unfold the steps by a swimmer in the water, adding an essential safety feature and providing another solution to getting out of the water that has become a safety regulation requirement. Apparently simple issues at first glance, the way the team gets to grips with the challenges and how they engineer sound solutions is yet another good example of Oyster’s solid approach and attention to detail. Good planning, design and engineering produce the sort of quality solutions that the company is renowned for – all built on decades of experience gathered from ~75 circumnavigations, millions of sea miles and listening to owners.
OYSTER ISSUE 80 / 55