Hexcel composite materials lightweight Sunseeker 90 Ocean luxury yacht

Yacht builder Sunseeker (Poole, U.K.) has chosen Hexcel’s (Stamford, Conn., U.S.) HexPly XF surface technology — a nonwoven semi-preg that eliminates the need to use a traditional in-mold gel coat — to produce prepreg parts with high-quality, paint-ready surfaces quickly and efficiently for its 90 Ocean luxury yacht, one of Sunseeker’s newest models. 

The lightweight composite hardtop for the Sunseeker 90 Ocean yacht is manufactured from a combination of HexPly XF and HexPly SuperFIT semi-preg. According to Sunseeker, the hardtop is lighter in weight than versions made using resin infusion processes, and it demolds with a pinhole-free surface that needs minimal preparation for paint. Sunseeker has recorded an overall reduction in process time of around 30%, saving three days of manufacturing time per hardtop.

The hardtop itself provides shade and protection for the yacht’s uppermost deck space. Its reduced weight also helps to ensure the stability of the vessel. Alternately, the paint-ready finish with HexPly XF provides Sunseeker with more options for customizing its color to the individual needs of its clients.

“Composite materials that improve our production processes, as well as great technical support, are what makes working with Hexcel such a success story,” says Stuart Vaughan-Jones, composite development manager, Sunseeker. “With the switch from gel coat and resin infusion to HexPly XF and SuperFIT in the new hardtops, we are now building lighter, more consistent parts, more quickly than before, with a higher quality surface finish. XF really has ticked all the boxes.” 

Working with Sunseeker, Hexcel developed a material format, a laminate ply sequence and a production process that satisfied the structural requirements for the hardtop and enabled the yacht builder’s production team to lay up and cure the part in a single shot, reportedly slashing cycle times.

Hexcel also supplied Sunseeker with a HexPly XF product that comprises both the surface layer and the first structural reinforcement ply, eliminating the need for a cosmetic barrier coat. Neither the HexPly XF surface layer nor the following layers of HexPly SuperFIT require time-consuming debulking steps— reducing layup time — and both are based on Hexcel’s rapid-curing M79 epoxy resin system. Adhesive resin films are not needed to bond the hardtop’s foam core, Sunseeker adds, as the resin content of the SuperFIT plies has been adjusted to further reduce overall process time.

Once demolded, the cured hardtops are inspected before they are passed to Sunseeker’s finishing and painting technicians for final preparation and painting. The HexPly XF resin surface enables the yacht builder’s quality technicians to inspect the laminate below quickly and easily, ensuring the quality and consistency of the structural reinforcement plies.

“With the HexPly XF surface technology now well established, XF will soon be used in other large moldings where minimizing weight is critical, as well as additional hardtops across the Sunseeker model range,” concludes Garth Thomas, account manager, Marine, Hexcel.