Skandia Team GBR

Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Eco Future of Sailing is Here

I haven't posted for a while, life has taken over, but my finger is still on the pulse and I just have to post about these things...

Both these designs are nominees in the Volvo Sports Design at ispo 08.

Firstly, a beautiful sight to behold is:

Schoener Boot Fahren Wooden Boat

Schoener Boot Fahren wooden boat 

Max Koriath (maxepopaxe@gmx.de), a student from the Weissensee School of Art in Berlin, had the idea to combine the look of a known traditional material with a shape normally found in industrial manufactured products. He took a wooden boat and interpreted it with an entirely new manufacturing process.

Modern techniques and manufacturing processes can help to make wood boats more attractive in boat-building again. Wooden boats have their own charm and as a material, wood has many advantages, especially with regard to sustainability. The wood grows again permanently and has a positive life-cycle assessment. The material can be completely composted. Damaged parts can easily be replaced, just like the engine bonnet of a car.

The production process for wood boats is comparable to that of fibreglass-reinforced plastic boats: It is a modular concept, with the boat produced in parts not as a whole hull. No chemical emissions result and there is less health risk to the workmen.

The boat is made of beech wood, which is forested in Germany and other countries. The beech wood is worked in an industrial process that makes three-dimensional rounded freeform surfaces possible. Crafted in this way, it may substitute for common fibreglass-reinforced plastic materials currently used for boats. Another process makes the wood resistant to mildew, making it viable on the water. In the end, the comfortable wood characteristics are still maintained.

 

Secondly, for those who go through wetsuits each season...

Body Glove Eco Fullsuit:

eco wetsuit

The Body Glove ECO fullsuit is the ecological innovation in wetsuit design from the Body Glove team. The fullsuit is the most environmentally friendly wetsuit on the market.

Traditional wetsuits are made from neoprene, a petroleum-based material. The Body Glove fullsuit is made with Body Glove BIO-Stretch rubber and ECO-flex. The ECO BIO-Stretch and ECO-Flex have the same thermal insulating qualities as neoprene without the harsh environmental side effects. The combination of these two materials is the purest known form of non-toxic stretch material.

For more info contact:

www.bodyglove.com
Matt Walls - mwalls@bodyglove.net

1 comment:

Litoralis said...

Uh...that boat looks like it was designed by someone that has never been near one...someone like an art student.