rwoofer
Active member
I visited the RM factory recently to see my RM880 in build. Since there was a little bit of interest I thought I would post a few pictures of my visit.
First of all RMs are a very different type of boat. They are designed by Marc Lombard (of Open 60, Figaro 2, Jeaneau Sun Fast 35 fame) as fast cruisers. Key features:
- They are made of epoxy/plywood, because this makes a lighter, stiffer, stronger more environmentally friendly boat. Marc seems to be a fan of plywood as he apparently still owns his original plywood design.
- They have twin keels so that they can dry out.
- All the boats in the range have a technical room, where all the technical bits of a boat are brilliantly accessible.
- Deck saloon with proper forward facing windows.
My boat will be on show at SBS and will be the first RM in the country. To my mind they are very special with a brilliant compromise of performance and cruising practicality. The bigger sister, the RM 1050, was reviewed in this months YM.
More details can be found at RM Yachts .
The first stage of the build process is to create the plywood planks and assemble them over a mannequin:
The plywood planks are in the centre and on the left you can see them built on the mannequin. Once the basic shell is built and epoxied up, they take the shell off the mannequin and then glass in and fillet (all with epoxy) all of the bulkheads to create an eggbox structure that gives the RM it's rigidity:
The keels are attached to a galvanised steel sub-frame to distribute the loads. This sub-frame is bolted and glassed in to the hull:
Bear in mind this is a 28 foot boat with the keels bolted into this structure. Very confidence inspiring. The hull has several of the 7 or so layers of paint sprayed on:
This is my actual boat, hull no. 20. The edges are left because when the deck goes on it is glued, screwed and glassed on. Again another piece of confidence inspiring engineering, especially on such a small boat. The inside is painted as well before the general fit out occurs. Here is the technical room of my boat:
All of the boat systems will be accessible from the technical room. You can see the charger and mains distribution on the left. The water pump on the lower centre. The calorifier lower right. The engine is a volvo D1-20. The fuel tank just out of picture is opaque plastic that can be removed for cleaning by disconnecting the hoses and undoing some straps. Here is a picture of what will be the chart table:
And here is a picture looking forward:
And the stern:
Look at the width of the stern!! This is what allows the boat to reach some considerable speeds downwind - a clear open 60 influence. Here is a picture of the underside of the deck:
And the cockpit:
That was about it for the factory. I said it was a twin keel boat, so here is a picture of the keels and rudder:
How many bilge keels do you see with a shape like that! The keels are based on the Figaro 2 design that Marc Lombard put a lot of effort into. This is why you get fin keel performance with what is a bilge keeler. The wings on the rudder are to stop it sinking too far into soft mud. Here is a picture of it's bigger sister beached in the Scilly Isles to give you an idea:
And finally here is what the end result will look something like:
Mine will be a slighter darker blue (you have a choice of over 200 hull colours!).
It is so informative to see your own boat in build. RM Yachts have been a pleasure to deal with. There has been no pushiness, they have performed non-standard modifications without fuss and really have made the boat buying experience a pleasure.
What do you think?
First of all RMs are a very different type of boat. They are designed by Marc Lombard (of Open 60, Figaro 2, Jeaneau Sun Fast 35 fame) as fast cruisers. Key features:
- They are made of epoxy/plywood, because this makes a lighter, stiffer, stronger more environmentally friendly boat. Marc seems to be a fan of plywood as he apparently still owns his original plywood design.
- They have twin keels so that they can dry out.
- All the boats in the range have a technical room, where all the technical bits of a boat are brilliantly accessible.
- Deck saloon with proper forward facing windows.
My boat will be on show at SBS and will be the first RM in the country. To my mind they are very special with a brilliant compromise of performance and cruising practicality. The bigger sister, the RM 1050, was reviewed in this months YM.
More details can be found at RM Yachts .
The first stage of the build process is to create the plywood planks and assemble them over a mannequin:
The plywood planks are in the centre and on the left you can see them built on the mannequin. Once the basic shell is built and epoxied up, they take the shell off the mannequin and then glass in and fillet (all with epoxy) all of the bulkheads to create an eggbox structure that gives the RM it's rigidity:
The keels are attached to a galvanised steel sub-frame to distribute the loads. This sub-frame is bolted and glassed in to the hull:
Bear in mind this is a 28 foot boat with the keels bolted into this structure. Very confidence inspiring. The hull has several of the 7 or so layers of paint sprayed on:
This is my actual boat, hull no. 20. The edges are left because when the deck goes on it is glued, screwed and glassed on. Again another piece of confidence inspiring engineering, especially on such a small boat. The inside is painted as well before the general fit out occurs. Here is the technical room of my boat:
All of the boat systems will be accessible from the technical room. You can see the charger and mains distribution on the left. The water pump on the lower centre. The calorifier lower right. The engine is a volvo D1-20. The fuel tank just out of picture is opaque plastic that can be removed for cleaning by disconnecting the hoses and undoing some straps. Here is a picture of what will be the chart table:
And here is a picture looking forward:
And the stern:
Look at the width of the stern!! This is what allows the boat to reach some considerable speeds downwind - a clear open 60 influence. Here is a picture of the underside of the deck:
And the cockpit:
That was about it for the factory. I said it was a twin keel boat, so here is a picture of the keels and rudder:
How many bilge keels do you see with a shape like that! The keels are based on the Figaro 2 design that Marc Lombard put a lot of effort into. This is why you get fin keel performance with what is a bilge keeler. The wings on the rudder are to stop it sinking too far into soft mud. Here is a picture of it's bigger sister beached in the Scilly Isles to give you an idea:
And finally here is what the end result will look something like:
Mine will be a slighter darker blue (you have a choice of over 200 hull colours!).
It is so informative to see your own boat in build. RM Yachts have been a pleasure to deal with. There has been no pushiness, they have performed non-standard modifications without fuss and really have made the boat buying experience a pleasure.
What do you think?
