INNOVATION
The Hatteras Advantage: The Engine Room
When Hatteras owners take guests on a tour of their yacht, they often save the best part for last − the engine room. Every machinery space is intelligently designed, well-equipped, and surgically clean, showcasing the best of Hatteras engineering, design and construction technology.
EFFICIENT & FUNCTIONAL
How does a Hatteras engine room stand out from the competition? Let us count the ways.
“We set it up like our own personal workshop,” said David Clubbs, director of research & development. “We make sure it’s efficient and functional; that you can see everything and everything is easy to access.” In fact, most of the equipment is installed in order of priority, with valves and gauges you need for daily checks up front, and annual service ports further back.
Ease of service and maintenance throughout the life of the boat also is optimized. For example, we install air conditioning maintenance ports at optimum points for flushing the raw water air conditioning cooling lines. “It takes a two-day job down to two hours,” Clubbs reported.
THE DETAILS
Attention to detail is paramount. For example, hose runs and wiring looms are fastened every 6 inches with tie wraps and every 18 inches with the vinyl padded, stainless steel clamping loom straps commonly referred to as “Adels”. “A lot of the competition uses aluminum loom straps, which can corrode and disintegrate,” said Glenn Spain, chief mechanical engineer. “Stainless is for life.”
“Hatteras pioneered the use of tinned wires throughout the yacht long before most of our competitors,” he added. “Each strand is independently tinned. When the wiring gets wet, the ends do not corrode; it protects the whole system.”
CLEANLINESS
Since cleanliness is next to godliness, particularly in an engine room, we make ours easier to wipe down by faring all the surfaces. The ceiling is gel-coated and the rest is painted. The whole space also is extremely well lit by a redundant lighting system − DC-powered LED bulbs and AC-powered, ultra-bright fluorescents. “If your AC lights go down, you still have the DC lights to work by,” Spain said.
STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY
Structural integrity in the machinery spaces ensures a quiet ride up top. “Our engine rooms are structurally extremely robust. Nothing moves,” said Clubbs. The main engines are mounted to steel plates encapsulated with fiberglass and embedded in to the resin-infused stringer system. The mounting bolts also are made of steel, drilled and tapped into the steel mounting plates. Sound and vibration are further minimized by the fact that all engine-room equipment is subjected to shock, vibration and noise isolation analysis and mitigation. “The exhaust system is designed for maximum engine performance combined with minimum noise, and built of high-performance stainless steel,” he added.
SAFETY
Engine-room safety is stressed throughout every step of the design process. Top-of-the-line fire suppression systems, custom-designed for each Hatteras yacht model are standard. In addition, “All breakers and electrical switches are in metal boxes that are grounded,” Clubbs said. “Other boat companies will use plastic or wooden boxes. If there is a short in one of those boxes, it could cause a fire. Not in our metal ones.”
It’s no wonder our owners like to show off their engine rooms. Each one is a work of “state of the art.”
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