Atollvic

Written by Text : Carlos Serra / Translation: Marco Benevento. Issue Nº 46

Shipyards

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Adaptation capacity

The technology and construction experience devoted to the fishing vessels has been transformed into handicraft skills to build yachts at this company based in the Ria of Vigo.

The Ria of Vigo concentrated in several areas of its sheltered coastline an industry focused mostly on professional boats but that since a few years now, appears in the map for the construction of luxury yachts. One of the companies that has pointed into that new direction in their activity is Atollvic, located on the north shore of the ria and well-known in the yachting media for the two high-level creations: the Iñigo Echenique design Caracola Too and the sailboat Atollvic 56, that the public could visit during the last Barcelona boat show.
The shipyard specialises in metal boats, whether it be steel or aluminium, having the required facilities and the corresponding machinery. Recent improvements in the whole is the air compressed, propane and gas network distributed both in the sheds and at the service esplanade, the floating dock for the mooring of yachts waiting, the welding and portable plasma cutting systems and the mobile cranes and scaffolding that gives a great versatility to the work.
Two of the slipways or launching tracks of Atollvic lead to individual and perfectly equipped sheds. The first one has a capacity for vessels up to 50 meters length and nine in beam, with a 10 ton overhead travelling crane whose nine meters span grants the capacity for yachts of those sizes. A second shed has a width of 14 meters, 55 meters in length and a height under the overhead travelling crane of 20 meters. The length and slope of the track allows the launching of boats in this last installation of up to 6,8 meters draft.
Between the two sheds there is a third launching ramp stuck with two sets of tracks that when levelled to the same height, they can work together and tow vessels of up to 15 meters beam. Its useful length reaches 75 meters, and will soon be covered with a sliding system that will allow to work both outdoors and indoors, depending on the needs.

Exceptional capacity

The leap from building and repairing professionals ships to work on yachts has been carried out at Atollvic with great ease thanks to the management of the company, that from the beginning made a bet on defining the objectives of quality and cleanliness required for luxury products. The facilities have been updated, cleaned and renewed to the point of obtaining an excellent standard. Attention has also been given to the workforce itself, consisting of workers and technicians whose youth facilitates the change to the mentioned strategy. The work force at Atollvic is further strengthened by two additional sources of workforce: one comes from the business in the sector that, thanks to the constructive tradition of the area, existing in the surroundings and that allows to increase the work force when the work pace requires it. Metal workers, electricians, plumbers and carpenters are available in the area, giving a great versatility to the production.
Even more interesting is the assistance that the companies to which Atollvic is associated, as being part of the same group, can provide to it: stainless steel, machining, adjustments, drilling and the production of any piece of metal that is not cast is within the reach of the skilled technicians of Atollvic through Vicalsa, a company undertaking repairs and refits on open seas fishing boats which is the mother company of the group and that is located in the area of the Vigo shipyards. Other companies manufacturing metal and industrial supplies, also part of that group, provide additional assistance in technical matters and the production of special parts. The carpentry is ultimately the challenge for Atollvic, that until now has relied on external workshops located in the proximity, but they intend to have shortly a separate section capable of supplying a large percentage of the interiors of the yachts produced.

Advanced Technical Office

A young group of engineers with the most advanced software tools conform the Galician shipyard’s technical office. This is the boldest of initiatives addressed by Atollvic to boost its new phase devoted to yachts, and sets a important difference in the ability of the company and in the quality of their products. Working with their own in house technical office, in fact, provides some great benefits in terms of quality and precision, specially in an industry such as yachts building, with most of the elements tailor made and being very demanding. Where many companies resort to exterior naval architecture or engineering studios, depending upon them both for creating the construction plans as for the solution of the systems or detailed components that are involved in yachts, Atollvic considers solving that tasks at their in house facilities near to the workshop and thanks to a team that communicates very well with their work force.
The group has chosen to use the Catia software, that our magazine presented some months ago and has invested in the specific training that this type of application requires from the designers and the engineers. With this software the process going between the creation of a model and its actual construction is integrated into a production flow that allows to the engineer to control at any time the shapes, the materials and the measurements of each item. From the design of the yacht to the parts that of any of the elements, there are contained in the same document, and they can be checked at any stage. Atollvic office also uses more traditional tools such as Autocad or Defcar, ensuring a perfect communication with other design studios and workshops that do not use the mentioned software.

Refit of an historic schooner

The activity of Atollvic for new constructions has been well described previously, but the yard’s capacity to undertake large repairs or refits is even more significant: the schooner No. 6 Texel of London, that after almost two years of work is currently sailing in the Mediterranean. The recovery works of the unit included the repair of the steel structure, that despite of being new kept its original look including the rivets, and the creation of many parts and pieces completely made in casting or by mechanisation besides the complete creation of the accommodation in traditional style and respecting the shapes of a period work ship.
An adventure that started when the sailing ship, a Dutch schooner from the beginning of the twentieth century, visited the ria of Vigo for a short repair stopover and that, due to the increasing wish list and a growing relationship between the owner and the shipyard staff, turned into a full refit. The historical value of the vessel, which was part of the fleet of auxiliary schooners at the Dutch military port of Texel, found an unparalleled complicity with the technical staff at Atollvic and with the owner and its crew. The Dutch studio of Gerry Dijkstra, with great expertise both in modern and old schooners, was also involved in the consulting and the decision making.
The excellence of the work carried out, both in the general areas as well as in the details and the recovery of old pieces, was to the full satisfaction of the owner, who has become faithful with the yard. This is an excellent way for opening markets and Atollvic both for the quality of their own staff as for its partners network, can continue and will undoubtedly grant them many success. <<

Comments  

 

0 #1 Holger Kohmstadt 2011-07-03 13:03

The planning and installation of the complete electrical and electronic system was carried out by Holger Kohmstadt, YACHTTECHNIK.

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