Lightweight RIB in Seawork’s Showcase
The ecoXR24’s hull can improve a RIB’s fuel consumption, lowering the craft’s operating costs.
British boatbuild specialist Eco-marine will be showing off its new ecoXR24 RIB hull on Stand B159 at Seawork 2011 and is also entering it in the Innovation Showcase.
The new design of the ecoXR24’s hull reduces a vessel’s environmental impact in two ways, by using less material to build the hull and by improving the resulting RIB’s fuel consumption, lowering the craft’s operating costs. The boat is also narrower than many RIBs, making it easier to transport by road and easier to store.
The ecoXR24 has been entered into the Seawork Innovation Showcase because it is believed to be the first RIB to use the ISO12215-5 scantling standard to provide the limiting conditions for its final hull design, creating a hull that is strong and robust but also lightweight.
Eco-marine plans to continually improve the design, to meet the needs of RIB operators. Director Mark Evans said, “We’re looking to build a community of interested companies who can guide the ongoing development of our fuel efficient RIB. We’re building a 7.2m boat at the moment, which will be used for demonstrations and fuel consumption tests in the summer. We’d like to talk to boat operators about their specific requirements and how the ecoXR24 can be customised to meet them, using our full 3D CAD and structural analysis service.”
The ecoXR24 is the first RIB hull design to be approved by the RYA under its Structural Assessment scheme. The lightest version meets design category C and a stronger structure is used for the more severe category B.
Eco-marine is a trade name of Coupland Bell Limited, a company that has been providing mechanical engineering consultancy for the last 13 years. Much of the lightweight methodology has come from Coupland Bell’s Amphibious RIB project, which has been supported by Birmingham and Warwick Universities, among others.
The company also has significant experience in failure analysis, finite element analysis, noise and vibration reduction in a variety of contexts, including gas turbine and marine systems.
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