An aluminium speedboat, built by the Dutch company Silvestris Haute Motive Concepts, is making use of structural bonding technology from Huntsman Advanced Materials. Martin de Bruijn, a designer at Silvestris, reveals that the design practices and lightweight materials used mean that the 23-foot boat weighs just 1500kg. The light weight is based on an aluminium space frame which forms the skeleton structure of the boat. It is riveted and bonded to the aluminium hull with Araldite 2015, an epoxy adhesive paste which cures at room temperature.
“When we began the project we were confident that the advantages of using adhesives in automotive engineering would transfer to a marine application”, says Martin de Bruijn. “It soon became apparent that the Araldite adhesives were the only products available that guaranteed strength, improved performance, and increased the durability of the design.”
