SUPERYACHT #509
September 2004
Article selected from our quarterly magazine dedicated to the largest
and most luxurious boats with information, interviews, technical
articles, images and yachting news
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Article by
Antonio Bignami
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AGOSTINI NAUTICA
italian fibreglass for yachts worldwide
The Agostini Nautica group, established in 1973, consists of
three companies: Agostini Nautica, Resin Craft and RDE. The
12.000 square metre production area - 4 premises with 170
employees - is one of the world's most important in the hull
moulding sector and is currently the biggest Italian
supplier of fibreglass items for pleasure craft. Turnover
for 2002 was ? 10.000.000. Considerable quantities are
involved: more than 250 hulls and decks, between 12 and 35
metres, produced annually on premises which we have
attentively visited, gaining hands-on experience of a highly
efficient working organisation. Agostini Nautica has fine-
tuned technologies and building procedures that are
increasingly innovative and ahead of their time.
Over more than thirty years of activity Agostini Nautica has
made its name as supplier to the most important Italian
shipyards, above all because its success is based on
"dialogue" with customer companies, in all cases offering
its skills right from the first design phases and
cooperating directly with the designer and the technical
departments of the individual yards. The distinctive
features of Agostini Nautica products are quality and
reliability, but always with a careful and competent eye
open to the study of detail, employing both the most
advanced technologies and the most traditional craft skills.
To better understand the world of fibreglass moulding we
spoke with proprietor Roberto Agostini and production
manager Luca Matteucci
Would it be true to say that on the yachting sector
production scene there's fibreglass and fibreglass?
In the yachting sector materials are fairly traditional. In
the motor vehicle and aeronautical sectors they are very
advanced while we're pretty much behind.
Why so?
Costs first of all, and then because there's not much
research on fibreglass and hulls. On interiors, motorisation
and lines, yes, but not on the building materials. Now and
then attempts at improvement are made with proposals of new
technologies and solutions, but as soon as the yard hears of
a 10 to 15% increase in costs, it is unlikely to accept.
Let's put forward a hypothesis based on two variables,
economy and product quality. To what extent is it worthwhile
for a yard to outsource fibreglass construction to a
specialised company like yours?
It's worthwhile in all cases because companies like ours are
specialised, they follow new avenues and continually
experiment with innovative technologies.
Can you give me some examples?
For some time we, for example, have been using infusion, a
process for working fibreglass which is similar to Scrimp
(stratification under vacuum) but different with regard to
the materials employed and to certain procedures (such as
setting out the fabrics to make the GRP run better etc.).
Do you think vacuum infusion is the future of
fibreglass?
For the moment we don't have enough data to say so with
certainty. We're experimenting and already working with this
technology. Some of our customers believe in it, others
don't. Certainly final product quality is better, and
certainly it is more expensive which, at the moment, could
be a problem. Another problem could be the fact that
infusion is a technique, not a special technology of the
utilisation of materials which, moreover, do not have
characteristics specific to this technique apart from
"arrangements" suitable for infusion. The costs question
should also be related to the experience which, with time,
we'll manage to achieve. In the current experimental phase
we're talking about a 15% increase. Should the vacuum
infusion technique get into full swing, cost increases of 6
-7% are envisaged.
Given that a boat made with the infusion technique will
be of superior fibreglass, what are the advantages from the
production point of view?
There are many: firstly, the possibility of governing and
programming the production process. Which means knowing in
advance how much resin you need, being able to count on
greater uniformity of resin within the product, being able
to largely sidestep the human factor which may often make,
and today does make, all the difference. Then there are many
improvements at environmental impact level, a better working
environment for our technicians and labourers and a more
targeted use of a workforce that will be less numerous but
better trained and more specialised.
Are there openings to foreign markets?
We've got plenty of contacts and we're trying to further
intensify and consolidate them. We built a thirty metre
yacht for the English market, a 25 metre for a German yard
and we've got a contract in France for a 20 metre catamaran.
All in all, we're looking to the future.
For further information: Agostini Nautica, Via Bevano
16, 48010 Castiglione di Ravenna (RA) Italy, Tel. +39 0544 554227,
Fax +39 0544 554310, www.agostininautica.it
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