Nordkyn Design

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May 222013

Thunderstorm approaching on Nordkyn
Nordkyn gliding at 6 knots in very light winds
Yarra: The shoals keep the ice out at Dorian Bay, Antarctic Peninsula
Wild South steaming in Foveaux Strait, New Zealand
Wild South at Stewart Island, New Zealand
Sunset on the Southern Ocean aboard Nordkyn
Yarra: Sunset at Puerto San Pedro, Chiloé, Chili
Paradise Bay, Antarctic Peninsula, from the deck of the sloop Yarra
Yarra: Snow on deck and icebergs off Antarctica
Yarra at Dorian Bay, Antarctic Peninsula
Wild South steaming alongside the tall sloop Nordkyn in Foveaux Strait, NZ
Wild South 37 at berth
Yarra anchored in Crater Bay, Aleutian Islands, Alaska
Wild South steaming in Foveaux Strait, New Zealand
Nordkyn hard on the wind in Foveaux Strait, New Zealand
Nordkyn anchored in Oamaru Harbour, New Zealand

Nordkyn Design is presently the home of two featured marine design projects: the 13-metre (43′) alloy sloop Nordkyn and the 11.2-metre (37′) cruising launch Wild South.

Both these projects embed the key guiding concepts on this site:

Exceptional attention to hull design
Seaworthiness
Purpose
Efficiency
Simplicity

The sloop Nordkyn was designed as a high-performance offshore expedition cruising yacht, specifically with the intent of voyaging in remote latitudes. It is spacious, comfortable, extensively insulated and easily heated. It is light, strong, extremely resilient with multiple watertight bulkheads and phenomenal under sail.
The underlying philosophy is travelling far, staying and exploring there before finally getting back out.
It was a personal project and no effort or time were spared to obtain an exceptional result throughout design and construction.

The launch Wild South was designed for coastal cruising, going fishing and living aboard at the bottom end of New Zealand, a relatively cold, windy and rough part of the world. An accent was placed on effective usability: it is a boat that goes out a lot.
It is a boat to enjoy the voyage as much as the destination, a boat for spending time at sea with a huge steaming range and excellent fuel economy. It is not an expensive boat to build either.

Both vessels were designed to go to sea before anything else. They have been extremely successful.

Over time, those interested will also find here various resources related to the dynamics of small vessels at sea, seakeeping, efficiency and propulsion considerations for power craft, the dynamics of small craft in heavy weather, marine electrical engineering, construction in aluminium and foam core as well as other technical matters.

Besides projects such as above, Nordkyn Design operates as a design office and consultancy in the fields of:

New designs for series production and development of ranges for commercial boatbuilding firms
Development and optimisation of manufacturing processes and shop floor practices in aluminium boatbuilding
Refits and transformations of commercial crafts: design, planning and project management as required
Stability analysis and other requirements for commercial operation under survey
Hull optimisation and propulsion efficiency improvements

Motor-Zuverlässigkeit: Ein Blick auf die Volvo Penta MDI Black Box

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Electrical, Propulsion

This German translation of the original article in English was very kindly provided by Burkhard Hermes in October 2021 to facilitate access to the content for German-speaking readers and we are pleased to publish it here. Diese deutsche Übersetzung des englischen Originalartikels wurde uns freundlicherweise von Burkhard Hermes im Oktober 2021 zur Verfügung gestellt. Sie […]

Charging Marine Lithium Battery Banks

This article is part of a series dealing with building best-in-class lithium battery systems from bare cells, primarily for marine use, but a lot of this material finds relevance for low-voltage off-grid systems as well. Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery banks are quite different from lead-acid batteries and this is most apparent when it comes to […]

Engine Reliability: A Look at the Volvo Penta MDI Black Box

In this article, we have a look at the Volvo Penta MDI electronic black box while relocating it off the side of a Volvo Penta D2-40B engine in order to protect it from the heat and vibrations. IF YOU OWN A FAILED MDI BOX, PLEASE CONSIDER SENDING US PHOTOS OF THE INSIDE AFTER LIFTING THE […]

Ultrasonic Antifouling System – Part 2, Fighting Algae Growth

In July, I wrote about my experience with a homebrew twin-transducer ultrasonic antifouling system over 3 1/2 years on the aluminium sloop Nordkyn. It didn’t keep the hull clean once the antifouling reached past its prime, but the results were nevertheless very valuable as the system eradicated hard growth like barnacles on the hull, even in the […]

Ultrasonic Antifouling System – Part 1, Development & Construction

Starting Point I had hauled out the sloop Nordkyn for its less-than-annual bottom paint job. It was November, that year had been long, and so was getting the thin stringy weed clinging to the hull. In this condition, the boat is unusable. I was determined to make the effort last and so I generously sprayed […]

Protection and Management of Marine Lithium Battery Banks

This article is part of a series dealing with building best-in-class lithium battery systems from bare cells, primarily for marine use, but a lot of this material finds relevance for low-voltage off-grid systems as well. This article discusses the protection of lithium battery banks in the context of marine installations. A previous article detailed the design […]

Electrical Design For a Marine Lithium Battery Bank

This article is part of a series dealing with building best-in-class lithium battery systems from bare cells, primarily for marine use, but a lot of this material finds relevance for low-voltage off-grid systems as well. Integrating a lithium battery bank on board a vessel introduces a few additional constraints and challenges that don’t exist with lead-acid […]

Assembling a Lithium Iron Phosphate Marine House Bank

This article is part of a series dealing with building best-in-class lithium battery systems from bare cells, primarily for marine use, but a lot of this material finds relevance for low-voltage off-grid systems as well. Here, we detail the hands-on process of building a lithium battery bank from individual single prismatic cells. There is more to […]

Practical Characteristics of Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery Cells

This article is part of a series dealing with building best-in-class lithium battery systems from bare cells, primarily for marine use, but a lot of this material finds relevance for low-voltage off-grid systems as well. Batteries are about voltage, current and capacity first and foremost. This article discusses the performance characteristics of lithium iron phosphate cells […]

Lithium Battery Banks – Fundamentals

This article is part of a series dealing with building best-in-class lithium battery systems from bare cells, primarily for marine use, but a lot of this material finds relevance for low-voltage off-grid systems as well. Hundreds, if not more, of research papers have been published about lithium batteries, as well as numerous books. Still, a lot […]