Yacht feature- AY480 - a yacht for sailing around the world
by Des Ryan on 7 Sep 2012
AY 480 in action SW
One of the most attractive looking all-round cruising boats to come from Italian designers for a while, the AY480 is a boat built to sail around the world. It is a nice meeting of those things that many cruisers enjoy - traditional, comfortable, secure, but it is also fast, with straightforward maintenance and management.
It really would be the ideal robust boat for for large ocean crossings and for those who make the extreme choice of 'slipping the moorings for good' to live on a boat.
Designed by Davide Zerbinati and introduced by the Italian shipyard AluYacht, owned by Luca Benigni, it is an aluminium yacht, with all of the features that makes aluminium a good choice in an ocean cruising boat.
The size is about right, not too big for two to sail easily and not too small for comfortable on-board living. Its displacement is excellent for large ocean cruises, and ensures exceptional reliability, with integrated monocoque fin and a suspended rudder.
With whales and floating submerged objects such as containers still of concern to the cruising sailor, the structure has double bottom watertight chambers, ensuring that it will not sink even in the event of serious damage to the hull.
It has a good keel depth of 2.30 meters and its average cruising speed is 7-8 knots.
Why aluminium?
AY480 enhances the specific properties of aluminum in the marine field: reliability, robustness and lightness. Already equipped for heavy loads and due to the low density of the material, the aluminum hull is lighter than a fibreglass hull and ensures full ability to absorb extreme impacts, without cracks and leaks.
It's the durability with minimum maintenance, the possibility of repairing damage anywhere in the world at a reasonable cost that ensures that aluminium construction is more competitive in maintenance than any other solution on the market.
The boat is also very suitable for a solo sailor: it’s fully manageable from the cockpit.
It's being launched this fall, so if you're thinking of slipping the mooring lines and sailing away into the sunset, this is one boat you'll want to consider seriously.
For more information, and to follow its launch in the next couple of months, http://www.aluyacht.it/eng/ay480.php!click_here
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