Tartan Yachts was founded upon a philosophy of innovative design and handcrafted construction. This philosophy was born when Charlie Britton and Sparkman & Stephens created the Tartan 27 which revolutionized boatbuilding by replacing traditional wooden construction with fiber reinforced plastic.

 

Construction

Traditional Tartan Quality
Tartan is the only sailboat manufacturer that offers infused BPA modified epoxy hulls, decks and carbon masts and pocket booms as standard. These advanced building techniques offer superior strength and longevity and place Tartan Yachts as a leader in the industry.

 

BPA Epoxy Hulls

The Epoxy Revolution

Just as the introduction of polyester fiberglass laminates replaced wood yacht construction in the early 1960's, Tartan's new infused BPA epoxy laminate now makes those earlier lamination techniques obsolete. We use BPA epoxy resin in our laminating process. Other builders use polyester resins, which simply cannot achieve the strength, stiffness and osmotic resistance of our hulls. That's why the world's leading grand prix and custom yachts are built with epoxy resins. While our resin is more expensive than polyester resin, there is simply no other sensible choice in hull laminate construction.

In constructing our hull laminates, we begin by using the most advanced materials available in the marine industry today. The combination of uni-directional E-glass, synthetic structural foam
coring and BPA epoxy resin produces the strongest and most impact resistant laminate in the marine industry. Our hulls are resin infused under vacuum to ensure an optimal low-resin, high fiber content. This process consolidates the laminate, minimizing the potential for voids and produces the optimum strength to weight ratio in a composite laminate.

Our vacuum infused hull laminate is done in a single process with all components in place rather than bonding each layer separately like other builders. This produces a singular primary bond
among the laminate components rather than the weaker multiple secondary bonds between cured laminate layers produced by traditional polyester construction. Our process creates a laminate of far greater strength and stiffness that maintains its physical properties through cyclic loading far beyond the abilities of conventional polyester laminate construction.

Our process optimizes the strength and longevity of the composite laminate. Hulls built with this proprietary process are among the strongest in the industry and of a quality that was previously available only for custom built cruisers or grand prix racers. We are so confident in the strength and durability of our laminate process that we offer a 15-year, transferable, structural, no-blister
warranty.

 

Our Superior Hull Construction

Superior impact resistance

• No other hull in the industry can match the strength and impact resistance of a Tartan yacht

Superior cosmetic appearance

• Tartan hulls are built to be cosmetically superior and remain that way throughout their lifetime

Polyester hulls are not post-cured in production. Once polyester hulls are exposed to sunlight and temperature, they experience an uncontrolled post-curing process resulting in 7-8% resin shrinkage volumetrically. This creates roving and core print-through that is apparent in most polyester hulls. Tartan's hulls minimize this post-cure shrinkage and remain better looking for a longer period of time.

Superior structural longevity

• The adhesive properties of our resins are far superior to those of polyester resins. This characteristic substantially limits micro cracking within the laminate. Micro cracking leads to fatigue and a weakening of the hull structure over time. The superior ability of our epoxy based laminate to withstand the negative effects of cyclic loading is an essential advantage of Tartan hulls versus other manufacturers' polyester hulls.

Superior retention of shear strength

• Interlaminar shear strength is significantly weakened by water absorption in the laminate. Simply stated, decks and hulls that get “soft” from water absorption are much weaker than ones that don't. Polyester laminates lose 35% of their shear strength after one year in the water due to water absorption. In contrast, epoxy based laminates retain nearly 100% of their shear strength during the same period of time in the water. Why? Because epoxy is water resistant, polyester isn't.

Superior blister resistance

• Superior resistance to water absorption of our epoxy-based laminate eliminates osmotic gelcoat blistering in Tartan hulls.

 

VIP™ Decks

Our Deck Construction Process

Our decks are the strongest and stiffest in the industry. Our custom vacuum infusion process creates the best resin-to-glass ratio, and all deck hardware is mounted through solid glass laminate with appropriate FRP or aluminum backing plates.

 

Built-in Strength and Longevity

This produces major benefits: decks of exceptional strength, stiffness and durability. This is the result of a 40% resin to 60% glass ratio rather than the 75% resin to 25% glass used in our competitors’ process. In this closed-mold system, fabric and treated balsa cores are cut and laid dry in the mold at one time. Our balsa cores are computer cut on a CNC router to optimize core layout and guarantee proper location of the aluminum-backing plates.  The vacuum bag is then applied over the laminate and air is evacuated to achieve one atmosphere of vacuum pressure. Resin feed lines are opened and atmospheric pressure forces the catalyzed resin into the laminates, completely saturating the dry glass and balsa cores.  In addition to building the strongest & lightest decks in the industry, our closed molding infusion process has environmental benefits.  Closed molding eliminates the emission of harmful chemicals into the environment and is a much cleaner and neater process for our employees.

 

Superior Physical Properties

The consistently high glass-to-resin ratio produces very high physical properties of stiffness and strength. Eliminated are the inconsistencies of labor-intensive hand lay-up that's dependent on the individual laminator's skills and it does away with air entrapment and void problems that can compromise durability.

 

Voids that can fill with water are minimized leaving no paths for potential water migration through the core. This is extremely important to boat owners who install aftermarket deck hardware and canvas goods. Owners also enjoy decks and cockpit soles that deflect substantially less under load and won't crush under localized impacts.

 

The finest hardware and components from leading marine suppliers are mounted to the deck through solid laminate with stainless fasteners that are drilled and tapped into laminated-in-place aluminum-backing plates. All hatches and ports are likewise installed through solid laminate. In areas where hardware is not affixed, select sealed coring is used to create a stiffer, lighter deck structure. The resulting weight savings in our Tartan decks provides a lower center of gravity with increased stability and an easier motion at sea.

 

The Interior Structural Component

Keel timbers, mast step, chainplate attachment points, structural stringers and bulkheads are bonded in place with fiberglass reinforcement and our unique proprietary BPA modified epoxy resin. This Tartan construction technique provides greater strength in these critical structural elements than conventional construction techniques found in other boats. Tartan construction offers our owners the safest hulls in the industry.

 

All thru-hull fittings are installed in solid laminate (no core) preventing water migration into the laminate. Careful attention to detail is taken when installing all fittings to ensure laminate integrity, moisture resistance and safe operation. We use only 90-degree throw flush Marelon thru-hull fittings that are UL and ABS approved and corrosion-free, providing years of safe and trouble-free operation.

 

Our hull-to-deck joint is a time-tested structure consisting of an inward flange in the hull incorporating a 6061, T6 hardened aluminum-backing bar. The resulting joint is bonded with 3M's sturdy 5200 adhesive sealant. This Tartan construction technique provides our owners the most secure hull-to-deck joint in the industry, and also allows serviceability from outside the boat.

 

Interior

Tartan Stylish Interiors

While Tartan is recognized as an industry leader for strength, speed and safety at sea, our interiors provide you the utmost in style and comfort and elegance below decks. Here are a few of the many features found in our boats

• Handcrafted, solid stock and laminated curved trim detail
• Ventilated, solid stock cherry doors
• Dovetail drawers
• Select, rich Sunbrella fabrics, custom crafted by our in-house upholstery team
• Varnished, carefully placed hand-holds providing safe movement below decks
• Solid stock passage doors
• Lightweight composite cherry cabinets
• Custom molded composite laminate countertops in the galley and head areas that are lightweight and durable

 

Carbon Fiber Spars

Carbon-Fiber Masts

In 2004, Tartan established another industry first. Our complete line is equipped with carbon-fiber masts as standard equipment. Our patented process utilizes internal and external air bladders, female molds, carbon pre-preg laminates, and a 250-degree autoclave reaching pressures up to 100 psi, Tartan masts boast an optimized structure, an integral luff groove, and contiguous fibers from top to bottom.

 

Why go carbon? Carbon masts provide reduced weight aloft resulting in increased stability, reduction of pitching inertias, improved dynamic response, reduction of rigging loads and greater overall safety factors.

 

Our carbon masts utilize carbon laminate that is tailored to high load areas, which minimizes section weights. Tartan’s carbon spars do not suffer fatigue stress cycling and corrosion issues that are common in aluminum spars.
  
Tartan uses prepreg carbon, which guarantees strict resin control and minimizes weight aloft. We use a combination of unidirectional fibers, double bias fibers and woven twill fibers, which allow precise control of fiber orientation.  Exacting control of resin content and fiber orientation allows for computer optimized designs to be transferred directly to build crews. 

 

Our Tartan carbon masts have a substantially greater full-section modulus than their aluminum counterparts. Pound for pound carbon is 10 times stronger than steel.  This superior strength means greater safety at sea.

 

Our award winning Pocket Booms provide the sail handling advantages of roller furling mainsail systems without harming sail shapes or risking a furling failure.  The Pocket Booms exterior structural shell is a foam-cored, prepreg carbon-fiber construction. Its internal fiberglass insert is a foam-cored, infused modified epoxy/fiberglass laminate.  Our latest generation Pocket Booms are no heavier than a conventional aluminum boom but provide ease of use and convenience of a furling system.  An awning rail makes the mainsail cover integral to the boom, which means you simply unzip the cover and go sailing.