Sicomin

The yacht, called Crosscall, won the Class40 World Championships in June 2022 and is a prototype of the new Lift V2 design by Marc Lombard, one of the leading naval architects in this field.

Class40 is one of the most competitive fleets in yacht racing. The hulls of Class40 yachts must be light in weight, strong and stiff, and durable in the most extreme of conditions. Furthermore, to keep costs down, they cannot be reinforced with carbon fibres. The quality and reliability of the resins used for the infusion and lamination of the hulls are therefore of paramount importance.

Owner of Crosscall, Aurelien Ducroz, was keen to use as much flax as possible in the construction of the yacht, but Lombard – who had to certify and warranty the structure of the boat in ocean racing use – was more cautious. A compromise therefore had to be reached.

Crosscall's cockpit was designed to be effectively non-structural, with the mainsheet, which can generate huge shock loads, supported separately. This would allow the cockpit to be made from a hybrid biaxial fabric comprising 50% flax fibres. Other parts of the boat that incorporate flax fibre include the tunnel, the engine cover, the ballast tanks and the cap. The rest of the boat is reinforced with 100% glass-fibre fabrics.

To help it realise this ambitious design, GLC, a highly skilled infusion specialist, turned to its long-time material supplier, Sicomin. The hull was moulded and infused in one piece and the deck – including the hybrid flax-fibre cockpit – was also infused as a single part. The internal structure was then laminated into the hull by hand before the hull and deck were finally bonded together.

The infusion resin selected was Sicomin’s SR 1710, a high-modulus structural epoxy. Designed specifically for use in infusion and injection processes, it has exceptionally low viscosity and its low-reactivity hardener makes it suitable for the production of large parts. Composites components made from SR 1710 possess high interlaminar shear-strength and the resin retains its mechanical properties in wet environments.

Sicomin’s low-toxicity SR 8200 was used to laminate the internal structures onto the skin of the hull. Ideal for hand laminating, this system includes a choice of hardeners with a wide range of reactivities, which makes it equally suitable for making large or small parts. The hull and deck were joined together with Sicomin’s Isobond SR 7100, which demonstrates extremely high fatigue strength and is very resistant to microcracking.

An epoxy bonding primer – called Undercoat EP 215 HB+ and supplied by Sicomin’s sister company, Map Yachting – was applied to the moulds first to make demoulding easier. It also serves as an undercoat in the polyurethane exterior paint system that is used instead of gelcoat to protect the epoxy hull from UV damage.

Since the launch of Crosscall, GLC has started building a second Lift V2 Class40 and a third one is now planned, both for which Sicomin will supply the materials. Managing Director, GLC, Xavier Gosselin, concludes: "We have been using Sicomin’s products since the beginning, we have never had a problem and I would not want to risk trying a different supplier."

Infusing More Sustainable Vessels with GreenPoxy InfuGreen 810

As manufacturers drive to improve the sustainability of their processes and reduce the environmental impact of their end products, Sicomin has ramped up its supply of large volumes of GreenPoxy bio-based epoxies for the marine sector.

With 38% of its carbon content from plant based sources, Sicomin’s GreenPoxy InfuGreen 810, has been formulated to provide a more sustainable vacuum infusion resin with uncompromising performance.

InfuGreen 810 was recently used for the infusion of the new Couach Fly 86/2600 Motor Yacht, one of the largest structures to be infused with bio-resins to date, and by far the largest yacht hull.

The DNV GL approved resin system was used to vacuum infuse the 26-metre, 52 tonne superyacht’s hull, deck and superstructure producing a lighter, faster, more durable yacht, and reducing overall fuel consumption significantly.

Additional InfuGreen 810 projects include:

- the hull, deck and internal structure of the Flax 27, an 8.2m classically styled daysailer designed by Judel/Vrolijk & Co
- the new Floki 6.5m Racing Yacht built for the Mini Transat race
- a novel carbon fibre A frame crane built for an oceanographic research vessel at the H2X Shipyard.

MAP Yachting Creates Bespoke Paint Colour To Match Gunboat 68 and Triumph Motorcycle with Owner’s Eye Colour

MAP YACHTING Paint Systems, a subsidiary brand of Sicomin, offers a complete range of high-performance paint systems, guaranteeing perfect protection and exceptional quality of finish for leading boat and superyacht builders.
On the Sicomin stand, MAP YACHTING will showcase a recent lifestyle project created in collaboration with Gunboat, Triumph and NACA that saw MAP YACHTING create a unique Blue Metal paint scheme for the owner of a Gunboat 68 and a Triumph Bonneville motorcycle. These two design icons have been painted with a bespoke silver blue metallic topcoat, created specifically to match the colour of the owners’ eyes.


ACCWING – Pioneering Reefable Soft Wingsail Technology
The Sicomin stand will also showcase the ACCWING concept created by Hugues de Turckheim and Sicomin President Philippe Marcovich. ACCWING is a new soft wing sail technology which will enhance the performance of sailing yachts as well as playing a key part in the conversion of motor yachts to hybrid sail and motor powered vessels. ACCWING is fully compatible with spinnakers and light weather head sails. ACCWING can rotate through 360° around an unstayed fixed carbon mast and can be fully automated to be managed by the smallest crew. There is no limitation on rig size, with the ACCWing concept being suitable for 40’ sailboats to the largest mega yachts.


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As builders of both motor yachts for the leisure market and professional vessels for military, customs, and other government authorities, Couach (Bordeaux, France) is renowned for its very high engineering standards and quality of construction.

With a long history of building in composites, Couach has developed highly efficient vacuum infusion processes to build hull, deck, superstructure, and other components for their vessels. Whilst Couach traditionally used polyester resin systems, Sicomin - a key supplier of composite materials to the shipyard for more than 15 years - has worked with the Couach R&D team for the past four years on a test program to explore the benefits of epoxy resin systems, culminating in the successful implementation of Infugreen 810 and other GreenPoxy® bio-based epoxies in the latest Couach model.

With 38% of its carbon content from plant based sources, InfuGreen 810, is formulated to provide a more sustainable vacuum infusion resin with uncompromising performance. With the testing program complete, and the additional reassurance of the resin’s DNV GL type approval in hand, Couach prepared to infuse the 2600 Fly hull.

Sicomin also supplied release agents compatible with its epoxies and vacuum consumables that had been well proven in Couach production before this first major epoxy resin application. Then, the highly engineered E-glass laminate including sandwich core sections and a range of stitched multiaxial, woven, and unidirectional fabrics were assembled in the hull mould. For the final pre-production stage, Couach installed its in-house developed monitoring system to ensure the integrity of the vacuum and monitor the process conditions during the infusion itself.

Infusion of the first Fly 86/2600 hull was completed by Couach technicians with Sicomin’s technical team onsite to support the process and observe the infusion of the largest bio-epoxy hull to date. Both Couach and Sicomin noted the easy mixing, controllable hardener speed and excellent wet out resulting from the new process. Building on this initial success, InfuGreen 810 was then also used for deck and superstructure components with GreenPoxy 33 bio-based hand laminating resins used for secondary bonding in the yacht’s final assembly.

“Our InfuGreen 810 resin really does offer the optimum solution for infusion in a large structure such as the Fly 86/2600” comments Philippe Gruaud, Head of Technical Sales for Western France, Sicomin. “The significantly lower viscosity and increased fibre wetting enable rapid, controllable and void free infusion of the laminate, particularly when using heavyweight multiaxial and woven reinforcement plies. It’s not just a more sustainable option, it’s the best technical option for a project like this.”

With the first of the new Fly 86/2600 series launched earlier this year, and now providing its owner with a sublime cruising experience, Couach currently has hull number two in production.

“With Sicomin’s InfuGreen 810 we have been able to build our Fly 86/2600 yacht in a more responsible and sustainable way, whilst also producing a lighter, stiffer, and more durable composite structure that reduces our impact on the environment. With superb processability, the added assurance of DNV GL type approval, and the technical support provided by the Sicomin team, our production team, as well as our customers, really appreciate this latest development. For sure, this is only the first of many yachts to be infused with InfuGreen 810 at Couach.” Couach.

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