Hands-On innovation at Morrelli & Melvin
November 4, 2009
A common attribute among designers and engineers at Morrelli & Melvin is the ability to build what they design. We believe that the hands-on experience enables our team to not only design products that can be built efficiently and economically, but also leads to innovation in materials and construction methods.
Gino Morrelli started out working on racing cars and boats in his family’s back yard as a teenager. He built his first boat with his dad and brother, a 33-foot Crowther trimaran in high school. Soon after he started his first company, Climax Catamarans, designing and building 18-square meter cats. He has been entrenched in onshore and offshore race-boat construction efforts since the early 80’s, managing and participating in the construction of 60’ ocean racing catamarans, Formula 40’s, the 1988 Stars & Stripes America’s Cup catamaran and many racing beach catamarans. Today he manages the Product Development side of our business where he helps bridge the gap between design engineering and our customers’ production lines. His many years of experience in racing, design, as well as on the shop floor, help us design boats that are beautiful, perform well, and are practical and economical to construct.
Pete Melvin has been creating innovative vehicles since his youth. Not discouraged when the boat he built as a 6-year old did not float, he rebounded and built a fast motorized skateboard by the time he was 10. Pete and his father designed and built several Optimist dinghies and then formed a company to build them. They used Nomex honeycomb and carbon fiber long before these materials gained acceptance in the marine industry. Pete has always designed, built, rigged, and prepared his own race boats, creating many innovations along the way and gaining valuable hands-on experience. He recently designed and built an innovative electric motorcycle that goes 50 miles on a single charge at up to 60 mph. His motorcycle is a test bed for lithium battery and electric propulsion systems that are increasingly finding their way onto M&M’s commercial, military, and pleasure boat designs.
Aeroyacht’s New Line of Luxury Catamarans
June 8, 2009
Newest innovations in performance yachts
Huntington Beach, CA, January 4, 2009 – It’s the New Year and Morrelli and Melvin have teamed up with Aeroyacht to introduce a new line of luxury super catamarans. The Aeroyacht 110 is the first of the Aeroyacht range to fly from the design to the production phase. A sign of the changing times, it sports an optional 2-seater Icon A5 amphibian sports plane and pod to house it.
Referred to by many as today’s most innovative American luxury yacht, the Aeroyacht 110 is a high-performance luxury catamaran. Gregor Tarjan, founder and president of Aeroyacht, collaborated with Morrelli and Melvin on the high-performance luxury catamaran to introduce the latest amenities, style, speed and stability to his visionary yacht. In addition to spacious and comfortable teak decks, a large galley and saloon, a 1,250 square foot social and entertainment platform, a low semi-fly and twin helm stations, this performance cruiser has three private, split-level suites.
Not only is the Aeroyacht spacious, it is fast. Speeds of 35 knots can be attained in comfort. Speed, size and carefully calculated weight distribution deliver minimal sea-induced motion for the entire range of Aeroyachts – the Aeroyacht 95, 110 and 125.
“We are applying technology, engineering and material improvements to all of our designs. Performance cruising designs are getting stronger, lighter and faster just like the America’s Cup and ocean racing multihulls. Aeroyacht has taken advantage of these breakthroughs to introduce optional equipment and more spacious private suites. The hull speeds that it can reach may seem fast for a monohull but are not even approaching the extreme speeds that some multihulls are achieving,” said Pete Melvin, co-founder of Morrelli and Melvin. “It’s not surprising that our recent designs for Aeroyacht and HarborWing Technologies can accommodate the launching of unmanned vehicles and small planes.
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- Newest innovations in performance yachts
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- Stability and comfort in a performance yacht
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- Stability and comfort in a performance yacht
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- Stability and comfort in a performance yacht
About MORRELLI and MELVIN
Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering, Inc. is one of the world’s foremost designers of multihull sail and powerboats for private, charter and commercial uses. In business for over 16 years, Morrelli & Melvin has won numerous industry design and innovation awards, the America’s Cup, World and Continental Championships and broken dozens of World records.
Morrelli & Melvin has been designing sailing and cruising catamaran and trimaran yachts in collaboration with boat builders Robertson and Caine, GUNBOAT and HarborWing Technologies. We have introduced such innovations as the forward cockpit to performance cruisers. Morrelli & Melvin also designs custom multihulls and works with builders and designers throughout the world.
Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering, Inc. – www.morrellimelvin.com – (714) 861-1320
Case Study: Tank Testing Models in China
December 5, 2008
World class towing tank at the Shanghai Ship & Shipping Research Institute (SSSRI)
Responsible: Bobby Kleinschmit, Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering Inc.
Client: Neil Clarkson, Windcat
Location: Hangzhou Sino Eagle & Leopard Co. Ltd
Fuyang/Hangzhou, P.R. China and SSSRI Shanghai, P.R. China
Project: Assisting Model Boat Builder, Hangzhou Sino Eagle & Leopard Co. Ltd and Tank Testing 24m power catamaran at SSSRI
Duration: Nov 08-Dec 08
“We found a world class towing tank at the Shanghai Ship & Shipping Research Institute (SSSRI). The tow tank was not far away from Hangzhou Sino Eagle & Leopard Company where we had built the 1/12th scale model of our 24-meter power catamaran. The tank was long and wide, could create accurate wave profiles and it had a fast carriage. It was perfect for the tests that we were conducting, because testing with a faster carriage gave us more accurate results for the high-speed power catamaran.”
Bobby K, Naval Artchitect setting up the test model
“We ran the test under the worst scenario for the boat, which meant trimming the boat to compensate for a lot of heavy cargo on the bow. The engineers at the tank were really interested in our project and made some recommendations about how to trim the boat differently and shift the cargo around. We did some more tests based on their recommendations and incorporated the improved results into our final design.”
“The test reports were similar to ones that we receive from other tanks around the world and they were delivered in the same time frame. The extra service and attention made the difference. I am sure that we will use SSSRI again, especially for projects with limited time and limited budgets.”- Bobby Kleinschmit – Engineer Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering
