Taylor Made Group targets superyacht builders

GLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. – Taylor Made Group, a supplier of marine glazing systems for pleasure boats, has introduced new processes that will enable the company to produce very large, chemically toughened and laminated, shaped glass for superyacht builders, it reported in a statement this morning.

“Superyacht designers and builders are responding to customers’ desires by incorporating bright and airy interiors with panoramic vistas, wind-free alfresco entertaining areas, and the like, as part of their yachts,” said Frank Buckley, managing director of Trend Marine Products Ltd., a division of Taylor Made Group, LLC. “These innovative designs are making the specification and manufacturing of glazing solutions much more complex.”

Taylor Made Group has responded to this challenge by investing in equipment and processes that can produce custom-shaped glass panels in sizes up to 8.2 feet x 10.5 feet at the Trend Marine Products facility in the United Kingdom.

Taylor Made is working under a collaboration agreement with a team from Cambridge University, which is assisting with the technical development of the chemical-toughening process.

“We will be able to toughen any shape, including round or conical glass, which almost always suffers from some optical distortion as a result of the roller hearth-shaping process,” said Buckley. “Our new sag-bending system will produce any shape without distortion.”

Additionally, the company is now using a laminate technology developed by Bridgestone, which it says has advantages over traditional auto glass laminates for the marine environment. The cured, water-resistant interlayer protects against delamination and significantly reduces IR and UV radiation, stated Taylor Made. This results in lower temperatures inside the boat and helps prevent degradation of fabrics and materials, according to Buckley.

Taylor Made also offers complementary products for superyacht designers and builders, including manual and electric aft saloon doors, carbon fiber-glazed sliding panels, large-hull glazing solutions and skylights.

Buckley noted that the superyacht industry has experienced astounding growth during the last decade, and this sector of the market continues to show impressive resilience in spite of the worldwide economic downturn.

“We know from conversations with our current customers that this sort of investment, which extends our capabilities as well as the quality and sophistication of marine glazing products available to builders, is going to pay off for both our company and the marine industry at large.”

• Can’t get enough boating news? Subscribe to our blog’s RSS feed, follow us on Twitter or look for “Boating Industry” on Facebook and LinkedIn.
• For more of the latest news, click here.