5.9m Race Ski Boat

#0002 Race Ski Boat Massive Attack

The vessel was conceived as a female molded production vessel primarily for water skiing but with occasional offshore racing capability.

The owner’s brief predetermined the structure because it had to be bullet proof at 90mph. The goal was to make the hull strong enough to withstand high-speed abuse whilst keeping it light. Another consideration was to keep the structure simple to build to enable the design to be put into production.

As a result Massive Attack is quite hi-tech. It uses vinyl-ester resin, tough linear foam cores (Airex R63-140), a Kevlar outside skin to give impact strength and carbon fibre in the inside skin to provide stiffness.

The bonded hull and deck weighs 255kg. Fully fitted out and complete with engine, the boat weighs 660kg empty of fuel. A lighter structure could have been achieved but would incur additional material and labour costs.

The final solution offers a tough boat that is probably significantly lighter than any other production ski boat out there.

The first boat was launched with a 200hp Mercury and was slightly under propped with a four-bladed, exhaust-over-hub design (14x 28) selected for speed. A 14 x 23 Tempest through-hub design was substituted for skiing.