More About the Atlantic 57

The Atlantic 57 is not a completely a new design. It is a "B model" Atlantic 55. While the original intent was to construct an A55 the building process was going to require construction of a new "one-off style" hull mould. At that point the obvious thing was to stretch the hull a bit. Why? Because there is hardly a multihull that isn't improved by adding some length, particularly if it is intended for a lot of offshore sailing. The owner had to think about it for five or six seconds before giving an enthusiastic "yes". Otherwise, the exterior dimensions of the boat remained the same. Within the boat however, a multitude of small improvements reflecting five years experience with this particular design have been made. From a larger volume super efficient, vacuum panel insulated fridge and freezer to recessed dimmable overhead lighting the list of new user friendly features is too long to itemize here.

So bit longer legged, and a fair bit lighter in weight due to the careful control and excellent construction techniques at ACC, the new A57 should sail very nicely. The jibs got somewhat larger in the hull stretch so they provide another tweak of sail power. Further helping out the rig performance will be an all carbon rig from Hall Spars, conveniently located just around the corner.

The owner prefers a very traditional looking varnished wood interior and selected cherry bulkheads and trim balanced against varnished Sitka spruce hull ceiling and eggshell white paint. At present much of the interior joiner work is built (still to be installed in the hull) and it is extraordinary. Keeping within the overall requirement for low weight the detail and finish of the woodwork will provide an extremely elegant fine yacht ambience without being a burden.

Four large solar panels and a compact 24v DC genset power ships systems and air conditioning. The owner expects to cruise the Med at some point and has spec'd that all systems can run on both 120v/60 cycle and 220v/50 cycle shore power. Doing this requires some additional weight in electrical gear but was partially offset by using 24V onboard electric system instead of 12V helped reduce the cable weight (which is always more than you might imagine).

Diesel propulsion is by twin Yanmar 4JH4 engines (54 HP) with standard shaft drives. These new Yanmar engines are slower turning, larger torque engines compared to the Yanmar engines we've used in prior A55's and are likely to offer a little more speed. A three blade feathering Max-Prop on an Aquamet shaft was selected as being the most reliable drive train. ACC quickly built beautiful epoxy/carbon shaft struts which get epoxy bonded into the hulls. This saves weight over bronze and is much stronger.