Marine and François have both graduated from the ENSTA Bretagne engineering course, majoring in Naval Architecture (2022 cohort). At the end of their course, it struck them as obvious to design their yacht together to put their knowledge into practice. Determined to limit their environmental footprint, they turned their attention to eco-friendly materials. This is how the project Sail on Bamboo came about.
When did you begin this project and why did you choose bamboo?
Everything started back in March 2022. Our goal is to design a 6.5m cruising yacht out of bamboo plywood Bamboo is not often used in shipbuilding, and yet it is a sustainable material with mechanical merits: we were won over by its promising future.
When we started the project, the association Watever had already conducted studies on bamboo. We were interested in their work on glued laminated bamboo and decided to opt for a different production process: bamboo plywood. This is because plywood is widely used in shipbuilding as it is easy to use and implement. Plywood was suitable for the geometry in the boat’s developable forms. Glued laminated timber is a good choice when the boat’s forms are more complex.
What were the key stages of the project?
To progress from the concept drawings to the production plans, we had to characterize the bamboo plywood so we could fine-tune our structural calculations. Several series of mechanical test campaigns have been conducted within ENSTA Bretagne’s incubator, “ENSTArtups”, and supported by ENSTA Bretagne Alumni.
The mechanical testing phase concluded in September 2022. The preliminary study sparked extensive interest, which inspired us to press on with the construction phase.
We continued to progress on the project during our free time, alongside our jobs. In early 2023, we announced the project to the media. We then entered the fund-raising stage by taking part in various innovation competitions and seeking out project partners.
Once we had the budget, we worked closely with the shipyard, the company with which we are producing the plywood and the bamboo supplier to produce the material and confidently begin the construction phase. We also finalized the plywood cut files and produced the work-stage schedules from the yacht design drawings.
Then, from February 2024, we organized the contributions of all our partners so that construction could get underway in July 2024.
What stage is the project currently at?
At the moment, we’re building the boat. We hope to have finished by the start of 2025.
Marine has resigned from her previous job to devote herself full-time to the construction, and François ensures he’s as available as possible in his free time to help out. Our Dad, Bruno, who’s also a fan of sailing and shipbuilding, gives us a daily helping hand with the construction.
What are your ambitions in the future?
We’ve got loads of project ideas for afterward!
First, once the “So Boo 650” boat has been built, we’d like to sail on it and travel to various ports in Brittany and elsewhere in France, not only to test it out but also to talk about it and show it to people who are interested.
Given the feedback about the material and the enthusiastic interest in it, we might perhaps be able to establish a naval architecture engineering office focusing on bamboo, or the local development of bamboo plywood.
