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Accuracy is a must! The individual deck components must be accurate in the entire length, howe-ver two or three millimetres difference is acceptable, although the aim is to have less than a millimetre. “With metal this default would not be acceptable, but for wood an accuracy of less than a millimetre is a very demanding resolu- tion”, describes Michael Wolz. In addition, the bends must correspond exactly to the original, which represents a challenge with wood. For this reason the templates are transported back to the shipyard, even those with errors are ad- ded to the template`s plywood as they react to environmental influences such as humidity and temperature, which can lead to inaccuracies in the measured values.

Shipbuilding: Teak deck production at Wolz Nautic - 15655 INNOVATION MEETS TRADITION

The API Laser Tracker at Wolz Nautic in Gaukönigshofen, Germany

The teak deck of a boat acts as a business card: Manufactured by hand from high-quality Burma teak wood and adapted to the individual form of the boat. Unfortunately teck decks often have many listed compliants, unless the teak deck comes from the production of Wolz Nautic in the Frankish Gaukönigshofen in Germany. Craftsmen brothers Michael and Andreas Wolz manufactured 5000 teak decks last year, a handicraft product with high requirements on quality and a project which employs 200 people. Above all, customers come from the shipyards of the upper-middle class boat sector, who expect absolute accuracy for the decks of their boats.Each joint must resemble the other and the exterior must be parallel to GRP (glass-fiber reinforced plastic) on the vessel´s side. Orders for this deck spe- ciality come from all over Europe. The majority of the project is accomplished in Gaukönigshofen in Germany, however Wolz Nautic employees travel to the respective shipyard at least twice.Templates made from plywood are adapted accurately to the boat and are created during the first on-site appointment. These templates are already pre- milled, based on the CAD data of the boat. However, the fine tuning must be completed locally, as the CAD data does not often agree with the actual dimen- sions of the boat. The templates are then measured again in the workshops of Wolz Nautic and the teak deck is manufactured in the production department based on these measurements. The aim is to produce the deck in one piece when this is possible. “Each splice is bad for the visual appearance, therefore we divide the teak deck into as few parts as possible”, explains Michael Wolz, one of the two Managing Directors at Wolz. The individual components are up to 13.5 meters long, and this is the maximum size which they can be trans- ported to the shipyard by truck. During the second visit to the shipyard, assem- bly errors on the teak deck can be quickly avoided with the help of patented procedures. The fact that this procedure works demonstrates the extremely low complaint ratios, which according to Michael Wolz are very unusual for teak decks.
Martin Säger, Survey Engineer at Wolz Nautic: The measurement of the templates clearly saved time. Press Release from Automated Precision Deutschland GmbH, O6,7, 68161 Mannheim, Germany Contact: Kay Wessin, Marketing, Tel.: +49 621 170 289 0, kay.wessin@apisensor.com