Great Loop & Cruising Adventure Blog

The process uses composite materials and advanced infusion lamination construction. This process reduces weight and increases strength resulting in better efficiency. Infusion lamination is a technique that uses vacuum pressure to draw resin into a laminate. Materials are laid into a mold and a vacuum is applied before resin is introduced. Once a complete vacuum is achieved, resin is literally sucked into the laminate via carefully placed tubing. The part then cures under the higher pressure resulting in much greater fiber-to-resin ratio. A controlled amount of resin is used resulting in more strength and less weight. Typical hand lay-up construction suffers from excess resin being used and does not have the infusion pressure to help bond the laminate. Excess resin will actually weaken the part. Vinyl ester resin, which is stronger than other resins, is used for all molded parts to eliminate the potential for blisters. Fathom is one of the few builders utilizing infusion lamination to build its hulls and other components.

We chose a light grey for the hull of our Fathom… Kismet. We like the idea of the color being broken up a little with a little bit darker hull. We like the dark blue but are concerned about heat conduction in the warmer climates. We think that with the light grey we will keep cooler while looking good. We can’t wait to get out there to watch her be built.

Life is a highway of adventure or in our case… a waterway. In keeping with that spirit we’ve decided It’s time to invest ourselves deeper into the world of boating. Our friend Rick Garton and Bill Allgaier have established HarborView Yacht Sales and are the new Great Lakes dealers for Fathom Yachts. We were invited to merge our talents with theirs and work on making HarborView a fun, prosperous venture.Lisa is doing all their start up work as far as print materials, graphics and website design and production. Jim will be working as an independent sales agent drumming up business for the Fathom 40 Fast Expedition Trawler. We have known for some time that we wanted to be involved in a new career and because of our passion for boating type adventures we thought this would be a good fit for us. So, on December 1st, 2007 we leave for Seattle, Washington where we’ll spend 2 months, occasionally, checking in on the final phase of construction of our new grey hulled, 40′ Fathom trawler… the new Kismet. Once completed in mid-January we plan on using the boat in the greater Seattle area where you can boat year round. We are especially looking forward to the next 5 months of boating in new territory, seeing the wonders of the Pacific Northwest. As usual the tough part will be the time we’re away from family and friends.In April the boat will be shipped, by truck, to Wisconsin where we’ll then motor across Lake Michighan and back to Charlevoix for the summer. In the fall we intend to head south toward the rivers to do another Loop.We look forward to sharing our adventure with you as the months ahead of us unfold. We’ll include pictures of construction, the initial splash and some of our cruises while out west.