RC-scale-yacht Nordhavn 52

Finally! here is the files of the 3D-printable Nordhavn 52 in scale 1:24.

Dimensions (rough and rounded):
Length: 70 cm (aft of swim platform to front of anchor holder)
Width: 21 cm (widest part of hull)
Height: 46 cm (bottom of keel to top of lantern mast)

This model was inspired by MV Dirona, a Nordhavn 52 that was featured in the blog of James and Jennifer Hamilton where they circumnavigated the globe on their yacht and made a fantastic documentation of their travels. You can find many pictures of the boat on their blog, although they have sold the yacht by now, if you look at older post you can see their travel with the yacht: https://mvdirona.com/

I have received many request to publish these files and it has been a substantial job to go through the over 500 exported files since a lot of details have been redesigned and exported several times in different versions. I re-modeled the entire hull below the water line for example since the first print, to increase the volume and buoyance. The structure above the water line was also re-designed and re-printed with lots of added details.

I have tried to arrange the STL's in a way that makes it possible to navigate and I hope it's not too confusing!

With that said, it should be noted that this is not a beginner print! This is intended for the experienced model builder.

Some things are especially important to keep in mind:
- Hull is thick and intended to be printed with low infill and painted. If you don't paint it well enough, the hull will not be water tight and water will seep into the infill structure!

• Several coats of paint are needed to block lights from the LED to shine through the hull and superstructure. PLA is surprisingly transparent!

• The structure is intended to be built in three separate major segments, one below the water line containing all the RC-equipment, motor, servo, bow thruster and cabling. The second is the structure above the water line, and the third is the interior modules. It is recommended to finish the major segments as much as possible before gluing them together, in that way you have much better access to the equipment. I glued the lower hull and the super structure together after they were assembled, painted and with all RC-components already installed.

• The propeller shaft and drive system mentioned in the documentation usually comes with a propeller, but I also include a more scale like one that I designed and replaced the original one with.

• The forward and mid lower cabins do not have any interior in this model. You can of course continue and add interior there but I will not design any as I'm using the forward compartment for RC-receiver, speed controller and cabling. The mid cabin has a master bed already included in the structure so if you want it's quite easy to add some details to it if someone would look really closely through the portlights!

I might very well have missed some STL-file when trying to organize this upload, so feel free to contact me on the email address provided in the documentation if something is missing.

Change-log:
2023-06-19
Added zip-file containing the anchor holder for the bow together with anchor chain locker hatch and windlass

2023-04-02
Added missing forward deck hatch. Only one side in the STL, mirror it for printing. The STL contains a layer to block un-necessary support material. Choose support on printbed only.
Added Lazarette hatch (over servo compartment). There is a hole in the middle to insert a screw to be able to pull it out if it is pressed in really tight. Cover it with a piece of tape when not used.

2023-02-01
Added saloon countertop STL's that were missing.

2024-08-26
Added lamp shroud and insert for the lamps in the roof of the aft deck.

This project contains over 200 STL-files so naturally it is going to require many different settings, but I do try to follow some general design rules.

• Avoiding supports and rafts. I always try to design, split and orient parts so that they do not need support, but it is not always possible. I try to show in the documentation the special cases where it is needed. But if nothing else is written, assume no supports are needed. If the part looks weird in the slicer it's probably not oriented correctly so try to find a flat surface and rotate the part. At the time this project was created, Fusion 360 had a different default orientation than most slicers which is why the orientation sometimes is off.

• Use generally low infill. I try to use low density infill (mainly 5-10%) to keep weight down. My general approach to increase strength is instead to increase number of perimeters.

• 0,25mm is my go-to layer thickness for big parts. I only lower the layer thickness for small or very demanding parts.

• All parts are printed in PLA. There is no need to choose any other material for this print. Even the propeller is PLA and has worked just fine.