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Faceted aluminium catamaran under way off the coast

Stingray Lab · Port of Burgas · European Union

ORIGAMI

Aluminium hull technology · proprietary method

A hull that is folded, not patched together

The problem we set out to remove

Every seam you weld,
you pay for twice

A conventional aluminium shell is welded together from many pieces. Every seam puts heat into the plate. The plate moves as it cools. What follows is straightening, grinding, and a layer of fairing compound so the paint has something flat to sit on.

That compound is weight the vessel carries for the rest of its life, and a place where a defect can start. The hours spent making the shell straight again sit on the critical path of the whole programme.

None of this is bad workmanship. It is what the method costs.

A welded seam in aluminium plate — and the heat it leaves behind
A welded seam in aluminium plate — and the heat it leaves behind
Heat into the platingunavoidable
Straightening after weldinghours per metre
Fairing and multilayer coatingpermanent weight
Rework on the critical paththe whole build waits

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

The same hull, two ways to build it

What the yard
stops doing

Conventional aluminium

Cut into panels, welded back
Every panel edge is a seam, and every seam is heat.
Straightening after welding
The hull is made fair again by hand — hours per metre, never twice the same.
Filler to recover the surface
Fairing compound and multilayer coating: weight added permanently, and a future failure point.
Rework on the critical path
Time spent making the shell straight is time the programme waits for.

ORIGAMI™

Bent, not butted
Fold geometry carries the shape, so the shell needs a fraction of the seam length.
Friction stir welding
Aluminium joined below melting point on straight seams — no arc, no filler, minimal distortion.
Coated as it comes
Surface finish to Ra ≤ 3.2 µm: paint or wrap goes on directly, with no mechanical preparation.
Ready after assembly
Each hull comes off light, stiff and usable, rather than entering a straightening phase.

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

The method

Bend first,
weld second

Flat plate is cut and bent along pre-calculated fold lines, so the geometry itself carries the form. What welding remains runs in straight lines and is done by friction stir welding — a solid-state joint made below melting point, which is why the shell comes off the jig fair.

Folds instead of seams

Single-bend folds with no compound curvature. Total weld seam length does not exceed 25% of the developed length of the plating.

Friction stir on the straights

FSW runs along the straight seams. MIG and MAG are used only where the joint will never be seen.

Bonding where it belongs

Adhesive bonding can be used between frames and inner plating, keeping further heat out of the visible shell.

Qualified before the work

No seam is laid outside an approved procedure. Where a procedure does not exist for a joint, it is qualified first.

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

From the model to the plate

Drawn as a solid,
unrolled as flat plate

The hull model in CAD, four viewports
The hull model in CAD, four viewports
The same model shaded — the surface the shell has to match
The same model shaded — the surface the shell has to match

The fold development

Every panel is developed flat before anything is cut, so the fold lines and the seam plan exist before the first plate is ordered.

Checked as a surface

The shaded model is what the fair shell has to match. Deviation is caught here, not on the jig.

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

In the shop

Cut, folded,
fixtured

Aluminium plate being cut on the shop floor
Aluminium plate being cut on the shop floor
Aluminium formed and tacked on a fixture table
Aluminium formed and tacked on a fixture table

Cutting to the nest

Plate is cut to the nesting file that came out of the fold development. Nothing is trimmed to fit on the floor.

Held while it is joined

The fixture table holds the geometry during welding. The shape is set by the jig and the folds, not recovered afterwards.

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

The numbers a yard checks

Where the weight
actually goes

Aluminium is unforgiving in the arithmetic: plate thickness follows the shorter side of the panel, and welded strength is not the strength on the certificate. These are the figures the method is designed against.

Total weld seam length against the developed length of the plating≤ 25%
Seam length on a six-metre hull, welded versus folded180 → 140 m
Frame pitch that keeps plate at 3–4 mm (450–500 mm demands 6–7)300–350 mm
Bottom, topsides, deck — differentiated by zone4 / 3 / 3 mm
Local only: the slamming zone forward and the transom5–6 mm
As-welded design stress for 5083 under ISO 12215-5112.5 N/mm²
Rp0.2 lost in the heat-affected zone: 5083 after MIG, and 5086-H116−24% / −43%
Filler. 4043 is not admissible above 2.5% magnesiumER5183
Surface off the jig, before any coating or preparationRa ≤ 3.2 µm
Hull length the method is written for< 10 to > 30 m

Seam-length and thickness figures are ours; alloy and heat-affected-zone values follow ISO 12215-5 and the published mechanical data for 5083 and 5086.

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

What the method is worth

Four numbers,
not four adjectives

up to 40%Less production time
15–20%Weight taken out of the shell
≤ 25%Seam length against developed plating
Ra ≤ 3.2 µmSurface off the jig, before coating

Figures are our own, measured on our own hulls, and are supplied with the calculation behind them on request.

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

What it changes downstream

No fairing
So no filler to carry

The shell is fair enough to be coated or wrapped as it is. That removes a process, and with it the weight and the failure surface the process leaves behind.

Coating straight onto metal

No surface preparation stage between the shell and the paint. What is under the coating is aluminium, not filler.

Or vinyl wrap

A wrapped hull lets a brand change livery per boat, or per season, without a repaint and without the cost that implies.

Weight that stays out

Filler on a hull of this size runs into hundreds of kilogrammes, carried for the life of the vessel — and the shell underneath stays inspectable.

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

Where the method has been used

Four hulls,
four arguments

Swallow · 17.7 m · built

Fast power catamaran. The case where a fair, light shell is the whole point: hydrofoil-assisted, sharp entry, economical under way and light on the helm.

Length overall17.73 m
Length waterline15.66 m
Beam6.41 m
Displacement, full load28,000 kg
Speed10–35 kn hybrid · to 50 kn, sport
Accommodation6 berths in 3 cabins
Swallow general arrangement — 17,730 mm overall, 6,410 mm beam
Swallow general arrangement — 17,730 mm overall, 6,410 mm beam

Gerris · 10.2 m · built

Efficient catamaran platform, built around shallow draft, large usable deck area and low operating cost. Taking weight out of the structure changes what the boat can do, not just what it weighs.

Length overall, hull10.20 m
Length overall with drives11.38 m
Maximum beam3.46 m
Displacement14,800 lb · approx. 6,700 kg
Maximum power2 × 400 hp
Maximum speed42 kn
Gerris general arrangement — 10,200 mm hull, 11,380 mm with drives, 3,460 mm beam
Gerris general arrangement — 10,200 mm hull, 11,380 mm with drives, 3,460 mm beam

Mantis 75 · 22.8 m · built

Research catamaran, and the proof that the method scales past yacht sizes without changing: three crew and eight scientists, a submarine aft, 250 nautical miles of range.

Length overall22.80 m
Beam10.00 m
Displacement100 t
Complement3 crew · 8 scientists
Range250 nautical miles
Design categoryCE B

Sting 6 · 6.3 m · in design

The smallest hull drawn for the method, and the hardest test of it: a welded aluminium catamaran on a trailerable beam, where every extra seam has to be earned back.

Length overall, Sport / Lite6.30 m / 5.98 m
Beam overall2.40 m · 2.50 m under review
Demihull beam at chine0.65 m
Tunnel width1.10 m
Bridgedeck clearance≥ 0.35 m above waterline
Demihull deadrise20–24° at midship
Light mass1,500 kg
Power2 × 90–150 hp
Plating4 / 5 / 3–4 mm
Design category, targetCE C

Sting 6 figures are design targets, not measured values. Scantlings to ISO 12215-7 and -9.

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

Sting 6 against the class

Welded aluminium
power catamarans, 5–8 m

Twenty comparable hulls were measured before the target was fixed. Only welded aluminium is shown here; composite and GRP boats are excluded because their weight is not comparable.

Vapor Cats VC 6.1, AU — 6,500 × 2,4001,550 kg · 238 kg/m
Sailfish 5500, AU — 6,400 × 2,4401,450 kg · 227 kg/m
Kingfisher 620, NZ — 6,250 × 2,4902,200 kg · 352 kg/m
Kingfisher 570, NZ — 5,700 × 2,3401,300 kg · 228 kg/m
Kingfisher 510, NZ — 5,100 × 2,3301,100 kg · 216 kg/m
Webster Twinfisher 5.2, AU — 5,200 × 2,150550 kg · 106 kg/m
Sting 6, target — 6,300 × 2,4001,500 kg · 238 kg/m

Beam-to-length lands at 0.381, mid-range for the class (0.31–0.40). The industry moves from one engine to two at about 6.2 m — exactly our size.

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

Scale

Under ten metres
to over thirty

The method is a way of developing plate, not a boat size. The fold pattern is recalculated for each hull; the process behind it does not change, which is why the same discipline covers a six-metre console and a thirty-metre wave-piercer.

6 mSmallest hull drawn for it
22.8 mLargest hull built with it
> 30 mCovered by the application
One processUnchanged across the range

What changes with size

Plate thickness, fold count and the jig. On a large hull the saving compounds: seam length grows with the square of size on a conventional shell, and the folded shell does not follow it.

What does not change

Straight FSW seams, single-bend folds, no compound curvature, no fairing. A yard that has run the method once on a small hull has run it.

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

Protection

Protected,
and exclusive to your vessel

A protected method

The integrated method — the fold geometry, the seam limit and the welding sequence — is protected as documented, registered work and held as production know-how, in English and Bulgarian.

Exclusive use, per vessel

A client receives exclusive use of the method for their own vessel, under mutual non-disclosure. We do not resell the same hull to the next brand.

What you get with it

The fold development, the seam plan, the welding sequence and the qualification file — enough for your own yard to build it, or for ours to build it for you.

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

Where it does not apply

What the method
will not do

A technology sold without its limits is a technology nobody has used. These are the ones we run into, and what we do about each.

Compound curvature

A folded shell is developable. A hull whose styling depends on double-curved surfaces is the wrong hull for this method, and we will say so at the sketch stage.

Flat panels want thickness

A cambered panel carries more for the same plate. A faceted panel does not, so the weight budget has to be won back through scantling discipline rather than through curvature.

FSW needs a straight run

Friction stir welding wants a straight seam and access for the tool. Where neither is available the joint reverts to MIG, and it is placed where it will not be seen.

Where it is not worth it

A one-off hull with no series behind it may not repay the fold development. Below that threshold we will price it honestly rather than sell the method into it.

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

Three ways to use it

Fold it with us

01 · The fold development

We take your lines and return the fold pattern, the seam plan and the scantlings. Your yard builds it.

02 · The shell, built here

We develop and build the folded shell in Burgas and ship it to you for outfitting and delivery.

03 · The whole hull

Shell, structure and outfitting under one contract, with independent inspection and the qualification file.

Next step: a mutual NDA, then one hull form on the table. We will tell you inside a week whether it folds.

sales@stingray-yachts.com · stingraylab.ai · Port of Burgas, Bulgaria, European Union

ORIGAMI™ · Stingray Lab

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