The future of glass on yachts illustrated by Viraver

The Padua-based company Viraver, a manufacturer of structural safety glass for its yachting division, was founded in the 2000s by Ennio Mazzarolo, then owner of the historic family business Gmp Engineering, a plastic extrusion and molding company. Mazzarolo, the founder and now president of Viraver, first noticed the unique curved glass of its shower enclosures during a visit to a plumbing and heating trade show in Germany in 1999. Within a few years, thanks to the latest technology, this curved glass would become one of the main products of the yachting division of the new company, Viraver, which currently has 115 employees and a 20.000-square-meter facility, 10.000 of which is indoors.

SUPER YACHT 24 goes inside this company to learn more about its activities and prospects by speaking with Marco Mazzarolo, CEO of Viraver.

After almost a quarter of a century since the beginning of this production, how has your work evolved?

"It has evolved so much, especially in terms of quality and control, that it has completely differentiated itself from the initial setup. In the period following the launch of the business, we realized almost immediately that competition from China for that type of glass was starting to drive down the price too much. Therefore, after carefully evaluating different sectors, we invested in plants for the production of laminated glass, a type of glass used in yachting, especially for windshields.

In the years that followed, we increasingly specialized in this sector, also managing to double the dimensions of curved products, going from the previous 3 x 2 meters to the current 6 x 3,21 meters, creating cylindrical, spherical, and helical shapes in a single glass. This allowed for maximum flexibility in the lines of modern vessels, especially on the wheelhouses, significantly reducing the number of uprights and providing perfect external visibility. Meanwhile, in 2006, with further investments in chemical tempering systems, we increased the material's resistance by five to seven times and gained control of the entire production process for nautical glass, which by then had already become our reference sector.”

Your glass, which you've also supplied to giga yachts, is used only for exteriors due to its characteristics: what has changed over time in this segment in terms of demand?

External glass must protect the vessel, including from sinking, and from certain types of waves crashing against the windshield or sides. For this reason, it must have certain characteristics, first and foremost resistance. There has been an evolution in demand in the sector: starting in 2003, when we entered this market, laminated glass was already in demand, but over the years, regulations have changed, imposing certain safety conditions. At Viraver, we are members of the ISO 11336 committee, which creates these standards. The ISO 11336 standard in particular, which mainly concerns boats over 24 meters, requires calculations to determine the composition and therefore the final thickness of the glass, depending on the type of vessel and where the glass will be installed (on the hull, as a porthole or as a windshield, or on the sides or skyline, stern doors, etc.). By following all the indications of the regulation and performing specific tests with glass breakage tests under stress, we obtain values ​​that can be inserted into formulas. mathematics that allow us to safely reduce the thickness of the glass and therefore, ultimately, the weight of the product that will be installed.”

What types of vessels do you work on most?

We work for everyone, from the smallest, such as the Venice taxi, to the largest. Obviously, as the company develops and grows, it increasingly focuses on large-scale projects, but for some products, we also have lines dedicated to 30-, 40-, and 50-meter vessels. Our facilities, which can produce even very large glass panes, such as six-meter side windows, are primarily dedicated to larger yachts.

And which countries do you work with in particular?

"Our journey began in the Italian market, particularly in giga yachts, which gave us the opportunity to establish ourselves among major foreign builders in Northern Europe. The foreign market is nevertheless growing rapidly and is also opening up to the East and the United States."

What's new in your industry?

Giga yachts increasingly require submerged or semi-submerged glazing. In fact, the first ever supply of this type, which involved two windows on a vessel over 100 meters, was ours and occurred in 2011. Others followed, and we are also studying new projects that, unfortunately, the shipyards, out of concern for their owners, do not authorize us to discuss. We can, however, say that in recent years, demand has increased and continues to increase toward this type of glazing, as well as toward increasingly larger dimensions, to be installed even on the hull's bottom. Here, structural glazing has replaced what were once oval and rectangular portholes. In recent years, regulations have also made it possible to remove storm shutters (custom-made internal steel armor for windows located in certain areas of the yacht – which the law requires – that replace the glass in the event of damage caused by freak waves or other conditions) and make them directly out of glass. significantly increasing their resistance through ad hoc studies and calculations. Not having to stow these armor plates on the yacht also offers the great advantage of freeing up space from large volumes and tons of weight for the stowage of other materials.

Does the trend towards increasing the use of glass in yachts create problems?

"The sun heats the glass surface, and with increasingly larger windows, it creates a sort of radiator inside the yacht. This is why, over the last 6-8 years, we've succeeded in developing technologies that reduce heat transmission to the interior by 35-40%, thus avoiding excessive air conditioning use, its noise, and the consumption of generators, in line with eco-sustainability requirements. All this while avoiding the need for darkening the glass and allowing the owner a perfect view of the outside environment."

Which superyachts require fire-rated glass?

Fire-rated glass is required on vessels over 80-90 meters to create internal or external safety corridors that must be protected in the event of a fire; on vessels up to 60-70 meters, however, it is used only internally on engine room doors or in a few other applications.

How much does 'glass' influence the aesthetics of the yacht?

Glass is incredibly important. Thanks to the research and development of companies like ours, which can produce large windows with extreme curvatures while maintaining the highest quality and transparency, or chemically strengthen glass measuring 8 x 3,21 meters—our maximum size, currently among the largest in the world—with increasingly thinner thicknesses, designers can create boats with increasingly innovative and unique shapes for their owners while always maintaining the highest quality and, above all, maximum safety. Safety, which we meticulously ensure by implementing precise tests required by international registries, is crucial because the windows on a vessel now represent a truly significant portion of the surface area; an error could lead to a glass breakage and consequently the vessel crashing.

What is Viraver's future goal?

"To continue growing and delivering increasingly important projects by constantly pushing and evaluating new technologies. Our in-house research and development department is focused on developing ever larger, lighter, and thinner glass units, maximizing thermal heat reduction, while always prioritizing safety and quality. We're also developing technologies to generate electricity through completely transparent photovoltaic glass: we're also collaborating with external companies on this, aware that it will take several more years to bring this technology to the yachting world."

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