Marine Metal Working in Mallorca.
Over the last 20 years Links Marine has strived to attain its position as one of the most highly regarded welding, fabrication and machining services on the island working with some of the finest yachts in the world. Based close to Palma, Jason Murrell started the company back in 2001 with just 3 team members. Over the last 20 years the company has evolved and grown and now has an outstanding team of highly skilled specialists including Lloyds registered welders, a machine shop and a Marine Engineer.
It is fitting that during their 20th anniversary the company completed its biggest challenge to date. This latest accomplishment was one of the largest ever structural refits to take place in the STP boatyard on the MY Lady Rose. The main scope of works was to completely reshape the back of the boat allowing for a complex redesign of the transom to accommodate a larger swim platform as well as two curved stairwells from the back deck, all in aluminium. Long before the word Covid had entered our vocabulary, Jason was poring over artists’ impressions with the captain of MY Lady Rose (Richard Kennedy). These initial concept drawings were then refined by the naval architects and drawn up into working plans which had to be authorised by class (ABS). It was then Links Marine’s job to turn these into reality using creative solutions to solve the tough technical problems the project produced, all under ABS rules of compliance. One such challenge was working with the computer-generated drawings and trying to fit them to the imperfections of a 35 year old boat.
The work commenced in 2019 with Miguel Obenza from Links Marine leading the team of specialist welders and just as the new swim deck slowly began to take form the pandemic hit and the refit then took on a whole new dimension. The owners realised they would not be able to use the boat for the foreseeable future so phase 2 of the project was brought forward into 2020. The second phase of the structural change was to extend the sundeck by 9 metres, reposition the crane for the tenders and finally add fixed furniture. In a time of huge uncertainty for every company, Links Marine was extremely lucky to have had the opportunity of working solidly throughout 2020 and into 2021.
Links Marine got to work water cutting the aluminium sections for the sundeck and prefabricating them in their workshop. After that, they were craned into the boat and welded in place on board using a staggering 6,500 kgs of aluminium to complete the job. After the refit was finally completed towards the end of 2021, including new bulwarks, paint job, teak decks, sofa beds, bar, toilet and engine rebuild, the owners were at last able to travel and see the stunning transformation to their boat commenting that they wouldn’t have recognised her sitting in the dock if they hadn’t seen her name!
As well as providing a complete marine welding and machining service, Links Marine is also one of the leading suppliers of anchors, chains and swivels in the Balearics. They work with all metals including steel, aluminium, copper nickel and titanium and can design, repair or manufacture any type of component in high polished 316 stainless steel to give a beautifully flawless finish. They can also design and fabricate custom cradles for hard standing, stainless steel biminis, sun awnings and spray hoods, as well as large structural hull work in steel and aluminium working to various compliance rules.
In their workshop in Marratxi, just a stone’s throw from Palma, the machine shop can work with thermoplastics such as Delrin and Vesconite to produce bushes, anchor rollers, bearings and pins.
Their reputation has led beyond the world of superyachts and they are often commissioned to design and construct metalwork for both commercial and residential premises including staircases, pergolas and other beautifully creative custom pieces.
Jason grew up learning how to maintain and repair boats in his parents’ boatyard in London and later become a Captain running coasters between Holland and England. With the knowledge, experience, sheer dedication and hard work of the last 20 years, Links Marine have earned the reputation of being able to advise and provide practical solutions to almost any technical problem on board.
(MY Lady Rose was launched on 11 March 1986, having been built in Japan by Hitachi Zosen commercial yard with Jack Hargrave as the Naval Architect, this beautiful motor yacht has had several incarnations including Calliope, Katamarino and Big D. Its main structure is of aluminium and she has an overall length of 45m, 9m beam and 2.5m draft with a gross registered tonnage of 474.)
Calle Licorers Nave 8D, Poligono de Marratxi, 07141,Mallorca
Web: linksmarine.es
Tel: +34 971 229717/+34 609 639687
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