Nowadays, the manufacturing phase of a boat, once having pre-arranged the hull, is substantially carried out in the below-described way with reference to Fig. 2.

As regards the assembling of bulkheads 10, they are abutted in suitable channels obtained in a tray 13 and are glued in some points (for example 11). Then, the deck is abutted onto the hull, necessary cut-outs for the bulkheads 10 are made and, for possible adjustments, the holes are filled with substances such as Divincel.

Then, in points 14, the resin coating is carried out for fixing the bulkheads 10 to the deck 3, followed by sanding and stucco-applying the resin-coated parts and the various finishings.

These four operations require, for realising a complete boat (for example the AZ 62'type), about 200 hours of two workmen for two weeks; and, above all, this assembling process allows a very limited accuracy, with mistake margins of about two centimeters for every bulkhead 10.

As regards the assembling of furniture and ceilings, instead, the procedure is still longer, cumbersome and scarcely reliable. In fact, the following steps are provided: generally checking the bulkheads 10 to detect that projecting resin coatings or stucco applications do not occur ; providing furniture and ceilings 7,9 made of plastic reinforced by fiber glass that are cut, elongated and applied with stucco; creating a base 8 made of plywood to allow securing and correctly placing the ceilings 7,9 made of plastic reinforced by fiber glass ; resin-coating this base 8 and afterwards assembling the ceiling 7,9 itself ; providing ceiling templates made of plywood, with following cutting, sanding, various daps and shims for building a securing base 8 ; and disassembling all ceilings 7,9 and molded parts.

After having ended the cabin pre-assembling, the glueing of the cabin coating (upholstery or other coatings) is carried out and then the re-assembling of furniture and ceilings 7,9 is performed, with works advancing till these operations end.

All these eight operations require, for an AZ 62' shipowner cabin, about 300 hours by two workmen for four weeks, and are always subjected to assembling and re- assembling mistakes, that often compel to disassemble the whole cabin for replacing a single damaged or incorrectly assembled part.

Object of the present invention is solving the above prior-art problems, by providing a process and a structure that allow assembling the hill in a simple, quick and above all quite accurate way, not being it subjected any more to assembling mistakes and inaccuracies according to the operators.

A further object of the present invention is providing a process and a structure as mentioned above that are able to enormously reduce (by 50% or more) the assembling times of a boat with respect to current times.

A further object of the present invention is providing a process and a structure as mentioned above that allow further reinforcing the carrier structure of the boat, by inserting therein a further structural member without burdens for sizes and weight of the boat itself.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will appear from the following description, are obtained by a process and a structure as claimed, respectively, in Claims 1 and 12. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are claimed in the dependent Claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, given as a non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a schematic front perspective view of an embodiment of the structure according to the present invention ; - Figure 2 is a side sectional view of a boat assembled according to the prior art; - Figure 3 is a side sectional view of an assembled boat according to the process and structure of the present invention; and - Figure 4 is a detailed view of part of Fig. 3.

With reference to the Figures, a preferred embodiment of the process and the structure of the present invention is shown and described. It will be immediately obvious to the skilled people in the art that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes and parts with equivalent functionalities) could be made to the described process and structure without departing from the scope of the invention as claimed in the enclosed Claims.

With reference to Figs. 1,3 and 4, an embodiment of the assembling structure 1 of the present invention is shown. Fig 1 shows an already assembled embodiment in a boat cabin, that is a honeycomb-type structure not on sight (or an on-sight ceiling inside the boat baths) in which various arrangements are obtained (for example upper portholes) for the final internal design of the boat itself.

Such structure (preferably made of plastic reinforced by fiber glass or of wood) is adapted to be operatively coupled with the deck 3 of the boat and is equipped with a plurality of support means 5 for ceilings 7,9 and bulkheads 10.

In particular, the structure 1 is operatively coupled with the deck 3 through glueing (but other known joining <BR> <BR> means could be used, such as welding, nailing, etc. ) before inserting the deck 3 onto the boat hull (not shown).

Moreover, the support means 5 are projecting towards the boat interior and are equipped with daps 6 for on-sight ceilings 7,9, and can be adapted to cooperate with the ceilings 7,9 to realise lead-in openings for inserting the bulkheads 10. Alternatively, suitable channels (not shown) could be made in the structure 1 for housing the bulkheads 10.

With the above described structure 1, it is possible to realise a process for assembling a boat, that substantially comprises the following steps: - providing the hull equipped with at least one lower tray 13 in which suitable channels are obtained; - placing and joining (in the channels in 11) the bulkheads 10 (preferably made of plastic reinforced by fiber glass or of wood) necessary for assembling onto the lower tray 13; in this step, blocks made of plastic reinforced by fiber glass for baths are also ship-fitted on the lower tray 13; - providing a deck 3; - providing a structure 1 equipped with a plurality of support means 5 for ceilings 7,9 and bulkheads 10; - operatively coupling the deck 3 to the structure 1; - placing the deck 3 coupled with the structure 1 on the upper part of the hull; - placing and joining (in 11) the bulkheads 10 to the structure 1 ; and - placing and joining a plurality of ceilings 7,9 to the structure 1.

Such ceilings 7,9, preferably made of wood or plastic reinforced by fiber glass, without needing to be provided like in the prior processes, are prepared and directly send to a skinning phase. In this case, in fact, it is not necessary to create a support structure on the deck (like in the prior art) and therefore it is possible to immediately start assembling the whole cabin, including its furniture.

The inventive process further comprises the step of upholstering the boat interior, after the step of placing and joining the plurality of ceilings 7,9. Another common step provided at the end of assembling the blocks, is performing various finishings and cleaning. In particular, the step of operatively coupling the deck 3 to the structure 1 occurs through glueing, but could occur through welding, nailing or other joining means.

Moreover, the steps of placing (in 11) the bulkheads 10 on tray 13 and deck 3 occur by placing them in recesses pre-arranged in the tray 13 on one hand and in channels pre-arranged in the structure 1 on the other hand. Or, on the structure 1, the placement can occur in the space between structure 1 and already assembled ceilings 7,9.

Still in particular, the steps of joining (in 11) the bulkheads 10 to tray 13 and deck 3 occur through glueing, while the step of joining the ceilings 7,9 to the structure 1 occurs through glueing, screwing, nailing or other similar means.

All the above mentioned steps can be carried out, on average, in approximately 100 working hours performed by two workmen for one week, for assembling, for example, a complete AZ 62'boat.

The steps of finishing, namely those in which the cabin is upholstered and ceilings 7,9 are skinned, as regards the times for performing the whole assembling of a cabin (for example AZ 62'shipowner cabin) provides from 150 to 160 hours, performed by two workmen for two weeks.

Therefore, the assembling times savings are evident, and it is also clear that all furniture and ceilings arrangement steps of the prior art are done without.

With the process and structure of the present invention it is thereby possible to obtain the following advantages: the structure 1, due to its particular shape, will help in stiffening the boat, by providing an overall structural improvement ; the placement of the bulkheads 10 will be made easier and these latter ones will always be in the same position; the placement of the ceilings 7,9 will be made easier by the constant position of the bulkheads 10 ; moreover, the structure 1 will also operate as dap and support for the ceilings 7,9, which will then have to be assembled only into their own seats, thereby always guaranteeing the same position, also as regards the assembling height; high time savings are obtained; a specialisation of carpenter workers is less necessary, with shorter apprenticeship periods ; the quality highly improves; working times are more accurate and are less dependent on the individual assembling worker; being all boats the same, the assembling process will be the same as well and it will therefore be possible to perform working shifts in which a workman goes on with the work of the workman that has preceded him, such operation being nowadays quite unfeasible due to the individual character of every working; in case a cabin has then to be disassembled, eventually with short available times, this operation will be made simpler and quicker also for operators that do not know the boat.