Rondal is well-known for its spars and rigging, hatches, winches, and more. Its products adorn both sailing yachts and motoryachts worldwide, built by shipyards equally as far flung.

While Rondal got its start in 1975 working with aluminum (hence the “al” part of its name), these days carbon fiber is increasingly in demand. Even with that, aluminum and stainless steel components are still sculpted throughout Rondal’s facility on a daily basis. Unless you’ve taken a tour of Rondal’s specialized departments, making towering masts, flush sliding hatches, and more, you can’t quite appreciate what goes into each component. Sure, there’s plenty of information available on the Web and in magazines about how computer-guided laser cutters make quicker and cleaner work of tasks its staff takes on. But to see these machines in action, as well as to see the continued need for human, hands-on expertise, is something special.

This video gives you a look at just some of Rondal’s operations. You’ll see the laser cutter that marks and slices carbon fiber pre-pregs (carbon fiber material already impregnated with resin). You’ll also see craftsmen carefully lining up and adhering the cut pre-preg shapes to spars components made in-house as well. Next we enter the metal shop, where solid cylinders of stainless steel are custom cut to form winches, and deck hatches are welded into shape. It concludes with side-by-side masts and rigging, one nearly complete while the other is still being assembled.