Seawork 2010

John Kennett · 21 June 2010, 22:52

A few days later than planned, but here are some photos from Seawork last week.

MCA RIB; Ribcraft, Rosborough & Avon; BAE/Halmatic's selection of grey warry RIBs

John Kennett · 21 June 2010, 23:11

The Navatek prototype boat was back, looking slightly different from it's previous outing at Southampton last year.

It's down to just two 350hp Verados now, and has the unlikely looking (and sounding!) ARES "Adaptive Ride Enhancement System" in the place of the missing motor. It's basically a big hydrofoil, designed to dramaticaly steady the ride of the boat at speed. It swings up when not in use, which sounds a bit Heath Robinson, but looks pretty solidly engineered.

I met Lorne Campbell on the pontoon and had a chat with him about it. This test boat still hasn't been run as they have some work to do before it's ready, but apparently there's some very convincing video of a pair of boats running side by side in a chop, one with ARES and one without. One to look out for!

John Kennett · 21 June 2010, 23:24

DeBatts were there with the Rubber Rigid Inflatable again. At £14k for an open 5.3m boat, they're obviously aiming at a fairly specific niche. When I asked last year if they had any plans for the leisure market, the response was a fairly definite "no" accompanied with a fair sized dose of eye rolling.

Second picture is, of course, the leisure version!

At 4.4m it's a bit smaller, and only £11k. Ideal for somebody with lots of money, but not much storage space aboard their megayacht perhaps.

John Kennett · 21 June 2010, 23:28

Chameleon Craft were showing their very striking CC10m ten metre passenger RIB, suitable for "delivery, patrol, limousine, paramedic, team support, technical, hospitality and more". It would be interesting to drive one, but I think it's going to need some big mirrors!

John Kennett · 21 June 2010, 23:35

Redbay had a similar line up to Ribex, with Corryvreckan and the Stormforce 1050. Added to the line up was a 650 with self righting system and a pair of immersion proof Suzukis.

John Kennett · 21 June 2010, 23:39

At the grey-and-warry end of the pontoon Barrus had a variety of different sized boats on show.

John Kennett · 21 June 2010, 23:42

Avon/Zodiac had a very tough looking Hurricane

John Kennett · 21 June 2010, 23:47

The BAE/Halmatic Pacific 950 is enormous, and the tracking system in the deck means that the layout can be completely modular.

Given the Pacific's potential firepower of 7.62 and .50 machine guns fore and aft, plus 40mm grenade launchers, who wants to start a "tube height" discussion with them?

John Kennett · 22 June 2010, 00:09

On the Dark Side there was the very stealthy-looking CP30 from eXtreme ribs. The same people are behind the barking mad Extreme 40 catamaran so you know this is going to be a bit different.

Entirely carbon fibre, this is an 8.3m diesel RIB with an all up weight of just 1375Kg. I tend to be a bit sceptical of manufacturers figures, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is about the mark.

The finish is top quality, and the show boat had a very high-end all electronic fitout. Standard spec is a very big console and six Ullman seats. With a 280hp Steyr it will do around 50 knots.

I took this one for a spin (thanks Mark!) and you can really feel that it's something different. The acceleration is quick, but what you really notice is how quickly it stops when you back off the throttle. It carries so little way that emergency stops feel almost like a jet boat. Southampton Water was absolutely flat, but crossing wakes it didn't feel flighty.

Fuel economy is claimed to be 18 litres/hour at 30 knos which is pretty impressive. You'd need to do a lot of miles though to earn back the premium on the carbon fibre build.

John Kennett · 22 June 2010, 00:21

The other boat that I went out on was the Hysucat 8m Extreme from Watermarque. There was a bit of discussion about the Hysucats after Ribex, and it turns out that Watermarque have bought the whole business from designer Malan Conradie, so they are now completely UK owned. Some production still takes place in South Africa, but all the fitout is done in the UK.

Malan himself was driving the Hysucat, a tad overpowered with twin 200s when it would normally have twin 90s! The hydrofoil system makes a massive difference to how this boat rides, and it is very different from any other RIB. It's ability to simply float over small chop makes it like a magic carpet - at 30 knots it is astonishingly smooth. The foil also takes the sting out of landing the boat if you get it into the air, and we waited quite a while for a decent wake for a demonstration!

John Kennett · 22 June 2010, 00:23

Final random roundup:

Smart offerings from Ribcraft as usual
Rescue SIB from Angloco
High speed inflation from Eurocraft
Life jacket demos from the coastguard

John Kennett · 22 June 2010, 00:25

Most of the RIBs were on the water, but there was also loads on show inside - it's a surprisingly large show. Final picture: tool box porn from Peli!

Nasher · 22 June 2010, 13:07

Thanks for those John

I didn't take my camera with me, but saw you in the distance taking snaps and poncing rides -Sorry researching boats

Our paths didn't cross to say hello.

Where are the pictures of the big Tug with it's fire hoses in full flow?

Nasher.

quaoar · 22 June 2010, 13:49

Thanks for posting!
Just spent 30 minutes of my workday reading this thread and looking at the images

J S · 22 June 2010, 15:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nasher

Where are the pictures of the big Tug with it's fire hoses in full flow?

Nasher.

http://www.solentwaters.co.uk/JAlbum...1.html#picttop

James