First new design from South Boats IOW to benefit from test programme
6
th
October 2014, Cowes – South Boats IOW, the UK’s foremost manufacturer
of state of the art Wind Farm Service Vessels (WFSV), has launched its first
of class South Cat 26m named ‘Seacat Intrepid’ for Seacat Services Ltd.
The all new South Cat 26m is the first new design to benefit from the
extensive testing programme carried out to understand the benefits and
limitations to various hull forms and how they perform differently specifically
as offshore wind farm crew transfer vessels. This demands from this industry
are unique, vessels need to perform well in high sea states providing high
levels of technician comfort as well as crew comfort whilst loitering coupled to
flexible cargo payloads, fuel efficiency and of course provide higher sea state
technician transfers. Many of the hull forms that demonstrated peaks of
performance in one area tended to have dramatic limitations in another. The
all new South Cat 26m is the first new design to address this and promises to
deliver a new benchmark for CTV performance.
‘Seacat Intrepid’ measures 26.8m LOA remaining under the 24m load line
requirements for small commercial vessels, has a beam of 9.2m and an
operational displacement of circa. 80 tonnes. The most noticeable feature of
the 26m is the height of the bow and definition of the wet deck along with the
depth of the hulls coupled to reduced height of thetechnician saloon. Model
testing results are showing dramatic improvements to ride comfort in higher
sea states, significantly better WTG access performance and lower fuel burn
rates, all of which have been verified on initial sea trials.
"Commitment to custom technical innovation and the highest possible buildquality is what, we believe, will continue to differentiate British boat builders
from competitors across Europe and further afield in the developing Asian
market," said Ben Colman, South Boats IOW.
“It’s no secret that WFSV operators are looking forreliable, high quality
vessels that are tailor-made to cope with the increasingly demanding
requirements of working on offshore projects worldwide – that’s why the ongoing, retained client relationship with Seacat is so significant.”
‘Seacat Intrepid’ is the first of two sister vessels for Seacat Services with
‘Seacat Courageous’ set to be delivered early in 2015. The third, 26m is in
build for as yet an undisclosed operator.
