Ocean Craft Marine Builds Patrol Boat for NOAA in Hawaii
Annapolis, Md. boatbuilder Ocean Craft Marine (OCM) said it is preparing to deliver a custom-designed high-performance boat to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Law Enforcement (OLE), Pacific Islands Division headquartered in Hawaii.
The boat is a 9.5-meter rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) that was custom designed for the extreme offshore environs of the open Pacific Ocean waters and the various mission-profiles that are unique to NOAA OLE.
OCM partnered with the design team at Shockwave Seats to design and then build a five-man fully shock-mitigating operator-console. The console is known as an Integrated Control Environment or “ICE-Console” and is fully-free-floating with three-axis of movement while suspended on 12 inches of travel supported by six pneumatic Fox Racing shock-absorbers. The ICE Console’s purpose is to insulate the boat’s operators and equipment from the jarring impacts caused by wave action at sea.
The NOAA 9.5-meter law enforcement boat is powered by twin 300-horsepower Yamaha outboard motors, and features the absolute latest state-of-art navigational and communication electronics including a David Clark Company fully-integrated digital wireless headset-communication-system, FLIR thermal camera and Furuno HD Radar.
The RHIB has a cruise speed of 36 miles per hour while consuming 20 V-GPH and has a top speed of 58 miles per hour. The boat is equipped with twin 100-gallon fuel tanks providing for a mission-range of approximately 360 miles without refueling.
NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement protects marine wildlife and habitat by enforcing domestic laws and supporting international treaty requirements designed to ensure global resources are available for future generations. OLE special agents, enforcement officers, as well as investigative and mission support staff provide stakeholders with compliance assistance and education about the nation’s marine resource laws.