Viking Delivers Response 35’ Tri- Landing Craft

After a protracted procurement process Viking has delivered a high speed, high capacity landing craft to Palm Beach County, FL. 

 

Originally specified as a catamaran, the final design by Response Marine is more of a tri-hull as the center hull was enlarged and the bridge span lowered in order to accommodate the required loading range without increasing draft. 

 

According to Response Marine’s Bill Lincoln, “the customer has experience with standard monohull landing craft and wanted the multi-hulls in order to improve lateral stability in a beam wind.”    A further advantage to the multi-hull is the very wide engine spacing, over nine feet center to center, which provides for tremendous maneuverability.

Designed to land and load up to 10,000 lbs of cargo on the County’s island parks, the 35 foot by 13 foot craft features a hydraulically operated bow door that has over nine foot clear width and is ten feet long in order to minimize loading angles.  Lincoln says, “the helmsman’s line of sight posed a major challenge with such a long door.  After pursuing various articulating options, with the input of Palm Beach County we converged on the design of the upper half of the door, which features half inch by two inch flat bar slats canted on a forty five degree angle.  The open area is only about 12 percent when viewed square on, but viewed from the helm this increases to 65 percent, providing great visibility from the helm.”

The boat is powered by twin 300 hp Yamaha outboards to comfortable cruise speeds in the 25 mph range.