Marine News Boat of the Month: October

 

Danish producer Tuco Marine has introduced an all new Arctic Workboat Daughter Craft. Developed in response to international requests and specifications, the unique craft has been in every detail optimized for Arctic and/or cold weather operations. In a nutshell, the Tuco Marine ProZero series of Daughter Crafts, Workboats and FRCs are designed to meet the needs of the huge number of Arctic Patrol Vessels, Icebreakers and Polar Research Vessels that are currently under development and construction. For this sector, says Tuco Managing Director Jonas Pedersen, the Tuco Workboat Daughter Craft turn out to be a great match. Tuco worked closely with Arctic operators and ensured that end users were closely involved in the workboat’s design and layout.

 

For example, the ProZero´s hull, in the arctic edition, features special hull appendages, to optimize for ice sailing, and the ProZero hull provides a stable ride in rough seas, where most vessels must give up. Arctic missions in rough seas are mainly limited by the human factor of shock mitigation and climate impacts. Hence, ProZero workboats incorporate the Tuco design team’s shock mitigation strategy, as well as an effort to further minimize the effects of the cold climate to humans, boat and equipment.

 

ProZero workboats can be rapidly reconfigured to meet different roles and requirements, which can include SAR variants, fire support variants and command platform variants. A module-based business model allows for quick delivery time even when the boats is customized during the design phase.

 

This particular vessel features a full composite carbon fiber hull with PVC core, vinylester resin system. The hull shell features additional reinforcements for operation in ice areas. This daughter craft is developed to deploy different equipment and perform a wide range of tasks in its large aft deck. The design of the ProZero cabin also ensures a plentiful daylight, improving personal comfort. By producing a vessel that is significantly lighter than market average, lower fuel consumption is realized and lighter lifting equipment is required on the mother vessel. The sandwich construction avoids the use of internal stiffeners, increasing the usable internal space and offers a natural insulation capability, improving the comfort in the cabin and manned compartments. An on deck lifting frame is ready for single point lifting hook and the Deck and cabin are designed for self-bailing. Beyond this, a rounded aft platform is fitted to enable reversing in ice areas and a ‘defreeze’ system for windows with hot air blowers is also fitted. All in all, Tuco has (arguably) thought of everything. That’s because when you are operating in frigid, Arctic waters, the difference between mission success and failure for any workboat can be the equipment assigned to the task. Operators now have another choice for their Arctic operational needs. 

 

LOA: 10.08 meters

Beam Overall: 3.75 meters

Draft (full load): 1.22 meters

Capacity: 2 persons

Speed (cruise): 12 KT

Propeller: 24”, 19” Pitch, 4 blade fixed

VHF radio: RayMarine RAY218E Ray70

Compass: Plastimo Offshore 135

Engines: Volvo Penta D6-370/DP

Range: 8 hours (cruise speed)

Maximum load: 1.000 kg

Paint: Hempel (hull & decks)

Chartplotter: RayMarine eS127

Deck Hatches: Freeman Marine

Fuel capacity: 600 liters

 

 

(As published in the October 2016 edition of Marine News)