South Boats IOW has launched its first-of-class South Cat 26m-series vessel, named 'Seacat Intrepid'.
Built for marine services provider Seacat Services, the 26-metre vessel is the first new design to benefit from an extensive testing program carried out to understand the benefits and limitations to various hull forms and how they perform differently; specifically as offshore wind farm crew boats.
"The demands from this industry are unique," commented South Boats. "Vessels need to perform well in high sea states, providing high levels of technician comfort as well as crew comfort whilst coupled to flexible cargo payloads, remaining fuel efficient, and providing 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 South Cat 26m series is designed to address these challenges."
The 'Seacat Intrepid' measures 26.8 metres in length overall, with a beam of 9.2 metres and a displacement of 80 tonnes.
The first of two sister vessels for Seacat Services, the 'Seacat Courageous' is due in early 2015, with a third vessel to be built for an as-yet undisclosed operator.
