VESSEL REVIEW | MA028 – 10-metre coastal patrol boat pair for New South Wales

The Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) department of the eastern Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) recently added a number of Naiad-designed patrol craft to their fleet, all built by Yamba Welding and Engineering.

Two of the recent additions are 10-metre cabin patrol boats. These all-aluminium vessels are essentially the same as an earlier 10-metre Naiad design already operated by RMS, which was looking for a vessel with good stability at rest, excellent sea-keeping ability and with above average acceleration and stability at speed.

The pair will operate across NSW’s harbours and coastal waterways, particularly Sans Souci and Coffs Harbour.

These boats use a “wide” stepped hull, which combines good load-carrying ability with sharp performance. This is a hull that can use all the performance delivered by the twin 325hp (240kW) Suzuki outboards. Top speed is 40-plus knots with economical cruising between 25 and 35 knots.

The boats have a large main cabin area, which is fully enclosed. Twin doors in the aft bulkhead provide wide access to the working cockpit area and ensure good communication between crew working in these two areas.

The vessels were designed to meet the day-to-day operations of the boating services officers, with operator comfort in mind especially when frequently coming alongside vessels for regulations checks.

A comprehensive Raymarine electronics package provides essential navigation information for the crew, comprising twin Axiom 16 Pro-RVX HybridTouch with integrated 1kW sonar, DV, SV and RealVision 3D Sonar; Quantum Q24D Doppler 18″ Radar with 15-metre power cable and 15-metre data cable; thermal camera (640×480, 9Hz PAL); and AIS700 Class B.

An Icom IC-M605 VHF, Furuno LH5000 loudhailer, Fusion MS-RA 70N stereo, as well as an on-board FLIR system round out the electronics setup.

The level of finish on these commercial boats is quite impressive, with all exposed alloy clear-coated and covered with vinyl wrap.

The interior features suspension seating for the crew in an “all-dark” cabin to avoid reflections when operating at night. The forward cabin provides storage for wide variety of equipment needed to support the various operational scenarios that RMS uses these boats for.

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