The Surrey based marine civil engineering firm was looking to enhance its fleet of river tugs and has designed the new boats to satisfy the varying demands of Land & Waters projects and clients.
The design strategy was for a small highly manoeuvrable shallow drafted tug incorporating a catamaran hull. Due to the diversity of the Land & Water projects, the design includes the facility to easily add and remove attachments from the arm mounted on the bow of the vessel. The tug is 8.8 meter long with a 3 meter beam and a moulded depth of 1.35 meter. The hydraulic propulsion unit provides a steerable propeller that gives a 2 tonne bollard pull and the ability to transfer from full ahead to full astern in a fraction of the time of a conventional vessel.
To reduce manual handling and the risks of the operator working on deck, the front arm can be operated to grab onto bollards of barges. It is also fitted with a quick release coupler which allows any attachment seen on the front of a standard tractor to be fitted in moments. The tug also has its own bespoke attachments including a dredge pump for local dredging tasks, a weed cutting head and a debris-collecting basket.
Richard Maclean , Director of Land and Water Plant Hire summarised the new boat is the nautical equal of a Swiss Army knife. Richard goes on to explain “ we work in such a variety of environments that our new tug needed to be adaptable and able to carry out a number of duties in addition to its core use as a highly manoeuvrable, shallow drafted pusher tug.”
Power for the tug comes from a Sabre Perkins M250C Diesel engine that exceeds the Tier 3 emission standards essential for Land & Water as they company often operated in environmentally sensitive environments.
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Dredging Today Staff, April 5, 2012; Images: land-water