Commando Boats

Operating a fleet of fish processing factories throughout the South Pacific Islands, our customer needed a vessel built to small ship standards. An 11 metre flat bottom barge constructed from heavy marine grade aluminium plate with a generous beam was built to Survey NZ Standards. A prerequisite for this project was that the vessel had to have to ability to be lifted from the water due to the inclement nature of the weather at times, of its intended destination.

Other design features specific to this project were:

• A long line reel to forward deck a hydraulic
• Hiab to lift 500kg fish bins
• Teak decking on all exposed deck space
• A large vinyl canopy for protection from the sun
• 6000 litre under floor fuel and fresh water storage
• Inboard engine location
• Waterjet propulsion
• Lifting Lug Chainplates for davits
• Associated Bulwark Webs and Bollards

On her maiden voyage, testing of the vessel was undertaken on the Hauraki Gulf, with the barge performing as would be expected both with light and heavy payloads. The hull and ancillaries installed by Commando Boats all passing survey standard testing with flying colours. Unfortunately the same could not be said of the owner’s choice of power plant, which left the craft underpowered. The owner’s decision to power a vessel of this size with a single 4.2 litre inboard diesel jet unit, was unfortunately based purely on cost. Initial marine architecture called for the small ship to be powered by twin inboards. The quality of manufacture and level of performance of the boats accessories, and more importantly the hull superstructure was never in question - another successful project completed.