The mystery boat bow in Barbados, and other scuttlebutt

Bajansailor

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Further to my latest thread re the saga of our new Oil Spill Response Vessel (here at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240767 ) where I threw in a mystery boat question, here is another photo of it's bow from a bit closer.
We have established that it is European, but not an Astondoa or a Feretti....... I'm sure that you will get it now.

DistantDrumsbowview.jpg


And changing tack, I saw a link to this Youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcxZ-re8EDI on the Facebook page of 'Marine Engineering & Naval Architecture' at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Al...l-architecture/104582308992?ajaxpipe=1&__a=19 (but I think you have to be logged into Facebook to see their site).

I am surprised in a way that Voith cycloidal propulsion systems do not appear to have been used before for oil rig supply vessels (they are very popular with tugs, and are used, I think, by the Lymington ferries), but perhaps the main factor involved is the extra cost involved, when compared to 'conventional' propellers and shafts.

Changing tack again, I went to have a look at a Bayliner motor yacht here recently - it had recently been shipped down here from Miami, and is a sister ship to the one shown in this Yachtworld link - http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/boatMergedDetails.jsp?boat_id=2131206& except that the boat here has twin diesels rather than petrol engines.
And the boat here also has a diesel generator - underneath the cockpit sole.
And the cockpit looks (or used to rather) just like the one shown in the link.
The aft hatch is for access to the steering gear - here is another photo below :

Baylinergeneratorcompartment.jpg


You can just see the generator lurking....... the owner had recently cut out the cockpit sole above the generator in order to obtain reasonable access to it, as shown below :

Baylinergenerator-deckremoved.jpg


The generator is obviously much younger than the boat, hence I am wondering how they got it in to that space when it was installed...... as the cockpit sole did not appear to have been tampered with previously.
They were going to bond the section of sole back down again, but I suggested it might be better to make this section a removable hatch, in the same fashion as the SG compartment hatch, and extend the drainage channels forward.

The two main engines are also classic examples of how to squeeze something into a very tight space - and let somebody else worry about maintenance access afterwards...... :)
Copied below is a view on the starboard main engine looking forward.

Baylinerstarboardmainengine.jpg


While here is a view on the forward end of this engine, from inside the saloon -

Baylinerstbdmainengine.jpg


And the access to the starboard engine is much better than for the port engine! I think the only way to get to the forward end of the port engine is to crawl through a small hole in the midships cabin bulkhead.
 
I will always remember a big sports fishing boat putting out a pan pan then getting towed in to Elizabeth Harbour on Great Exuma with engine problems then the fix it guy arriving from the states with a chain saw.

He cut out most of the aft cockpit floor saying it was the only way to get access!
 
That Bayliner is horrific!
Mystery boat: dunno, and it's hard to know what is original and what is modded (white paint on porthole frames?). Because of the Bruce anchor and some aspects of the guard rails i'll guess a Rodman. Otherwise, the cleats and (maybe, I can't tell) compound curved fly windscreen suggest it's a Princess/Viking (but modded to tkae a Bruce and white paint on the portholes, etc)
 
TQA - I am amazed that so many of these sports fishing boats (and motor yachts as well) have such terrible machinery accesses.
Although even 'big' boats can suffer - a pal of mine is 2nd Engineer on a 55 m CRN motor yacht, and it is fortunate that he is a skinny chap, as the Chief Engineer is a rather portly lad, and he simply cannot get to most places in the engine room of that yacht, as all the systems were literally shoe-horned in 25 years ago (and then modified / changed along the way), and are now cheerfully breaking down or giving trouble......

JFM - Agreed re the Bayliner - maybe in this case the name 'Binliner' is justified.....
The owner bought it 'cheap' in the USA - but by the time he shipped it down here, and then the Customs bods slapped him with 40% compounded duties on the landed CIF value, he was going off the idea rapidly and now just wants to tart up the boat best he can and flog it.

Re the mystery boat - sorry, but she is not a Rodman, nor a mongrel Viking Princess.
Here is the photo above again, but with the rest of the boat included - should be easy now! :)

DistantDrums1.jpg
 
Umm, yes, one could say that it looks a bit Colvicish, but sorry, it isn't........

Here are a couple more photos :

DistantDrumsstbdbow.jpg


DistantDrumsprops2.jpg


Richard, re the Birchwood in PSC, is it about 34', called 'Impulse M T'?

PS - The Mystery boat above was built in Italy 11 years ago. And she has 2 x 765 hp MTUs inside.
 
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Then I don't know Bajan. The hull air intakes don't match the Sunquest's, but that black strip above the saloon windows is a Colvic sunquest 44 thing (a boat marketed under many names, btw, as Colvic and now Xenon sell bare mouldings) and an Astondoa thing. It was also used on a few Guy Couaches but I don't recognise which Guy Couach your photo could be, and some older Azimuts. So if it's not a Couach or an Azi (I think the latter is more likely) then I'm going to fold - please tell us the answer (and also the blue boat in the background - the 60-odd footer?) :D
 
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I'm sorry, the photos don't really give an awful lot away as to her identity.

She is (I have been told) an Azimut 58 - here is one of similar vintage for sale on Yachtworld :
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1999/Azimut-58-2176291/Golfe-Juan/France

Re the blue boat in the background, she is a Viking (Princess) about 58' built (I think) in the USA - she originally had a white hull, but she was subjected to a very expensive Awlgrip job a few years ago.
 
I enjoyed the link to the new Voith Schneider prop. system Martin, I guess their old pod drives used on tugs was the principle behind the new offerings from Volvo and Cummins.
 
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Aye, it seems to have taken a while for podded propulsion units to 'catch on' for smaller craft - tugs especially have been using them for a while, and they are all the rage now with cruise liners, even the QM II has 'em.

Here is a nice photo showing two rather big IPS units on the cruise ship 'Elation' - http://www.ship-technology.com/projects/elation/elation7.html
I hope that they are able to chew up and spit out any stray lobster pot line that they come across - I still think that props 'on the front' seem to be intrinsically more vulnerable than say 'behind' the pod, never mind that they are more efficient.

And here is some rather neat info from a third party (not Volvo) about the IPS systems - http://www.myboatsgear.com/newsletter/volvoIPS.asp
 
Continuing on the theme of interesting and 'different' propulsion systems, here is a neat video about the Ship Docking Module (SDM) - somebody did a bit of lateral thinking re tug design here, and it seems to work very well, with 50 odd tonnes of bollard pull in any direction, even sideways, which a 'conventional' tug cannot do very well......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CM8hmSJbCs
 
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