UK: Goodchild Marine Delivers First High Speed Pilot Vessel

Goodchild Marine Services Limited announced the handover of its newest breed of vessel, ORC 171, duly named Estuary Elan to the new owners Estuary Services Limited whilst at the Seawork Boatshow in Southampton.

Commenting the occasion Alan Goodchild said: “We are delighted to handover the first of our unique high speed pilot vessel to Estuary Services Limited during Seawork”.

“We pride ourselves on our working relationship with our customers and Estuary Elan is the culmination of close co-operation with Ian Lord and his team at Estuary Services Limited and as a result Estuary Elan exceeds performance and comfort.”

These modern crafts are well-proven worldwide with over 50 boats built in different configurations. The modern hull design has a double chine with a forward ‘beak’ that gives exceptional performance in head seas reducing slamming and vertical accelerations. Crew comfort is paramount with a novel acoustically separate wheelhouse fitted on cushioned feet, suspension seating for 8 and air conditioned climate control.

Dimensions are 17.58 m LOA, 5.39 m Beam, and 1.44 m draft, displacing 24.5 tonnes with over 2000 litres fuel capacity for the twin 600 hp Scania engines driving 5-blade Hyperform propellers through Twin Disc ‘Quickshift’ gearboxes.

This combination will give it a speed of 26 knots fully loaded and the hull shape is designed to be very economical at cruising speeds.

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World Maritime News Staff, May 23, 2012; Image: Goodchild Marine Services Ltd