Hervey Bay boat builder builds twin jet boats for West Australian ports
by BtB Marine 16 Dec 2021 12:09 PST
8 metre jet boats © BtB Marine
BtB Marine has recently delivered a beautiful pair of identical twins - two 8 metre jet boats destined for workboat duties in the Western Australia ports.
Designed by Naval Architects Australia, the 800LB's almost look too good to be called workboats on their rollout from the BtB Marine workshop, but their finish inside and out is still both simple and practical.
BtB Marine General Manager Chris Hough explained "These workboats are powered by turbo charged Yanmar diesel engines coupled to Hamilton jet propulsion units. The Yanmar and jet combination has delivered a 30 knot top speed fully loaded, (33knots lightship), and they easily do a cruising speed of 21knots at around 2,500rpm".
"With a three-stick manual control system, (throttle, gear and bucket controls), manoeuvrability of these is about the best of any I've built," Chris says. "Once you get used to it, they are super-responsive - they are as good, if not better, than any other setup you can power this kind of boat with, in my opinion."
"BtB Marine has always come from a philosophy of looking at innovative ways to build and operate ecologically sustainable vessels," said Chris. "Safety, reliability and practicality are paramount issues for vessels in remote locations. Our vessels have been performing remarkably for many years in many locations around Australia and right throughout the Pacific Island Nations".
BtB Marine's innovation skills and boat building capability were recognised by the Australian Marine industry in 2020, with the company winning two major national marine industry awards; "The Australian Marine Industry Award for Innovation" and also taking out the AusMarine award for the "Best Multi-Purpose Workboat".
BtB Marine built the twin line handling boats in Hervey Bay for Jetwave Marine in Western Australia, where their port support duties will include line handling & dive operations in Fremantle & Port Headland.