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High-Speed, High-Capacity Marine Masterpiece

Tony Zilles

Tasmania and Hobart in particular have a long and proud tradition of shipbuilding. The skills of those pioneering shipbuilders live on in a modern Hobart shipyard today, where revolutionary shipbuilder Incat builds the world’s fastest passenger ships. The kind of ship Incat builds is a Wave Piercing Catamaran (WPC). Incat developed the WPC concept and each increment in length sees even further refinement in vessel design. Incat WPCs are in active service in Australia, Europe and North America and are either in service or have been represented on all the world’s major passenger routes.

The latest generation of high speed WPCs in production in Hobart Tasmania is the Revolution 120. This ship represents the absolute latest in high speed ship design and manufacture. Beautifully constructed and finished, the Revolution 120 sets as high a standard in passenger comfort as it does in design and engineering excellence.

Incat has a simple equation for success... light + powerful = fast. That’s easy enough to write down but slightly more difficult to turn into reality. Incat pushes the limits of shipbuilding in theory and practice. The entire ship is built completely of fabricated aluminium, welded and glued together. Its twin-hulled catamaran configuration is designed to pierce waves rather than ride up and over. A large center hull stops nose-diving in heavy seas. Because the vessel is very light, even when fully loaded, the submerged hulls can be long and slender, thus reducing drag and aiding speed and efficiency.

Power is provided by four Ruston or Caterpillar 20 cylinder marine diesel engines in the Evolution 10 class, and gas turbines in the Revolution 120 class. Power is delivered by LIPS waterjets configured for steering and reverse operation. These waterjets can throw out 18 tonnes of water every second and produce the characteristic "rooster tail" behind the ship when it is under way.

Mark Dewey, Incat shipyard liaison manager shows John Ryan, VP Sales CADKEY, and Barry Dyson Australian CADKEY distributor the helm in a Revolution 120 wheelhouse during fit out..

Using "unconventional" design and construction technologies in a vessel of this size and capacity carries with it a new set of engineering problems and equally "unconventional" solutions. Problems that would traditionally be matched by using bigger, heavier components must be solved with smart, lightweight designs. If there is any thing that encapsulates the Incat philosophy it is the "can-do" attitude, that is evident at every level throughout the company.

Mark Dewey, Incat shipyard liaison manager and John Ryan, VP Sales CADKEY, in the main construction shed at the Incat yard. The vessel under construction is a Revolution 120 class WPC.

There's more than 450 tonnes of high-strength marine grade aluminium alloy in each WPC providing the optimum strength to weight ratio. This metal is sourced in structural sections and plate from specialist suppliers in The Netherlands and Switzerland. Materials are plasma-cut using software proprietary to the cutting equipment on site. Nesting plans are generated automatically at first and then tweaked manually to extract a useable part from every stock piece of material. To get the maximum efficiency from a cutting run sometimes means including parts that won’t be need until the next vessel, but the eagle eyes of the cut planners will fit in a part where ever the opportunity arises to reduce waste.

Ride comfort is a top consideration in the design of the Incat WPC. Through a detailed analysis of sea states, routes and operating envelopes, Incat in conjunction with Maritime Dynamics, Inc have developed a fully integrated ride control system. This system incorporates aft trim tabs and an active fold-down forward T-foil.

Incat is a world leader in aluminium fabrication and welding technologies. Aluminium is a notoriously difficult metal to work with. The structural components of marine craft take a very heavy battering from the sea and it is vital that every aspect of the construction is perfect. There is no point using the best materials and the best design if the workmanship in putting it altogether is not up to the task. The majority of jointing and welding is carried out manually and demands a very high level of skill and care from the people whose job it is to put the pieces together.

A view of the inside of an Incat WPC that few will ever see, shows the complexity and extent of construction detailing required in the ship’s superstructure.

Incat has developed a close relationship with Hobart Institute of Technical and Further Education (TAFE). The results of this collaboration are training courses where employees receive off site theoretical studies and part of their practical training experience on site. This enables workers to develop the highest level of technical skill in aluminium fabrication and welding skills with training modules directly matched to Incat construction needs. The purpose-built TAFE College of Aluminium Training has been constructed adjacent to the yard for even greater convenience.

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