Trawlercat, Tuco Marine Seek Partner for Carbon Fibre CTV

Trawlercat Marine Designs (TMD), a Canadian designer of power catamarans for workboat industries, is seeking a Partner(s) to fund their prototype 25m x 10m carbon fibre composite Carbon-Cat Offshore Wind Farm Crew Transfer Vessel (OWF CTV).

The vessel will be built by TMD’s build partner, Tuco Marine Group (TMG) at TMG’s facility in Faaborg, Denmark. TMG has built over 200 composite vessels up to and including 35 metre carbon fibre catamaran ferries and are considered expert carbon fibre composite boat builders.

TMD commenced designing and building small workboat power catamarans in Australia in 1984 and has successfully introduced 40 power catamaran models to global recreational and workboat markets since moving to Canada in 1996. In 2010 TMD focused on designing carbon fibre workboats for the OWF CTV market before extending the series to encompass Navy Patrol Boats.

The foil assisted high speed OWF CTV’s are available in 20m & 25m x 10m models while the Patrol Boats are available in 20m & 25m x 10m and 30m & 35m x 14m models with a 50m version “on the drawing board”. The 50m model could also double as an OWF accommodation vessel with the ability to very quickly and economically relocate to wind farms globally.

TMD’s carbon fibre Carbon-Cats are designed and built to GL Rules with the carbon fibre engineering being carried out by Al Horsmon of Horsmon & Associates, one of the leading carbon fibre engineering specialists in North America.

This is an opportunity for one or more partners to join the TMD/TMG team as they take OWF CTV’s and Navy Patrol Boats into a new technological age.

Carbon fibre is 10 times stronger than aluminium and less than half its weight. It’s 5 times stronger than steel and less than a third of its weight. Carbon fibre does not rust or corrode and is very low maintenance considerably reducing maintenance costs.

The light weight, hydrofoil assist and other innovative features allow Carbon-Cats to reach “comfortable high speeds” using smaller engines than similar size aluminium or steel vessels while burning 50% less fuel than similar size aluminium OWF catamarans and 75% less fuel than similar size steel Patrol Boats. The cost of operating a Carbon-Cat over a wind farms 25 year life cycle will save Developers and O&M Companies millions of pounds in fuel and maintenance costs.

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Press release; Image: Trawlercat Marine Designs