Electric RIB launches after MCA Cat 5 coding
Shetland Isles-based Flugga Boats has received its MCA coding category 5, a year after starting the process for its all-electric new RIB.
The 7.5m Fluggaboat is powered by a 120hp lithium-ion battery, which has a range of around 17 miles.
This doesn’t sound a lot, but for the fish farms that Unst Inshore Services (the owner of Flugga Boats) is targeting, it’s quite enough.
It also has ‘all sorts of clever electronics’ on it, says managing director Jack Barclay, which means it can tell if the boat needs to start heading for a charging point and will go into a powe4r-saving mode to ensure it reaches it.
It would also be perfectly adequate for a harbour boat, whose charge can always be topped up during the shift.
“It’s the same hull design as it was in 2004 because it hasn’t needed to be changed and it works really well at high speeds,” says Barclay. “But one thing we didn’t expect was that its best peed is 24 knots – that was quite a surprise as it’s load carrying as well.
“It has a buoyancy of 7.5 tonnes and can deal with wave heights of 5-6 metres.
“We wanted to build something people were used to. A lot of RIBs can be quite lively and excitable, but ours is 2.5 tons in weight, it’s a strong workboat and it handles really well.”
The vessel will go to a fish farm off Shetland, and a second one is already in build.
