Beag Inis drives ashore in Kerry

Believed to be the first of its type to originate entirely in the British Isles, it certainly catches the imagination since it can simply trundle up a beach or slipway from the water, achieving a stately 13km per hour on dry land.

Billy Tyrell, director of the family run boat builders explained to MJ that the new owner, Tommy O’Connnell from Kerry, wanted the vessel to cover some specific, and unusual, applications. ‘He owns half an uninhabited island with no quays or piers to tie up to, and beyond taking tourists around, he also has some livestock he needs to retrieve from time to time. With a boat like this, he can he can go straight up the foreshore and into the fields.’

The Beag Inis manages this feat via three retractable wheels, the front one providing the steering for the vessel. The drive has an interlocking system (normally known as a differential lock) and each of the wheels can drive totally independent of the others, very useful in the poor traction conditions commonly found on beaches.

The main Perkins 1106D-E66TA engine (supplied by local firm Edina) was a flexible option, providing over 250hp. This feeds power to two hydrostatic pumps for transmission and two displacement pumps for steering and off line filtration. Utilising a hydraulic design by fellow countryman Peter Marshall, the wheels and propeller are driven from the hydrostatic pump, which can be switched between land and marine modes. Another feature of the hydraulic system is its ability to drive the propeller and front wheel independently to assist in landing operations. When the vessel emerges from the water, the transom mounted propeller can then be retracted.

The propeller/steering system can rotate a full 360° for extra manoeuvrability at sea, while the front wheel has a steering angle of +55° which makes it equally easy to manoeuvre out of the water. While the vessel has a land speed of over 13 km per hour, it also gives a 7 knot service speed in water.

The overall design of the vessel originated from the drawing board of another Irish company, Steel Boat Ltd. The Beag Inis is 12m in length, 3.9m wide, and 1.25m deep, with a draft of 0.7m. Fabricated from marine grade aluminium, the vessel has five watertight compartments and has been assigned a load line which also allows the vessel to carry cargo if and when required.

The wheelhouse is mounted on the raised foredeck and the main engine is situated underneath this section. The aft main deck can accommodate passengers but, as pointed out earlier, also has the flexibility to be used for the transportation of livestock and/or cargo if necessary. For passenger comfort, a wheelchair accessible toilet is situated at the aft port quarter, while its uses as a tourist boat are enhanced by an overhead sliding roof section which enables the passenger lounge to be opened up during the summer.

Finally, the top section of the wheelhouse is removable, which enables the vessel to be transported by road. The boat can thus be moved almost anywhere in Europe to meet the needs of specific jobs.

The ferry is presently carrying 50 passengers around the scenic tourist area of South Kerry, where it went into service earlier this year for Tommy O’Connell. The boat with wheels is now operating between Cahirsiveen, Valencia Harbour and Valentia Islands, making four to five trips daily during the summer season.