The Blyth 14m, with a beam of 4.87m and draft of 0.9m, is the second to be produced by Blyth Workcats and provides an excellent working platform with plenty of space for engineers, their equipment and stores. The first 14m Blyth is currently hard at work in less favourable conditions, as a survey and dive vessel at Port Stanley in Falkland Isles, one of the few places marginally colder that Lowestoft.<\/p>\n
Strider<\/i> is MCA coded for 12 passengers and two crew, with KAB suspension seats by Tek seating for six crew and a flexible bench seating area for use when on other duties. Surveying and engineering teams have space to work at table height with flexibility for computers and specialist equipment.<\/p>\n
The wheelhouse measures an impressive 18\u2019 long by 11\u2019 wide and is also fitted with good sized toilet facilities. Below decks space has been utilised for the storage of safety equipment, although enough space remains for four double cabins plus a toilet and shower facilities. A full galley with microwave and grill ensures that hot drinks and warm meals are plentiful, ensuring crew and passengers are kept comfortable.<\/p>\n
Strider<\/i> has been fitted with a pair of Iveco 550hp Cursor engines from Marlin Marine, with TwinDisc gearboxes, providing enormous power capability in the worst conditions. This is the most horsepower that has ever been fitted in a Blyth Workcat and the performance figures speak for themselves. A top speed of 29.5 knots was achieved in sea trials, with a cruising speed of 20 knots during normal operations.<\/p>\n
Because of the nature of the work, Strider<\/i> was fitted with additional fuel tanks to give a carrying capacity of nearly 500 gallons. Clements Engineering were responsible for the stern gear and electrical components came from KM Electronics.<\/p>\n
A common misconception with GRP vessels are they are difficult to repair when damage occurs. The Blyth 14m has been specifically strengthened in the bow, giving greater rigidity and strength to the areas most likely to suffer stress and strain. The bespoke turbine connection ensures all stresses are placed on the reinforced areas. Secondary damage to GRP parts in the event of an accident is designed to be minimal.<\/p>\n
Built entirely at the Canvey Island factory, Blyth Workcats have been in the market place since 1989. The first vessel the company built, Taurus<\/i>, is still in service 20 years after its launch and is lasting testimony to the durability of GRP vessels in the commercial market.<\/p>\n
The Blyth business has changed considerably over the last two years, with a new industry-wide management team which has introduced an intensive improvement programme. The changes encompass the whole business from health and safety through to improving the client experience. The company has recently achieved MCA P6 build status and is working towards ISO 9000 quality standard systems.<\/p>\n
Blyth Workcats believes that continuous commercial improvements and modern GRP construction methods can continue to give the commercial workboat market cost savings and flexible build options. The company is committed to the future development of a larger GRP Blyth vessel, which is the focus for the year ahead. A design for a new 17m mould tool is in place and concept drawings will soon be ready for publication. The movement towards a larger model is the culmination of client requests over many years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Blyth Workcats Ltd of Canvey Island in Essex UK has delivered its first 14m windfarm support vessel Strider to new owner Mick Latham of East Coast Charters out of Lowestoft in Suffolk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-1456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shipyard-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maritimejournal.com\/get-set-for-workboat-2050\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maritimejournal.com\/get-set-for-workboat-2050\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maritimejournal.com\/get-set-for-workboat-2050\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maritimejournal.com\/get-set-for-workboat-2050\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maritimejournal.com\/get-set-for-workboat-2050\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.maritimejournal.com\/get-set-for-workboat-2050\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maritimejournal.com\/get-set-for-workboat-2050\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maritimejournal.com\/get-set-for-workboat-2050\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maritimejournal.com\/get-set-for-workboat-2050\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maritimejournal.com\/get-set-for-workboat-2050\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1456"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maritimejournal.com\/get-set-for-workboat-2050\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=1456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}