Griffon Marine picks DuroWipers for new hovercraft

The Hampshire-based hovercraft builder has received a recent flurry of orders, particularly for its mid-sized 2000TD model.

“Wipers are critical safety equipment on hovercraft, said Paul Irvine, Griffon Marine’s chief engineer. “Reliability is key for all the marine equipment we specify. A hovercraft will always be grounded for a wiper fault, because these are high-speed craft that generate a lot of spray.”

Following successful sea trials with Griffon, the bulletproof solution that DuroWipers will supply for the 2000TD consists of three Class 60 DuroWipers powered via a mechanical linkage by a single motor.

“The beauty of a single motor and shared linkage is that synchronisation of each set of wipers largely takes care of itself,” said As DuroWipers MD Noel Gould. “One of the big problems with many of our competitors’ marine wiper systems is that they use complex electronics to synchronise separate wipers together, and if this goes wrong, which it can do, it can lead to wipers colliding or jamming which means the vessel is off service until it can be fixed.”

Designed for high-speed vessels where space and weight is limited but high performance is required, the Class 60 uses a 24 Volt 50Nm Motor and a 5mm frame with two main drive bearings. This gives added strength for vessels encountering heavy water.

DuroWiper pantographs and pendulums have a patented twin drive rotary mechanism. This converts the rotary motion of the motor, to a reciprocating motion via transfer box to the wiper arms.

Griffon currently has an order for ten 2000TDs with options for two more. Of these, six are going to an undisclosed customer and three are to be delivered to the Finnish Border Guard, who have specified wipers for the side windows as well as the front screen, for better situational awareness in blizzard conditions. private owners.

Visit Griffon Marine on Stand B11, and DuroWipers on Stand F6