Cheetah trio make waves at Seawork

It was one of three Cheetahs on the floating pontoon at Seawork this year, joined by a 7.2m boat handed over to the Cheshire Police at the show and by Wet Wheels, the 9m Cheetah designed as a specialist cruiser for disabled sailors and passengers.

The 7.9m Cheetah named Killigrew will be performing a variety of roles within Falmouth Harbour and its approaches. In addition to operating a number of leisure facilities in the harbour, Falmouth Harbour Commissioners offer a range of services to all sizes of merchant shipping. Amongst its daily roles, Killigrew will be tasked with patrol and enforcement, offering an escort service to docking ships, providing back up and assistance for emergency response, and general survey work by researchers and students. The 7.9m Cheetah is a versatile workboat reflected by the variety of systems and equipment which the catamaran accommodates.

Killigrew features Cheetah Marine’s registered moonpool configuration, which enables between hull deployment of various transducers used by Falmouth Harbour Commissioners, including Starfish sidescan and single beam echo sounder.

Further deployment and maintenance can be carried out via the starboard side door with use of the swinging davit and electric winch powered by a compact Honda 2kva suitcase generator housed on the aft deck.

Inside, the long survey style wheelhouse features seating for four with fold down worktop space and a comprehensive NSS 7 Simrad package with NMEA link to the engines, providing real time fuel consumption figures and engine data. The Cheetah is powered by twin Honda 115hp outboards and achieved speeds of 30 knots on the delivery to Seawork, cruising at 20 knots with an average fuel consumption of 1.5 litres per nautical mile.

Cheetah Marine manufactures all stainless steel work in-house, bespoke to each catamaran. Falmouth Harbour Commissioners specified pilot style bow rails with Hadrian’s rail to enable safe access forward. This has been fitted in addition to the full set of MCA guard rails required for coding of the vessel to Category 3, 20 miles from a safe haven with 8 persons.

Cheetah designer Sean Strevens said, “Whilst our catamarans often have highly specialist equipment, the configuration and stability allows use for a diverse range of applications. As cut backs increase, it is critical that we continue to provide the most flexible solutions and cost effective vessels with minimal running costs. We are delighted to work with the Falmouth Harbour Commission on this project.”

Cheetah Marine had another busy Seawork, with a 7.9m long wheelhouse ordered on the first day, followed by the two handovers and a swarm of visitors around all three boats.

Cheetah partner Keith Strevens said, “As always, Seawork delivered the goods. We met so many potential customers, some of whom had come especially to see us. We shall be there next year, that’s for sure.”