Page 48: of Marine News Magazine (January 2016)

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BOAT OF THE MONTH

National Park

Service Ferry knots over the 6.5 to 9 mile route. NPS rangers will pro- vide onboard narrative of the area’s rich history and natural resources. The National Seashore will engage fourth grade classes in the area to name the new boats. The winning classes will get to ride on the inaugural ferry trip as part of the National Park Service’s Every Kid in a Park initiative.

ensacola, Fla. and the Gulf Islands National Sea- The design for the identical catamarans was developed by shore are set to get a new passenger-only ferry ser- AAM partner Teknicraft Design of Auckland, New Zealand. vice, complete with two new ferries. The Pensacola “The Park Service placed a very high emphasis on the pas-

P

Bay ferry service scheduled to begin in March 2017 is the senger experience,” AAM Vice President told MarineNews culmination of 45 years of discussion and planning to in December, adding, “We engineered the deck plans to of- connect the National Seashore and Pensacola Beach to the fer comfortable seating for all 150 passengers as well as create mainland by boat. The ferries will operate in opposite di- plenty of personal storage for beach gear, coolers, camping rections on a triangular route, connecting downtown Pen- equipment and bicycles.” Beyond this, the main deck and sacola to Pensacola Beach and Fort Pickens. The underly- each of the two heads are compliant with the latest proposed ing funding to make the ferries a reality is coming from ADA accessibility construction guidelines for passenger ves- the Natural Resource Damage Assessment stemming from sels. AAM’s design also includes designated family seating the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Gulf Islands National areas with room for strollers and the upper aft deck features

Seashore Superintendent Dan Brown explains, “passengers a large open observation area. The vessels will be equipped will soon enjoy the 40 minute excursion across the Bay to with a multimedia audio-visual package for the park rang- reach Santa Rosa Island as a congestion–free alternative to ers to utilize for highlighting sights and information about a 17 mile automobile trip.” the Seashore and Park. Space on the vessel’s foredeck is also

The contract for construction of the new vessels was available for large groups to gather and receive further in- awarded through a competitive bid process to All Ameri- struction from park rangers or group leaders.

can Marine (AAM) of Bellingham, Wash., which, not co- Teknicraft’s principal naval architect, Nic de Waal, utilized incidentally, specializes in aluminum catamarans. AAM’s computational ? uid dynamics (CFD) analysis and digital previous output includes catamarans built for Island Pack- modeling to optimize the hull shape for performance. The ers that operates the ferry concession from Ventura, Calif. propulsion system will be adequate to maintain the 12 knot to the Channel Islands National Park. The three 65’ west service speed in conditions including headwinds up to 30 coast Island Class catamarans provided design inspiration knots. Auxiliary power for each vessel will be provided by for the new Florida ferries. Additionally, Kenai Fjords twin 40kW Northern Lights C40M.3 generators that are

Tours operates three AAM-built 83’ Voyager Class catama- required to provide complete redundancy and support full rans for tours of the Kenai Fjords National Park in Seward, load conditions on a single unit. The passenger cabin will

Alaska. The Park Service intends to release a concession be fully air conditioned via a multi-zone ductless system opportunity for operation of the new vessels. to ensure a comfortable passenger environment. The main

The National Park Service opted for two 150 passenger deck cabin will also feature a snack bar kiosk complete with double deck aluminum catamaran boats to provide a com- refrigerator, freezer and coffee maker. fortable and enjoyable excursion, which will average 12 AAM’s current workload includes other catamaran proj- ects, including a research

NPS Ferries at a Glance … vessel for the University

LOA: 72’ 2”Gen: 40kW Northern Light c40M.3Nav. Electronics: Simrad E127Designer: Teknicraft of New Hampshire and

Beam: 28’Engines: Scania Di13 81M (2)Engines: Scania Di13 81M (2)Passengers: 150 a survey vessel for the

Draft: 5.5’Survey: USCG Subchapter T (LBS)Gears: ZF Marine 500Fuel Capacity: 1000 gal.

U.S. Army Corps of En-

Builder: AAMPassenger Seats Interior: 95Seating: Freedman CitiproPass. Seats Exterior: 84 gineers in Philadelphia.

January 2016

MN 48

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