Page 47: of Marine News Magazine (July 2016)

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PROPULSION: WATERJETS

A Sea Change in Waterjet Technology

Long time water jet propulsion equipment provider NAMJet introduces key advancements for this sector.

By Joseph Keefe

NAMJet’s 10 meter demonstration boat underway at full speed ack in 2011, when boat builder Birdon went look- tive maintenance and data logging capability. The ? rm’s ing for a propulsion system that they could utilize recently produced 10 meter demonstration workboat fea-

Bin the bid phases of a multi-boat contract with the tures two of the newly designed RAPTORJets, and made

U.S. Army, they landed on NAMJet propulsion systems its debut last month at Seawork 2016. There, potential and its TRAKTOR Jet line of high-thrust marine jets. customers were able to witness ? rsthand the power, and

Subsequent to that, and because their Army Bridge Erec- improved thrust of the jets. The demonstration boat was tion boat (BEB) concept, powered by NAMJet, performed built by sister company Birdon America and eventually so well, Birdon went ahead and purchased the company. will be based at a NAMJet facility in the UK and used for

Since then, NAMJet has gone on to blaze its own trail for various exhibitions around Europe.

propulsion solutions over a wide range of workboats. On that boat, the innovative RAPTORJet RJ431e pro-

Denver-based NAMJet provides water jet technology pulsion system is matched with a Cummins’ 6.7-litre QSB designed for a wide variety of commercial, military, and engine rated at 480hp and a ZF 301-1c transmission. workboat applications, fully customizable to meet the Ramsey characterizes the new equipment as “a Sea Change standards of the world’s most demanding operators. To- in Water Jet Technology,” adding, “The demo boat RAP- day NAMJet offers propulsion systems for engines in the TOR achieved 39 knots at altitude in fresh water. We ex- 150–850-horsepower range, and stands ready to deliver pect it will do 42 knots at sea level and have a bollard pull the next generation of advanced marine propulsion with of at least 4.2 tons, which is massive.” its newly developed RAPTORJet range with both electric According to NAMJet, RAPTORJet is the ? rst water- and hydraulic options. jet worldwide to provide the option of electric actuation, eliminating the need for hydraulic pumps, oil tanks, ? lters,

RAPTORJet & iNAV Unveiled plumbing, ongoing hydraulic maintenance and potential

Last month, NAMJet introduced a new range of RAP- oil leaks. Raptorjet has been speci? cally designed to accom-

TORJet water jets. These feature – and NAMJet says it is the modate electric actuation, however a hydraulic option is ? rst time ever for this type of propulsion – iNAV electric actua- also available. The introduction of the Intelligent Naviga- tion which eliminates the need for hydraulic tanks, valves, oil, tion & Control System (iNAV) is a fully integrated elec- hoses, maintenance and potential oil leaks. In world where tronic control system, compatible with most navigational the EPA’s VGP keeps vessel operators up at night, this feature hardware and sensors. It can be con? gured as a basic system alone will make potential customers sit up and take notice. to control engine throttles, transmission, jet bucket and

In a nutshell, iNAV is a comprehensive set of electronic steering up to the iNAV-iN5 system providing joystick con- controls spanning conventional throttle and joystick con- trol, an intuitive user interface for navigation and full vessel trol, all the way through to glass helm operations. Beyond control on a touch screen glass helm. The control features this, says NAMjet President Ian Ramsey, the iNAV system station keeping and dynamic positioning capability, as well can provide remote updates and upgrades with predic- as multi-vessel positioning control from a single vessel.

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