Page 49: of Marine News Magazine (August 2016)

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N 100 cupying the space and sharing the shipyard will take us

Moose Boats

Moose Boats, Inc., based in Petaluma, California was into the realm of being able to design and build 60-plus- founded in 2000 by Roger Fleck who began with a 34’ foot crew boats as well as tug boats and survey boats, so aluminum catamaran design, the 340C, propelled by twin there will be a big shift in what we’re building over the next 10 years,” says Stott.

diesel water jets. The company is known for building high-

Moose Boats expects to expand the company’s work- quality aluminum catamaran and monohull vessels and its market focus has been the US Navy and several top tier force alongside the new operations facility. “It’s a good law enforcement and ? re? ghting agencies throughout the place to attract skilled workers because it would be a welcome industry move there,” adds Stott. “There are a

United States. number of industries already operating on the Mare Island

The US Navy Combatant Craft Division (CCD) rec- ognized Moose Boats in 2002 and the design was further Naval Shipyard.”

With access to a deep-water channel, Moose Boats enhanced to meet military speci? cations. “After 9/11, the

Navy started looking for domestic builders to build small can now offer boat maintenance and repair, in conjunc- craft,” explains Mark Stott, Sales Engineer. Subsequently tion with Lind Marine. “This is where the blend of two skill sets come together,” says Stott. “Lind Marine is very dozens of Moose Boats 340C catamarans, and its M2 suc- cessor, were delivered to CCD ful? lling submarine escort familiar with the larger-scale equipment they run with their tugs and barges, and Moose Boats has very in-depth and harbor patrol roles. knowledge of electrical, electronics, mechanical instal-

In the early 2000s, Moose Boats began tapping the ? re- lation and interior out? tting, along with our aluminum ? ghting market after successfully implementing ? re? ght- ing equipment into sheriff’s boats. There are over 100 welding capabilities. We listen to our customers and col-

Moose Boats vessels in service, and more than 20 are their laboratively design a boat to ? nal speci? cations with them. ? re? ghting workboat design. “We’ve managed to get in Out of that comes good ideas and the need for increased with the right kind of agencies like, for example, the New performance of the boats.”

York Police Department, the New Jersey State Police, the

Los Angeles Police Department and many of the Bay area Beyond Boatbuilding:

Planned Partnerships with Purpose agencies,” says Stott.

With each new vessel project, these boat builders are

In 2007, Moose Boats delivered a larger M1-44’ catama- ran to the New York Naval Militia. The M1 has continued ? ne-tuning their output and procedures, according to cus- to be a success in both law enforcement and ? re? ghting tomer expectations, changing technologies and regulatory demands. While competition between companies is the applications as a command and high-volume ? re suppres- sion platform. In 2011, Moose Boats developed its ? rst natural state of affairs, this new breed of strategic partner- ships appears to be helping bring more diversity, market mono-hull, the M3, as a smaller, more maneuverable plat- share and revenue to all involved. And that adds up to a form aimed at tactical and interdiction applications, com- greener bottom line – and, a “P3” model of a different kind.

pleting its current product line up.

Like Vigor and Nichols Brothers, Moose Boats looked outside its yard for synergy and added value. To that end,

Moose recently merged with Lind Marine, a 110-year-old tug and barge company which operates a shipyard adjacent to the 440-foot Dry Dock 4, along with 2,000 linear feet of pier at the site formerly known as Mare Island Naval

Shipyard. Moose is moving its Port Sonoma operations in the early fall into the 20,000 square-foot facility co-located adjacent to Lind Marine’s shipyard, which will consoli- date production into one place, allowing for production automation such as in-house water jet cutting. Dedicated

Kathy A. Smith is a Victoria, BC-based rigging bays will mean that multiple boats can be out? t- maritime writer who has penned over 100 ted simultaneously with rigging crews able to access tools published trade articles. and equipment readily from the deck level of the vessels.

Moose will also have access to a 137-ton portal crane. “Oc- 49 www.marinelink.com MN

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