Page 42: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 1994)

USA Catamarans Debuts Its Foil-Assisted Planing Catamarans

USA Catamarans, Inc., of Fort

Lauderdale, Fla., introduced its line of high-performance planing alumi- num catamarans, all of which are foil-assisted with the foils report- edly carrying in excess of 50 percent of the total weight. The first vessel built by the company is the 65-foot

Harbor Bay Express II Ala meda, a vessel which was due for delivery to the City of Alameda on San Fran- cisco Bay at press time. The vessel, powered by MAN D2842LYE en- gines, is designed to shuttle com- muters between Alameda and San

Francisco, a distance of approxi- mately seven miles. This is the

Andromeda Class catamaran design, which has asymmetric demi-hulls with one main foil between the hulls.

Canards at the forward step and flaps at the aft step are hydrauli- cally operated with trim controls to optimize planing angle. The main engines, rated 1,000 hp at 2,300 rpm, drive France Helices four-blade surface props through ZF 165PI gears. Full load speed is 30 knots, and the vessel was designed for par- tially protected waters and Sea State 3 (for the 65-foot Cats). The pilot house is arranged like an aircraft cockpit, with console and D.C. panel on center between pilot and co-pilot seats. The electronic package onboard includes a Raytheon R81X and a R41XX radar; a Ray 390 GPS; a Ray 420 loud hailer; two Ray 90

VHF radios; Sail Comp digital com- passes; and Robertson autopilot.

The passenger cabin is arranged similar to an airliner, with passen- gers facing each other generally, rather than facing forward. The vessel is certified to carry 147 pas- sengers and crew.

USA Catamarans also offers ves- sels from two additional lines, the

Dynacat and the Cyclocat. USA

Catamarans was organized in 1989 by Manny Kaluris, president and

CEO of Yacht Basin, Inc. Mr.

Kaluris is a marine engineer and propulsion specialist with extensive experience. The other principal is

Chuck Baum, a naval architect and marine engineer in aluminum boat building, with experience in high- speed catamarans. For more infor- mation on USA Catamarans,

Circle 149 on Reader Service Card

Harbor Bay Express II Alameda

Equipment List

Main engines MAN

Gears ZF

Propellers France Helices

Radar Raytheon

GPS Raytheo

VHF radio Raytheon

Autopilot Robertso

Converted Tanker Uikku Delivered By Kvaerner Masa's Helsinki New Shipyard

Tanker Features New Azipod Azimuthing Electric Propulsion Drive

The 16,000-dwt icebreaking tanker M/T Uikku was delivered by

Kvaerner Masa-Yards' Helsinki

New Shipyard, and the vessel fea- tures a 11.4 MW azimuthing elec- tric Azipod-propulsion drive, a sys- tem jointly developed by Kvaerner

Masa-Yards and ABB Industry.

The vessel was delivered to

NEMARC Shipping Company, and recently started oil transportation in the Baltic.

During the Arctic shipping sea- son, the vessel will traffic in the

Barents Sea area for the joint-ven- ture company Arctic Shipping Ser- vices.

The Aziped Drive

Azipod is an azimuthing electric propulsion drive, with a propulsion motor normally an electric alternat- ing current (AC) synchronous mo- tor, located inside the azimuthing unit.

The motor, which drives a fixed- pitch propeller, is speed controlled by a cycloconverter.

The system effectively eliminates the need for conventional shaft lines and rudders, and the need for stern thrusters or controllable pitch pro- pellers and reduction gears.

The unit on the Uikku is the world's largest single azimuthing propulsion drive built. The unit is constructed to the requirements of the Det Norske Veritas ICE 10 ice class.

For maximum operational safety and redundancy, the synchronous propulsion motor has two windings, each separately controlled by its own cycloconverter. The propulsion shaft line of the Azipod unit of this size is accessible through a manhole and can be inspected without drydocking the vessel.

The rotatable Azipod drive en- ables full power thrust in any de- sired direction, a feature helpful in problematic ice conditions. The Ml

T Uikku is equipped with a pusher version of the Azipod; a tractor ver- sion is also available.

The Conversion

M/T Uikku arrived at the

Kvaerner yard for modernization last August. The conversion in- volved replacing the existing in- stallation (diesel reduction gear and controllable pitch propeller) with a cycloconverter-controlled 11.4 MW (15,500 hp) Azipod drive powered by two Wartsila Vasa 12V32 (2 x 4,920 kW) diesel engines, each coupled to a ABB 6200 kVA genera- tor and one Wartsila Vasa 12V22 (1,950 kW) diesel generator using the existing shaft generator. Two

Alfa Laval heavy fuel separators and four lube oil separators were also installed.

The M/T Uikku is one of a series of four special tankers built for Neste

Shipping at the end of the 1970's, and the modernization is geared to significantly extend the service life.

The first prototype 1.5 MW Azipod unit was installed on the Finnish waterway service vessel Seili in late 1990. The results were so encourag- ing that Kvaerner Masa-Yards and

ABB Industry signed an agreement for further development and sale of the Azipod in spring 1992. Azipod units, to date, are available up to 20

MW.

The latest Azipod order is for a river icebreaker for the Austrian

Osterreichisch Donaukraftwerke

AG, to be delivered in spring 1995 from Kvaerner Masa-Yards' Helsinki

New Shipyard. The vessel will oper- ate in assisting river traffic and break ice formations at the power stations in the Danube river. The vessel will be equipped with two azimuthing electric propulsion drives with a to- tal power of 1.1 kW.

For more information on the project from Kvaerner Masa-Yards,

Circle 131 on Reader Service Card

For more information on the project from ABB Industry,

Circle 132 on Reader Service Card

PROPULSION UPDATE

Propeller Selection For

PROPELLER LAYOUT CURVE

FPP INSTALLATION

DIESEL ELECTRIC DRIVE

POWER (%)