Page 21: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 1996)

Polarlys compartment for the stern thruster. Ahead of the car deck are two and three-berth passen- ger cabins, officers' cabins, hospi- tal, trim room, stores and the ship's prison.

Deck three is mainly devoted to passenger cabins, most of which have an outside view. All cabins were supplied on a turnkey basis as fully fabricated units, and delivered three at a time by truck under a just-in-time strategy.

The units were lifted directly onboard the vessel and skidded into position. Service facilities such as stores and air-condition- ing rooms are located along the center line.

The main outside promenade is narrowed to accommodate four

Harding totally enclosed lifeboats and two PP Jet-powered

MOB (man overboard) boats from UFAS.

An enclosed wheelhouse fea- tures a cockpit style navigating position behind a sophisticated array of up-to-date equipment, which was delivered as a com- plete Kongsberg Norcontrol

BridgeLine 2020 integrated nav- igation system with ergonomic consoles suited for efficient bridge operation. The system incorporates both X and S-band radars, ARPA and ECDIS with two 29-in. color monitors and additional monitors in the bridge wings. TFDS always has two deck officers (from a complement of captain, chief officer and two first officers) on watch.

Stability requirements for pas- senger vessels are changing as a result of several serious acci- dents worldwide, and Polarlys has been designed to meet all existing rules and anticipated future regulations.

For example, DNV carried out calculations on the new proba- bilistic A265 system to ensure that the vessel can satisfy the equivalent safety level of two- compartment damage stability, while the vehicle deck has a spe- cial flexible bulkhead subdivision to reduce the length of the flood- able spaces. The vessel complies with strict new fire safety rules as well.

With a gross tonnage of 11,340 tons, Polarlys has 480 passenger berths. An additional 257 day passengers may be carried.

Some 120 steel sections were prefabricated and then combined for erection in the dock as 40 large blocks, the largest weigh- ing 130 tons. Each block was extensively outfitted prior to erection, speeding the production process and reducing the outfit time after hull completion.

Approximately 60 percent of the outfit was completed before the blocks were erected.

Whale watching in the Azores by inflatable

Bill Herbert, Wendy Thompson and Jose Henrique Azevedo have formed a

Portuguese company to take interested groups on whale and dolphin watching trips off the island of Faial in the Azores. All three directors recently came to the U.K. to try out the water- jet-propelled rigid inflatable they had ordered from Delta Power Services, and to learn more about fast craft handling from the experts at Lowestoft Maritime College.

The 27.6-ft. (8.4-m) craft, to be named Neptuno, has a maximum beam of 9.8 ft. (3 m), including the two 1.75-ft. (534-mm) diameter inflatable sponsons. Located just aft of amid- ship, under a hinged cover, is a flexibly mounted Caterpillar 3126TA marine diesel capable of delivering 370-hp at 2,600 rpm, coupled to a Hamilton 291 waterjet via a Twin Disc MG 507A-1 down angle gearbox and vibration-reducing, Centa-flex coupling.

The steering and instrumentation console is located directly aft of the engine and the helmsman's backrest is mounted on another fiberglass molding, square in plan, which houses (continued on the next page)

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