New FPB 70 Build

[Larry M]

We met Stan and Valerie on the West Coast when they had a Selene. They moved up to a Steve Dashew FPB 64 and are now sea trialing their new FPB 70.

https://buffalonickelblog.com/2018/12/17/breaking-it-down-and-breaking-it-in/

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

That looks more like a real ship!! Nice. Thanks for sharing...

 

[Crusty Chief]

Those are some awesome boats. We had an opportunity to tour one in BC a few years back. Pretty impressive engineering.

 

[BIG CAT]

neat boat. i wonder why they didn't go with a normal crane. those booms and rope looks like it takes a lot more work and space than a regular hydraulic crane.

 

[twistedtree]

neat boat. i wonder why they didn't go with a normal crane. those booms and rope looks like it takes a lot more work and space than a regular hydraulic crane.

I'm not if the approach is the same on the 70 as on the 78, but on the 78 the tender is also the life raft. As such, it needs to be deployable without power. With the boom, it can be pushed out manually, then lowered into the water, all with a dead ship.



And as I recall, the aft deck where the tender lives is also covered, or mostly covered, leaving no room for the height required by a crane.

 

[Civilitas]

neat boat. i wonder why they didn't go with a normal crane. those booms and rope looks like it takes a lot more work and space than a regular hydraulic crane.

I recall reading something about this on Dashew's blog a while back. IIRC, he said this design was multi-purpose:

a) Could accommodate much larger tenders this way,
b) Could use the booms vs. crane in more flexible ways for hoisting supplies and equipment aboard,
c) Could use existing structure without additional reinforcements elsewhere, and
d) Could use booms to double as either flopper-stoppers or as booms for a get-home sail rig.

I might be conflating some different design points he made as I read it last winter. But there were some multiple-use aspects to that design element and he addressed them in a specific blog post about it.

 

[BIG CAT]

Thanks for the explanation guys.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

So will a 25% tariff apply to your new boat?

 

[twistedtree]

So will a 25% tariff apply to your new boat?

The FPB? Or mine? If mine, no, because it's built in Taiwan, not China. Also, the tariff is currently being held at 10% for China builds, and is only applicable to the actual "china" content. Deducted out is everything that comes from elsewhere, like engines, gears, equipment, etc. I was talking with someone in the industry and it ends up being 10% on only about 20% of the builders invoice. Now every builder will be different, but for them it's painful margin erosion, but not a killer. 25% starts looking different, and I know builders who are no building that into the boat pricing, or more accurately passing it through to the buyers. I also think you will start to see more large boats getting registered off shore as another way to avoid the tariff, especially if it goes to 25%.

 

[Civilitas]

Thanks for the explanation guys.

I could not find the exact post about the boom design/uses I read last winter. BUT, I did find this post from 2010 from Dashew wrt to one point:

https://setsail.com/get-home-sail-looking-better/

This shows them using the booms as 1.5/2knt get-home sail rig on an FPB 64. They have refined the concept and application a fair bit since then.