Queensland’s leading custom commercial and recreational boat designer/builder, Norman R. Wright & Sons, is delighted to deliver the Reef Resilience, a state-of-the-art 24 metre custom-designed aluminium catamaran patrol vessel, for the Great Barrier Reef Joint Field Management Program.
Servicing the Great Barrier Reef from its homeport of Gladstone, Reef Resilience’s role will be compliance monitoring, marine park and island national park management, diving and research operations. The vessel will also operate in remote offshore waters within the Australian EEZ for extended periods of up to 3 months.
Designed by Incat Crowther, the new hull form is designed to handle Queensland conditions up to 200nm from the coast with strong winds and 3 metre significant wave heights and is capable of conducting long transits comfortably at 20 knots.
Norman R. Wright & Sons were chosen to complete the construction of Reef Resilience after demonstrating their ability with recent projects to deliver high quality commercial aluminium vessels. Wright’s attention to detail, high-quality fit-out, and the ability of the team to bring together such an intricate project under strict quality control processes ensured they could complete the build to the client’s requirements. “Reef Resilience was a very complicated build, with an extensive array of onboard systems and equipment, along with significant safety requirements all having to be accommodated effectively and to exacting standards,” said Paul Rudd, Wright’s Project Manager – Alloy Vessels. “We worked closely with AMSA Surveyors to ensure the vessel’s long-range offshore regulatory safety and compliance alongside the application of our ISO 9001 quality control system.”
An example of the many custom elements of the unique vessel, Wright’s were challenged with building and implementing a unique tender lift system that allowed for hydraulic rams and a pulley system to launch a large tender at 45 degrees whilst traveling at 6 knots. The system was built to allow the tender to be launched in up to 3 metres of swell, a further challenge overcome by the construction team.
Thanks to Norman R Wright & Son’s assistance and their network of experienced quality subcontractors, Reef Resilience is now successfully engaged in protecting our marine parks through the Great Barrier Reef Field Management Program.
A second vessel, a 17m aluminium catamaran patrol boat, is also currently in build by Wrights for the same client.
