Collaboration between Sentinel and NZDF on navy sea boats

A New Zealand Defence Force elegation spent two days at Sentinel Boats’ workshop in Hobart in early December to review progress on the 780R platform.

The review included full scale models of the 780R deck layout and console arrangement to allow the acquisition team, including operators, to provide direct feedback on the vessel design before it goes into production.

Sentinel Boats CEO, George McGuire, said the visit also provided insight into Sentinel’s build process and the unique properties of High-Density Polypropylene (HDPE) for performance boat building.

The sessions also involved a range of key partners such as One2three naval architects, HDPE supplier Roechling/Dotmar, Shark Seating, West Ribs, ARA Marine, Hefring Marine and Hamilton Jet.

“Collaboration is essential, because you can get a boat 95% right and the 5% will be the things the operators have a problem with,” Mr McGuire said. Whereas with everyone bringing their perspective and unique insights into how the boats will be used and maintained, we can get a chance to get it 100% right.

“We can adjust the design to take in account all the different cases and supply a boat that is ready to go from day one, without any modifications required,” he said.

Commander Murray Tuffin said the success of the Sentinel 1250 Littoral Manoeuvre Craft had given the RNZN confidence in the strengths of HDPE and the workmanship of Sentinel Boats.

“We understand we are a tough customer - we set a list of really tough requirements and expect delivery on time, on schedule, and better than what we asked for and so to have the relationship and rapport with Sentinel makes a huge difference to the process,” Commander Tuffin said.

He said the Sentinel 780R had been designed as an all-rounder. “It’s the ute of the navy, basically - everything you can think of doing with a boat at sea, we’re going to try and do it with one boat, so it’s got a huge list of requirements and that’s what these couple of days are about, zeroing in on each requirement and making sure it ticks all the boxes at once.”

Jason Lock, Integrated Project Team Leader at the Ministry of Defence, said the preliminary design review was the most important part of the entire project.

“This boat needs to go on all our platforms, all the ships we have in the navy, so we are trying to match the requirements we have, for five different classes of ships, and that’s part of the walk around here looking at all of those things in person, rather than a diagram,” Mr Lock said.

Sentinel Boats is contracted to supply 17 780Rs, with an option for a further three electric or hybrid propulsion vessels to use for training and development purposes.

The New Zealand Defence Force is set to receive the first of its new sea boats towards the end of 2025.