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Force of Nature – Dongara Marine delivers on fuel-efficiency and size
Building better boats
All images courtesy of Dongara Marine.
DONGARA MARINE DELIVERS ITS LATEST CRAY BOAT TO GERALDTON FISHER, WITH FUEL-EFFICIENCY AND RELIABILITY AS ITS TWO MAIN DRIVERS.
Dongara Marine’s 22.4m fuel-efficient cray boat Force of Nature was successfully delivered to its Geraldton-based owner, Dave Perham, in April 2020, and marks the dawn of the new norm, says the shipbuilder: an increase in size and fuel efficiency. With naval architecture by Southerly Designs, its twelfth collaboration with Dongara Marine in the past five years, the monohull lobster boat is an upgrade from Perham’s current vessel, 17.1m Conquest 55 Natural Selection, built by Sea Chrome Marine in 1994. Combining an aluminium hull and a composite superstructure, the pilot boat new build is proven to have much lower fuel consumption than comparable vessels, and the live tank capacity is increased to 84 lobster baskets from the previous 64. “When Natural Selection was built it was pretty much the average size cray boat, perhaps slightly above average if anything”, says Dongara Marine’s Managing Director, Rohan Warr. “In the 1990s only a handful of new boats, maybe one in every 20, were over 20m. Now that’s the average size for new Australian high-speed lobster boats, and in fact it’s more like 23m for the Western Australian fishery. So, while Force of Nature is quite a bit bigger than its predecessor it’s not overly large by recent standards. That makes a substantial difference in terms of affordability.”
All hands on deck Dongara Marine is responsible for Force of Nature’s design, construction and delivery. This includes the boat’s pronounced flare at the bow, a large deadrise angle forward, twin
SPECS
Name Builder Year Hull Superstructure Length Beam
Force of Nature Dongara Marine 2020 Aluminium Composite 22.4m 6.1m
large skegs and twin pintle rudders. But with Dongara Marine currently working at full capacity, with three newbuilds and a major refit already underway at its Port Denison facilities, the hull structure was instead fabricated at a boatbuilder in Geraldton. Once trucked back to Port Denison, the outfitting and installation of mechanical, hydraulic and electrical systems was carried out by the Dongara Marine team. As a leading manufacturer of resin-infused >>
composite, Dongara Marine also produced the boat’s foam sandwich wheelhouse and bonded it to the hull, as well as completing all the interior and exterior fitout, including painting. The composite wheelhouse has the helm station aft on the port side, with the galley plus a mess area that exceeds survey seating requirements to starboard. A self-contained shower and head compartment is located on the work deck immediately aft of the wheelhouse and adjacent to the flybridge access. “The facilities and quality of finish, low noise and low vibration make conditions onboard very comfortable”, says Perham, “and they are certainly a step up on what most older boats have.”
Efficiency over power Force of Nature is powered by twin Scania DI16 076M engines rated for 662kW (900hp) at 2,300rpm. Each drive a Veem fixed pitch propeller via a ZF gearbox. During sea trials this combination gave the fishing boat a maximum speed of 24.5kts and a cruise speed of 18.5kts, each about 1.5kts above expectations. This performance was achieved with the boat’s 7,500 litre fuel tanks full. With that said, Perham, who has worked the Western Rock Lobster fishery for more than 40 seasons, values reliability and economy over speed, and his choice of engine rating reflects this: while the engines are available with higher output, those on Force of Nature are at a rating that enables unlimited operating hours per year. “Scania engines have given me excellent reliability over the years, Southerly Designs boats also have proven longevity, and the quality of the workmanship throughout the boat’s structure and systems gives me absolute confidence that I can depend on Force of Nature to deliver the outstanding performance it produced on trials for many, many years to come”, says Perham. It’s no coincidence that the cruise speed is achieved when the engines run at optimum fuel efficiency, says Warr: “With Force of Nature we are seeing fuel consumption that is about 20% less than on other recent vessels with the same hull form. That benefit is not just from the engines; we’ve put in place a range of other tweaks that improve the owner’s bottom line as well.”
Comfort at sea Onboard facilities meet the AL36-72 specifications in the National Standard for Commercial Vessels, meaning the boat can remain at sea with seven people onboard
for up to three days. This entails equipping Force of Nature with features that are not required at the lower survey standard of a typical day/overnight boat. Included within the crew accommodation, which is temperature controlled throughout, are three dedicated sleeping compartments
Force of Nature is powered by twin Scania DI16 076M engines rated for 662kW (900hp) at 2,300rpm.
totalling seven berths, including one queen size bed. All machinery and tanks space are easily accessed without encroaching on crew space.
