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Cover Story: MACC Nuggets
by WorkBoat
MACC Nuggets
Highlights from the 2021 Multi-Agency Craft Conference.
By Ken Hocke, Senior Editor
This year’s Multi-Agency Craft Conference (MACC) at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore again concentrated on new technologies and product offerings and provided the latest information on military boats.
The July conference, organized and produced by the American Society of Naval Engineers, featured Army and Navy service craft, Navy and Coast Guard patrol boats, Navy and Marine Corps expeditionary craft, and Naval Special Warfare craft, with vendors providing in-water demonstrations of the vessels.
“We can’t do what we do without the people who build the boats,” Marie Ebers Arthur, principal assistant program manager, PMS325G Boats and Combat Craft, Naval Sea Systems, said during an overview of NavSea’s PMS325G Boat Program.
The Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard all have eets of boats. The construction and maintenance of these boats is more vital today than ever before because of the way wars and peacetime interactions are now handled. And workboat boatyards that build these boats are more important today than in the past. MACC featured a good mix of commercial and military personnel.
PMS325G
The Navy’s Boats and Combatant Craft Division (PMS325G) is primarily responsible for managing the acquisition, design, production, test, and delivery of boats and combatant craft to the Navy and other U.S. Armed Forces. The division also supports these vessels with life cycle management and sustainment engineering.
PMS325G delivers products to endusers so they can accomplish operational tasks such as High Value Unit (HVU) Escort; Maritime Expeditionary Security; Mine Countermeasures (MCM); Force Protection/Harbor Security; Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS); Ship & Submarine Repair/Maintenance; and personnel and cargo transport.
The division formed an Industry
The number of boats at MACC this year was down but the quality was again high.
Awareness Working Group in March and came to MACC this year in hopes of better understanding the boatbuilding base, industry challenges, and how the Navy can foster better business practices. So far the group has reinstated its builder identifi cation data matrix, produced an information notice of upcoming procurements, and reached out to the commercial boatbuilding industry in an attempt to improve Navy procurements.
“Let us know. Come meet with us,” said Chris Rozicer, assistant program manager, PMS325G Boats and Combat Craft USN and USCG Boat Community Integrated Process Team.
“We’re anxious to share information,” Alan Cummings, life cycle manager, PMS325G Boats and Combat Craft, said. Cummings said he is “responsible for the care and feeding of 4,000 boats around the world.
“I daily deal with obsolescence,” he said. “Maintenance is always one of those large cost drivers.”
Cummings and his panel at MACC discussed the Navy’s and Coast Guard’s Small Boat Commonality Integrated Process Team. Its mission is to exchange and review boat requirements, capabilities, mission sets, and support systems of each service and identify specifi c areas of potential commonality, cost savings, and best practices.
“We can’t do our jobs without you,” Michael Tabor, NavSea Small Boats Branch Head, Southwest Regional Maintenance Center (SWRMC), Life Cycle Management and Sustainment Engineering, told the audience. “We cannot do our jobs without our industry partners. We cannot do our jobs without our vendor partners.”
NavSea’s goal is to increase its small boat fl eet’s life cycle management and sustainment engineering.
This includes an emphasis on relationships between industry and fleet users to support current and future inventory requirements.
SWRMC provides maintenance support and selective maintenance training to surface ships, submarines, shore activities, and other commands of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and U.S. Coast Guard.
INTERCEPTOR
MetalCraft Marine brought an 8-meter (26'4"×8'6") patrol boat RIB to MACC. The all-aluminum boat hauled attendees around at speeds between 50 mph and 55 mph.
The Interceptor line of boats and other boats from MetalCraft have been a hit with attendees at MACC for years.
“This eight-meter Interceptor has been a very good seller for us, a very popular hull,” Dana White, MetalCraft’s director of sales, said at the dock. “This boat is actually for the Port of Pensacola (Fla.). We finished it up a little early, and they were gracious enough to let us bring it here before we delivered it.”
White said the Florida port on the Gulf of Mexico will use its new Interceptor as a multimission boat rather than as a patrol boat only. The vessel, which is powered by twin Mercury C-Pro 300-hp outboards, features dual dive doors, port and starboard; a RAD/NUC defense system; and Raymarine Axiom Pro electronics package. “That Raymarine system is a great addition to this boat,” said White.
As for MACC, White said, “We use the conference from the end-user’s side, listening to the kids who are on these (Navy and Coast Guard) boats every day. Some of these young people have some really good ideas. I like hearing what they have to say.”
A week after the conference ended, White delivered the new Interceptor to its owner. “After I left Baltimore, I drove the boat straight to Pensacola. It was a long drive but worth it,” he said.
THE OXE 300
Diesel Outboards’ booth featured the new Oxe 300 diesel outboard, which, according to company President Douglas Notice, has garnered a lot of attention.
“I knew we had something special, but I can’t believe it’s taken off like it has,” he said from the show floor. “People want these engines. We’re try-
Ken Hocke
MetalCraft Marine’s director of sales Dana White (left) and engineer Justin Lawson aboard the company’s 8-meter Interceptor.
Designers cut the weight of the RIB for the Navy to 3,500 lbs.
Safe Boats' Interceptor model has a top speed of over 55 knots.
ing to accommodate them.”
The OXE diesel outboard was designed specifically for commercial users and has been well received. The only fly in the ointment was the 125-hp to 200-hp power range. While the engines delivered as promised, some owners needed more power. That’s been addressed with the 300-hp outboard.
Torque and fuel savings are two advantages that come with the OXE outboards. The OXE 300 should have a fuel burn 45% to 50% lower than a gasoline-powered outboard, Notice said.
That should be attractive to workboat operators that have been powering with inboard/outboard stern drives. Diesel outboards make more sense in terms of weight and, in the case of passenger vessels, free up space internally for storage and passengers. If enough weight can be saved when repowering with diesel outboards, a vessel could be certified to carry additional passengers.
Another plus with all outboards is that when an engine needs to be replaced, it’s much easier to switch out an outboard then an inboard.
The OXE diesel outboards run seawater through the heat exchanger but not the block like gas-powered outboards do. That cuts down on corrosion.
In Morgan City, La., Wade Crappel, vice president, TK Towing Inc./ TK Contractors, has been satisfied with the pair of 200-hp Oxe diesels he installed on the back of his workboat, Miss Ida.
Crappell said the fuel savings and increased safety of the diesel engines is no exaggeration. “A job that burned 44 gallons of gas, we’ve been able to keep under 20 gallons with these engines,” he said. “We could not believe the fuel economy.”
Some of Diesel Outboards’ customers, including Crappell, are waiting for the Oxe 300 diesel outboards. The 300s offer the safety and fuel savings of the 200s, but also offer something more — additional torque that’s needed for many workboats. The torque with an Oxe 300 at 1,750 rpm is 502 ft. lbs. For now, demand for the new 300s, featuring an aluminum 3-liter BMW block, is outstripping supply. “I’d like to have 10 of them right now,” said Crappell.
Diesel Outboards is building its own manufacturing facility in Albany, Ga. All engines and parts for U.S. customers will be made there. The facility is scheduled to begin manufacturing the 300s by the end of the year.
Ken Hocke
The size of the Oxe 300 outboards catches the eye.
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FAIRLEAD TO BUILD ICELANDIC HULL IN THE U.S.
In May, Fairlead, Portsmouth, Va., signed an exclusive agreement with Iceland-based Rafnar Maritime to build Rafnar’s patented ÖK Hull in the U.S. for both manned and unmanned applications.
Fairlead is a supplier of integrated electrical and control systems, large-scale mechanical fabrications and structures, precision machined metal components and subsystems, and advanced mobile containerized products.
The company’s products are part of mission-critical systems in the Navy’s Nimitz- and Ford-class aircraft carriers, Virginia- and Columbia-class submarines, all classes of surface combatants and amphibious ships including Arleigh Burke-class DDGs, San Antonioclass LPDs, LHA-8, the Littoral Combat Ship class, and many classes of support and auxiliary ships of the Military Sealift Command, Maritime Administration and Coast Guard.
In addition, Fairlead provides repair and maintenance services to vessels, small boats, and craft through its ship repair facility in Newport News, Va. Fairlead also provides Down River services to the Navy and Navy Auxiliary Fleet worldwide.
Fairlead purchased a 36'6"x10'6" Rafnar 1100 boat with a fi berglass ÖK Hull and brought it to MACC. The company plans to bring the same vessel, which has a 1'10" draft, to the International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans in December. The boat, which weighs 8,400 lbs., is powered by twin Evinrude 250-hp outboards that give the boat a running speed of about 40 knots.
Fairlead will build its own 1100s in Newport News.
“Part of what we did at MACC and what we’ll do at the WorkBoat Show is collect information so we can decide what we want to build fi rst,” said Todd Babcock, Fairlead’s vice president, business development and marketing. “What engines do we want? Do we want to go electric? Is there an autonomous component?”
The Rafnar ÖK Hull is a hull-and-keel technology that impressed Fairlead offi cials several years ago during a hull test in the U.S.
“We are targeting [hull] molds by September,” said Babcock, “but we won’t be ready to build for another 18 months.”
The team’s objective is to not only enter the U.S. manned vessel market but to position themselves as the premium platform in what is perhaps the largest paradigm shift in the maritime industry in recent years — the advent of the unmanned vessel.
In the months ahead, Fairlead plans to develop the infrastructure and tooling to support hull production, as well as designing a new 11-to-12-meter variant, specifi c to the needs of certain U.S. tactical and unmanned requirements. — K. Hocke
Ken Hocke
Fairlead and Rafner have signed an agreement to build Rafnar’s patented ÖK Hull in the U.S.
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