New patrol boat takes on Sunshine Coast police duties
Hart Marine-built recruit joins Queensland’s water police and instantly gets wet on a couple of jobsSunshine Coast water police have taken delivery of a new $3.2 million patrol vessel that will replace the service’s 17-year-old boat, the George Doyle.
The new boat is yet to be named, with an official commissioning ceremony planned for later this year that will include what it will be called.
The hard-collared boat was built by Victoria-based pilot boat manufacturer Hart Marine and is powered by a pair of 16.4-litre twin-turbocharged Scania eight-cylinder engines, surveyed to 200nm and with a range of 440nm.
Queensland Police said the vessel, which will base itself at Mooloolaba, was built using modern technology “and uses the latest innovation available for navigation, safety and search and rescue operations”.
Extended deployment
The new patrol boat has accommodation to allow for overnight and extended deployments and has the capacity to act as a forward command post during national disasters or major marine incidents.
It has already blooded itself: the new Water Police patrol boat was the lead first response vessel used in a recent search and rescue of two men and a young boy off the coast of Caloundra and travelled more than 100 nautical miles to assist a vessel in distress over the Easter holidays.
According to the Hart Marine website, the 17.3-metre boat has a crew of four and carries 4000 litres of fuel capacity.
The boat includes self-righting ability should it be ever knocked over in heavy seas, and the wheelhouse uses an advanced suspension system to smooth out the ride.
If you ever think you might ever need to outrun it, the unnamed boat's top speed is rated at a slightly vague “more than” 30 knots.
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