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A New Zealand Defence Force delegation has toured workshops at Sentinel Boats’ Tasmanian headquarters in Hobart.
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Personnel attended to discuss the next generation of New Zealand’s navy sea boats using the 780R platform and completion of a comprehensive preliminary design review.
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.
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.
Sentinel Boats CEO George McGuire said the visit also provided insight into Sentinel’s build process and the unique properties of high-density polypropylene for performance boat building.
“Collaboration is essential, because you can get a boat 95 per cent right and the 5 per cent will be the things the operators have a problem with. 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 per cent right,” McGuire said.
“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.”
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.
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,” CMDR Tuffin said.
CMDR Tuffin said the Sentinel 780R had been designed as an all-rounder, to be used in a wide range of naval operations.
“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, who operates as an integrated project team leader within the capability delivery branch of the New Zealand 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,” Lock said.
“We’ve got a team from maintenance, engineering, naval architecture, operators, seamanship; everyone is going to be crawling over the design, over the mock-ups, looking at the production process and getting a really good understanding of the design from One2three Naval Architects.”
