BN177 Valen­tijn 2000 Cai­ster Lifeboat

The Dut­ch built Valen­tijn, which slas­hed res­pon­se times by more than half, repla­ced The Ber­nard Mat­thews life­boat, which had been going to the res­cue of sea­fa­rers off the coast of Gre­at Yar­mouth for 12 years.
Coxs­wain Paul Wil­lams put the boat through its paces during three days of tri­als in Hol­land. He said: “The hand­ling capa­bi­li­ty during the sea tests was superb, eve­ry­thing I asked it to do it did. “At one sta­ge I had 50 peo­p­le on board and the boat still remai­ned very stable.”

The Ber­nard Mat­thews II uses steer­a­ble water jets from twin engi­nes instead of pro­pel­lers and rud­ders, so as well as its speed it will also have the advan­ta­ge of being more manoeu­vra­ble. By 2005, all life­boats had to be capa­ble of doing speeds of 27 knots. As the Ber­nard Mat­thews could only get up to 16 knots, the life­boat crew and com­mit­tee deci­ded to move and opt for a 10-ton jet-pro­pel­led boat that can tra­vel up to speeds of 37 knots.

The VALENTIJN can res­cue up to 50 peo­p­le and has shown her worth and abi­li­ty in the dange­rous seas around The Nether­lands. In 2000 the design was modi­fied; by making the boats slightly lon­ger, a lar­ger work deck at the stern was cre­a­ted and the wheel­hou­se pro­vi­des more com­fort to the crew. But the most sig­ni­fi­cant dif­fe­ren­ce with the old ver­si­on is that the VALENTIJN 2000 class is ful­ly self-righting.

The­se ves­sels are built accor­ding to the standards and rules of the Ame­ri­can Bureau of Ship­ping (ABS X A1 HSC.AMS).

 

Spe­ci­fi­ca­ti­ons:

Length over­all                                                  11.00m

Length of hull                                                   10.46m

Maxi­mum Beam (over the tubes)         4.10m

Beam (hull)                                                         3.52m

Draft                                                                       0.70m

Weight                                                                  9.5 ton

Fuel capa­ci­ty                                                     1270 liters

Per­for­man­ce                                                     35 knots

Acti­on radi­us (full power)                          6 hours

Mate­ri­al                                                               Alu­mi­ni­um H321 alustar

Engi­nes                                                                 2x Vol­vo-Pen­ta D6-435 Solas, 320KW(435HP)

Reduc­ti­on                                                            2x Twin Disk MG 5050SC (red. 1.71:1)

Water­jets                                                            2x Hamil­ton HJ322 (36KW impellor )

Launch Method                                               Carriage/afloat