Brix Marine, Port Angeles, Wash., is wrapping-up an order for two aluminum 46'x15'7" tour boats for Blue and Gold Fleet, San Francisco. In addition to each boat’s 49 passengers, the vessels carry two-person crews.
The boats’ hull skins are made of 5086 alloy aluminum while the yellow Naiad D-shaped, outer foam collars are made of heavy-duty Erez with a double black PVC rub strip.
Main propulsion for each tour boat comes from four COX CXO300 4.4-liter, twin turbo V8 diesel electric outboards with stainless steel props. The mains are connected to a Seastar Optimus quad outboard steering system.
“We are about to launch two 14-meter tour boats for Blue and Gold fleet. This is significant as the Coast Guard has told us it’s the first 49 passenger [RIB] with two crew in the USA with quad 300 hp COX diesel outboards,” said Capt. Charlie Crane, Brix’s sales and marketing director. “Also, the first outboard diesel inspected boat in the USA.” (Coast Guard is verifying the first outboard diesel RIB, said Crane.)
Deck accessories include fabricated aluminum bulwarks and Coast Guard-compliant handrails, side boarding gates port and starboard, welded aluminum raft shelf above transom, welded aluminum arch and equipment bar, aluminum framed canopy with marine grade fabric, three LED deck lights mounted to arch (two forward and one aft), 16 LED deck lights, three Freeman Marine hinged hatches for hull access, two watertight liftout hatches in outboard well, four 11" tie-up cleats, anodes for cathodic protection, and soft patches over fuel tank and tankage compartments. Fuel capacity is 525 gals.
Freeman Genoa manufactured the passenger seats — two single seats, eight two-person benches, eight three-person benches, and aluminum bench seating along transom with marine grade vinal seat and lumbar cushions designed for seven passengers.
The electronics suite features a Garmin 12" touchscreen MFD at the main station, 1-kW stainless steel through hull transducer, VHF radio, and Si-Tex MDA5, AIS class B transponder.
The boats’ hull skins are made of 5086 alloy aluminum while the yellow Naiad D-shaped, outer foam collars are made of heavy-duty Erez with a double black PVC rub strip.
