Pirate Mercs

why do you need so much power?
I would guess a mothership, wich you could stock for weeks at sea, and a smaller boat(as posted on page 3) would be cheaper, and better suitable for the job, and longer stay at sea.
oOld fishery vessels are being sold for old iron prices.

or you should look out for a PTF boat, there are some survivors.
don't know about the range, but at least they look cool

 

Thats what they need.

 

You do´nt need actual numbers for any specific engine. ALL Diesel engines we are talking here are in the 190g Kw/hr ballpark under optimal load.

All these mil. vessels are designed to cruise under 70 - 80% power setting. The top speed is only for combat conditions and usually not of any interest for the intended use!
So, our example vessel will cruise at about 30kn with say 75% power set.
That is about 3800kw, calculate 200g hr, that gives about 760 kg or a tad less than 1000 liters per hr.
That should be capable of doing 24kn at about 500 liters hr. including the hourly 5 minutes run at 80% power to keep the engines happy.

Almost All of those older designs are NOT planing hulls, have NO deep V! They are seakeeping displacement hulls! Overforced displacement it is called. Say sort of semidisplacement to understand it easier.
That means, different from planing vessels there is no "hump" to overcome and then having a cheap ride just a tad above that speed.

Yes they roll your guts out in a swell at low speed, but you do´nt run them at low speed.

The mothership idea is a nonsense, you´ll see that soon when thinking about operating conditions and the dimension of the area.

As idiotic (sorry) is the idea of using a hundred years old gunboat with a range of a few miles, because it "looks cool".

When offering such a service to the shipping companies, what do you expect your prospective businesspartners are by profession? Butchers, Farmers?
They know something about capable combat vessels and boaty, boaty dreams.

Regards
Richard

 

so 500 liters an hour
boat holds 20000 liters
works out to 40 hour but at 24 knots like what I came up with
the listing specifically states cruse at 32knts
so we might be getting better mileage than 125 gallons an hour than at 24knts
maybe
fingers crossed

 

So for a 50,000 dollar escort job' half is gone on fuel before you start.

A 1500 mile escort will use more than what you can carry.

Its becoming clear why its not being done and why piracy is so successful. Maybe you need to look to aircraft.

Or submarine!!! ----can carry massive amounts of fuel and if it gets nasty you can submerge. Now theres a fearful thought.

 

Jarhead wants to go nuclear
we both got a good laugh over that one

no what needs to happen is to add fuel tanks
a little remodeling and there off

there needs to be a fuel surcharge
and 50,000 isnt going to cut it
its a day rate and fuel is extra

what I need to do for these guys is call some of these people offering his service and see what there charging

hydrofoil boat might work though
its non nuclear at least

 

Those 32kn are average operating speed at high power settings. Real cruising should be closer to 22 - 25 kn I guess.
And all we do here is just guessing. But with 40hrs at 24kn we are already in the range needed. Remember 800 is the distance between safe ports.

At present the ton of MDF is 650$ per ton, thats 300$ per hour roughly.

Maybe the figures come out a bit better when calculating real data for a real vessel, but maybe the opposite.

Hydrofoils you can have for free! They suck you to death. And after some 5hrs running in a 1meter sea you beg for being shot!

Regards
Richard

 

haha, it's a good reason for the greek navy though
prates use motherships to increase their range. But i agree, you probably need more to cover for the whole area.

if you got money, I would say DAMEN FAST CREW SUPPLIER 3307.
they do 22-30 knots, have some nice deck space, 40 tons cargo capacity(extra fuel) and can be fitted with 2000-3500KW engines.
they probably have a nice range , and seaworthyness.
hydrofoils are good as long they're in the water. Surface piercing aren't that comfortable.

 

When looking for a new vessel there are better than crew supply boats.
Though Damen is not the worst choice in general. They are the ones with the "axbow" right?

 

Submarine has got to be the go, bullit proof, fast and other than food you dont need to come to the surface for 11 years.....
or so the crew of a US sub told me when we moored with one on a dock once.
( they change the reactor every 11 years )

 

And keep the crew for another 11?

 

They become the new reactor.
The Hauk it is then. Draw up a plan - be sure to include money to have the "dent" fixed and new tanks. As soon as you get a viable plan, and don't do it yourself (hire a finance major from a local university - I would have done this thing for relative pennies when I was in school), do the same thing with a marketing major to sell your product to Maersk, or whoever, and get them onboard. Start-up is going to be astronomical and you need deep pockets. Bear in mind, I am not talking about fuel because that is a small part of it- just go slow when you have nowhere to be in a hurry.
I have two containerships that frequent here. They are both 27 knots and I assumed containor ships were just that fast. Richard says 24, I think, and he has a lot more experience around them than I. Twenty four puts this within reason. Remember, the shippers are going to want to "bundle" their ships to save money and help deter pirates. That means that the convoy will travel at the slowest denominator - maybe twenty so the Maersk Tortuga doesn't get left behind. You can start a convoy actually maybe an hour ahead of a faster ship and end the thing a half-hour behind or so behind. The ship master understands and that keeps him from slowing down. The silhouette of this ship will become known and avoided from two hours away.

 

The only problem I see with this boat is that it does not have a rail around the foredeck to lean on whilst fishing.

 

Maersk
have been slowing their ships down...to create demand for more ships and it also saves plenty of fuel
I was crossing a big container ship in the top of the red sea once and called it up to explain what I was going to do( we were the stand on vessel but only 40m so planned to keep clear) English Captain on a Maersk box ship, he said thanks we are in a hurry doing 31kts to make the north convoy...fast eh!!!!

and makes it easier for pirates to get on board...not sure if they thought of that?

 

And no swimplatform either.