Crafting Dependability: The Island Vessel Built for Any Challenge

The owners of a private island in the U.S. rely on vessel transport as a lifeline to the mainland. Their boat, used for carrying supplies and even supplying medevac support in emergency situations, must be able to run at any time, in all conditions.

So when it came time for their existing vessel to be replaced, the island’s owners sought a new vessel that would be rugged and reliable enough to withstand the harshest weather, said Tim Weston, the island’s general manager (note: Tim Weston is a fictitious name used to protect the identity of the island’s owners, who wish to remain anonymous).

Weston came to serve as the island’s general manager and boat pilot following a decades-long career in the U.S. Coast Guard. Tasked with finding the best possible vessel to meet the unique need, he spoke to several builders and looked at many designs before ultimately placing an order for a new 17-meter pilot boat built by Baltic Workboats in Estonia.

“We wanted a boat that we knew would be safe, high quality and dependable,” Weston said. “The boat is built extremely well. You can tell even just by looking at the welds that the team at Baltic Workboats does a fantastic job. It speaks volumes for the craftsmanship. And you can tell that they take pride in their work.”

Carl Mahler, head of sales for Baltic Workboats US, gave Marine News readers a small sneak peek when interviewed for another story last year. He said at the time that a private customer ordered the vessel to meet a unique need to operate in any weather condition. “That was the most important criteria for the customer: safety and operability in any condition. And they said, ‘Well, what better platform than a pilot boat?’”

The result is the new vessel, MV Freedom (also a fictitious name), a sister to the ice-capable aluminum pilot boat Shipeku delivered in 2023 to the Laurentian Pilotage Authority (LPA), based in Montreal, Canada. The only differences between the two vessels are that Freedom has added tie-downs on deck for hauling cargo, larger fuel tanks, extra cameras and is missing some of the railings that are found on the working pilot boat Shipeku. “Other than that, they’re basically the same vessel,” Mahler told Marine News during a visit to the new vessel this summer.

Like Shipeku, the self-righting Freedom has a beam of 5.6 meters and 1.45-meter draft. It is designed to be safe and stable, featuring Baltic Workboats’ patented wave-piercing hull, which helps the vessel to better navigate through ice or rough seas, delivering improved maneuverability and seakeeping characteristics.

When the bow becomes submerged in rough sea conditions, the top surface of the bow creates increased downforce, which compensates for the buoyancy of the bow. “As you're going through the wave, instead of coming over it and back down, you're going through it,” Mahler said, noting that design reduces pitching motions and provides a smoother, quieter ride with less vibration at all speeds.

“We put this technology side by side with traditional vessels, with accelerometers measuring all of the different positions in the boat, and we show a measurable reduction in the vertical accelerations in the vessels around 25%. We also have the benefit of a longer waterline length . . . which is going to help [the vessel] be more efficient and burn less fuel.”

Additionally, Freedom features Humpree Interceptor Trim Tabs with active ride and coordinated turn features, which improve the boat’s stability and onboard comfort even further by significantly reducing rolling and slamming.

“What drew me to this boat is the way that it handled in heavy weather,” Weston said. “The heavy weather capabilities with the wave piercing bow I thought were absolutely fabulous.”

Weston added that the onboard comfort aboard Baltic Workboats-built pilot boats is next-level compared to others he’s been on. “It’s incredibly smooth and quiet, which makes for a really comfortable ride,” he said.

Baltic Workboats utilizes a unique construction technique where the entire wheelhouse is resiliently mounted to the hull. Mahler said this allows for industry leading reductions in noise and vibration levels in the wheelhouse.

The boat’s cabin is climate controlled with both air conditioning and heating, and for the colder months, the deck and handrails are also heated. Heat is pulled from the engines while they are running, and a diesel fire boiler kicks in when the vessel is stationary. The system is much more efficient than creating heat electrically.

Freedom has no generator on board. Below deck are batteries, an 8 kW inverter system as well as two alternators on each engine. “We really don’t build boats with generators anymore,” Mahler said, “unless the customer docks where shore power is unavailable. There’s really no need. We can get plenty of power from the main engines with the dual alternator setup, and the solid state electronics in the invertor have proven to be extremely reliable. In the long term, it’s one less engine for the customer to maintain, it’s a simpler setup, and it’s more efficient.”

The vessel is powered by twin Volvo Penta D-13 engines that deliver 700 horsepower each, driving fixed-pitch propellers via ZF gearboxes. Mahler noted that the boat is both fast and efficient, reaching top speeds of 32 knots and burring about 50 gallons of fuel per hour at a cruising speed of 25 knots.

Freedom features selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology to reduce tailpipe emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx). Mahler said the hot water that's coming out of the engine typically goes over the side, but there is a mode on board Freedom that allows that water to be directed to the sea chests and into the sea strainers for running in ice. “You could be totally iced in—nasty, slushy stuff that would clog up any other boat—and we can run in it no problem,” he said. "This gives us the ability to run in ice and avoid the problems that would normally come with a vessel fitted with keel coolers."

The vessel is also set up to be as easy to operate as possible. Baltic Workboats has worked through the years to fine-tune its onboard layouts, software and advanced digital features to make its vessels extremely user-friendly.

“The main idea with the helm is to try to keep everything in reach of the pilot—rudder, trim tabs, bow thruster, engines, searchlight, controls for radars and chart plotter, radios. They’re all integrated into the armrests of the captain’s chair,” Mahler said. “There are not many switches here. With the exception of some emergency shutdowns, everything is controlled from a touchscreen.”

Nearly everything on the boat is controlled through programmable logic controllers (PLC), which feed to a touch display in the wheelhouse. Weston won’t need to reach far or fumble around to, say, turn on the engines, lights, bilge pumps, fire pumps or windshield wipers; it’s all directly at his fingertips. “Of course, there are backup switches in case of an emergency,” Mahler was sure to note.

As an added advantage, since the systems are all connected electronically, data can be captured in real time, which helps with tasks such as monitoring engine performance and fuel burn, as well as diagnosing technical problems. “If something is not running right, you're going to get an alarm,” Mahler said. “You can concentrate on driving while knowing that the boat is watching all these systems and that you're going to be okay.”

If needed, the Baltic Workboats team can tap in remotely to determine the root cause of an issue without having to step foot on board, and programming changes can be made over the air from the factory.

In addition to the boat’s performance and safety characteristics, it was Baltic Workboats’ dedication to customer relations and support that helped to win Weston over. “Although they’re across the pond, I still feel like the support and expedience of their replies has been instantaneous,” he said. “If I ask a question, I have an answer immediately; somebody always picks up the phone. I know that the customer support is going to be absolutely perfect.”

Mahler said Baltic Workboats is currently building two more of these vessels in a hybrid diesel electric configuration. “These boats can move at low speeds of about 10 knots for 2 hours in a fully electric mode powered by a 250kw battery bank,” he said. “When more speed is needed, the diesel main engines will start automatically to propel the vessel up to speeds of around 25 knots.”