Austal News - Issue 1 2005 - Austal Ships

PAGE FIVE
AUSTAL DELIVERY HERALDS A NEW ERA IN
AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE CRUISING
FOLLOWING SUCCESSFUL SEA TRIALS,
AUSTAL’S LATEST CRUISE YACHT, THE
36 PASSENGER “TRUE NORTH” HAS
BEEN HANDED OVER TO ITS OWNER
AND OPERATOR, NORTH STAR CRUISES
AUSTRALIA.
With several similar deliveries to its credit Austal
is the established leader in adventure-tourism
and live-aboard diving vessels for private and
commercial owners. All of this experience and
expertise has been utilised in the creation of
“True North” which is replacing the 34 metre
vessel of the same name delivered by Austal
in 1999.
“This repeat order is testimony to Austal’s ability
to develop custom design solutions within budget
guidelines and always deliver a high quality,
reliable product that is able to attract discerning
passengers for the operator,” said Austal Sales
Manager, Mark Stothard.
On the main deck there is a dedicated
passenger dining room with seating for
40 passengers, together with a galley that
is comprehensively equipped to efficiently
provide five-star, fully plated meals for the entire
passenger complement in a single sitting. The
main lounge, located on the upper deck, can
comfortably seat 50 people and is served by a
fully equipped bar. The lounge is complete with
twin 46-inch plasma screens, full audio/visual
facilities and also features a passenger Internet
station. A forward observation lounge provides
a more subdued area for relaxation.
The upper deck aft alfresco area is larger than
on the previous vessel and is served by the bar
adjoining the internal lounge. This area has its
own audio system and connects with the internal
main lounge by way of a four-leaf concertina
glass door, thus providing a number of lounge/
bar configuration options.
As the new vessel will operate on a 24 hours-aday,
seven days-a-week basis for 11 months of
the year, improved accommodation and other
facilities have been provided for the 18 crew.
This includes much larger cabins,
more spacious toilet / bathroom facilities and
a laundry that is five times the size of the
previous vessel.
External features include a helicopter-landing
pad capable of taking a Bell 407. The heli-deck
has a full perimeter fold down handrail system
that allows the helicopter to operate from a
clean deck as well as providing a very large
safe area for guests when the helicopter is not
in operation.
“True North” carries a fleet of six tenders used
primarily for passenger excursions. The tenders
are launched using two dedicated hydraulic
deck cranes, notably the starboard side crane is
equipped with its own emergency power system
to allow the launching of one of the tenders as a
rescue boat.
At 50 metres in length, “True North” has been
skilfully designed to accommodate all of the
above facilities and improvements giving
passengers “big boat” atmosphere and ride
comfort whilst retaining the ability to explore the
highly secluded, difficult to access locations that
have helped establish the North Star Cruises
Australia experience as one of the world’s most
sought after cruising experiences.
PRINCIPAL PARTICULARS
Length overall
Beam
Hull draft
49.9 metres
10.0 metres
2.2 metres
Passengers 36
Passenger cabins 18
Crew 15
PROPULSION
Engines 2 x Caterpillar 3508
Gearboxes 2 x Reintjes WVS 430/1
Propellers
PERFORMANCE
Speed
2 x Fixed Pitch
13 knots
AUSTRALIA (HEAD OFFICE)
100 Clarence Beach Rd Henderson Western Australia 6166. Tel: +61 8 9410 1111 Fax: +61 8 9410 2564 marketing@austal.com
USA
100 Dunlap Drive Mobile Alabama 36602 USA. Tel: +1 251 434 8000 Fax: +1 251 434 8080 usasales@austal.com
www.austal.com
SERVICE
100 Clarence Beach Rd Henderson Western Australia 6166. Tel: +61 8 9410 1111 Fax: +61 8 9437 3064 service@austal.com
OCEANFAST
18 Clarence Beach Rd Henderson Western Australia 6166. Tel: +61 8 9494 9999 Fax: +61 8 9494 9900 boats@oceanfast.com.au