Powering ahead
Richard Scott
Capitalising on its pedigree in high performance power boating, Italian company FB Design (Stand 403) is marketing a range of high-speed patrol boat designs suitable for a variety of naval, special forces and paramilitary roles.
The company’s design portfolio has been evolved around a number of basic principles, including high speed (using composites construction and stepped hulls), ZF Trimax surface drives, and sandwich construction (mostly in Kevlar). Its most recent design innovation, according to company executive Alberto Nencha, is the STAB concept. “Narrow boats are far superior in rough water conditions, but can have transversal stability problems in static conditions,” he explained to the IDEX Show Daily.
“The STAB arrangement fitted to the FB 38’ STAB SF, and available for virtually all FB models, combines the advantages of both rigid hull and inflatable boats by adding torpedo shaped inflatable tubes to either beam at the rear of the hull.
“This gives the narrow hulls additional stability when stationary in the water, but also helps to reduce the planing time by creating additional planing surfaces. And as the additional buoyancy helps to reduce the static draught, so the boat is safer in rough seas because of the damping effect.” Another feature of the FB 38’ STAB SF highlighted by Nencha is the multiplicity of configuration options available to suit specific customer needs. “The hull is a common platform which can be configured with different sizes of cabin or wheelhouse, alternative seating layouts and both inboard and outboard engine arrangements.” A single example of the FB 38’ STAB SF has already been sold into the US Navy via FB Design’s US partner, Brunswick Corporation. This was delivered in late 2006.
The Italian Coast Guard has adopted the FB 38’ STAB SF in a special configuration designed for airport rescue. The slightly larger FB 42’ STAB SF has also been sold to the Jamaican Police, again through Brunswick. FB Design’s other customers include the South African and Greek special forces, and the Hong Kong customs and anti-terrorist police.
 All military designs are based on winning racing boats |