Marine Diesel shows its value.

The Pacific 22 rib powered by a Revolve marinised Ford Puma I5 200hp engine with NIRA controller was put to good use in early August as a support boat for the Essex Yacht Club annual Cadet Week.

Helmed by Revolves RYA qualified skipper Alec Pell-Johnson the boat spent the week as race fleet safety and support boat whilst also ferrying the clubs Cadet Week photographer about to position him for the best on-the-water shots.

The rib was more than up to the task at times showing it’s capability to both recover dinghies at the same time as high-speed ferrying of race officers and other support crew to different vessels and locations in varying conditions without missing a beat. The biggest task asked was the recovery of another support boat which overheated when the intake was blocked with seaweed! The 2 ton displacement craft was towed alongside with ease back to its own mooring for remedial work to take place.  

Being the fastest boat in the safety fleet it was often first at the scene of a capsized dinghy. It gave its helm and crew a good work-out whilst recovering the occupants, returning them to their dinghies, assisting with righting the capsized vessels, bailing them out and sending them on their way.

The performance and capability of the craft was complimented by the fuel economy returned by the quiet running Puma. The engine ran for a total of 16 hours using 102 litres of diesel giving an average fuel consumption of just over 6lts/hour. This involved some pretty arduous work often up to its maximum speed of some 40knots whilst generally heavily loaded