Sanmar Delivers New RAscal 1500 Line Handling Tug
The Brage, the first RAscal 1500 class tug designed by Robert Allan Ltd. has been delivered to its owners Buksér og Berging AS (BB) of Norway. Built in Turkey by Sanmar A.S. to extremely high quality standards more commonly seen in yachts, the tug exceeded all performance expectations on trials.
Although just under 15 metres in length, this ABS classed tug is a true workboat with heavily built hull and heavy duty machinery and equipment. Engines are 350 kW Caterpillar C18 driving Veth VZ-550 azimuthing drives through carbon fibre shafts. Generators are twin Caterpillar C4.4 producing 69 ekW. The main bow fender is a 500 mm cylindrical type with vertical 400 x 300 “W” fenders underneath.
The main particulars of the Brage are:
Length: 14.9 m
Beam: 8.3 m
Depth: 3.0 m
Draft: 3.1 m
Fuel Oil: 20 m³
Fresh Water: 2 m³
Foam: 1 m³
The towing equipment consists of a hydraulic DMT winch on the foredeck and a Data tow hook aft. Identical, beautifully finished cast stainless steel towing staples are fitted forward and aft. Towing over the bow is done by leading the winch line through the bow staple. The same towline can also be run aft from the winch, under the pilothouse and through the stern staple. In this way, the tug can tow over the bow or over the stern with the same winch. Of course towing over the stern with the tow hook is also an option.
The Primary role of the Brage is a mooring/line boat. For this she is fitted with a removable pipe cage over the house and a folding mast. The bulwarks at the bow are cut down to facilitate picking up floating lines. A hydraulic capstan and knuckle boom crane are also fitted on the aft deck.
An electrically driven fire-fighting pump in the engine room provides water or a water/foam mixture to a remotely controlled fire monitor behind the pilothouse, above the funnels. She has beautifully appointed, spacious accommodations for a crew of 4, including vynic synthetic teak deck coverings. Due to careful attention to noise issues the sound level in the state rooms is an incredibly low 60 dB at full power.
On trials the Brage achieved a bollard pull of 13.5 tonnes. Top speed was 9.9 knots which is exceptional considering this little tug weighs almost 180 tonnes full load!
The RAscal Class of tugs are a series of rugged, heavy duty, fully Classed line handling tugs from 15 to 24 metres designed by Robert Allan Ltd. They can be either Z-drive or conventional twin-screw, fixed nozzle configuration. Sanmar is currently building a fixed nozzle version designated as a RAscal 1500TS.
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