SeaCrest Builds for Domestic & Foreign Buyers

Seacrest’s Managing Director Tavipol Hemangkorn receives guest in a board room decorated with models of large crew boats, ASD tugs and a range of other vessels that his firm has built. Located just outside the mouth of the Chaophraya River at Samutprakarn, Thailand the yard’s three marine ways can launch vessels directly into the deeper waters of the Gulf of Thailand. They can accommodate vessels up to a 22-meter beam and up to 2500 metric tons. Outside the company offices an older steel buoy tender is in for general repairs while next to it a spanking new aluminum crew boat awaits delivery to her owners.

Inside one of Seacrest’s weather-protected double building halls the hull and superstructure of a sleek 52 by 7.8-meter dive boat is taking shape. When completed later this year, it will have accommodation for a crew of 24 who will crew the ship and support the 18 passengers. A pair of Cummins KTA50-M2 diesels, each rated for 1875 HP at 1950 RPM, power the vessel in a medium continuous duty rating. The engines turn conventional propellers through ZF gears to give a design speed of 20 knots.

This is a sophisticated vessel, as dive boats require compressors and other equipment to support the divers as well as the comfort level suitable for tourists. In a fabrication shop, Khum Tavipol points out the efficiency of the piping work that involved minimal welds and virtually no wastage of pipe.

Such precise engineering and fabrication is the result of Seacrest’s elaborate and extensive design room where a dozen or more designers and draftsmen work at computers. The total vessel design, as well as each individual component, is represented in three-dimensional renderings. Project Manager Steve Tyler, explains that this allows precise representation of details, such as engine room piping, to be drawn and set in place prior to fabrication.

In operation since 1988, Seacrest Marine continues to add to its impressive list of international and domestic customers. As Managing Director Khun Tavipol says, with a smile, “Some Thai customers go to Singapore for their boats, but some Singapore customers are now coming to Thailand and Seacrest.”