Bunbee – 12 Metre XLW Class Patrol Vessel

Bunbee is the second 12m XLW Class Patrol Vessel built for Queensland’s Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI).   The first vessel was the outboard powered Barcoo whereas Bunbee has been powered with Volvo IPS diesel inboards in order to achieve greater efficiency, increased range and lower maintenance costs.  The configuration also provide for greater access and usability of the transom/cockpit interface.  In particular, a hydraulic lifting swim platform is used for both tender stowage/launching and dive operations.

Bunbee has a patrol range of 450 nautical miles on a full fuel tank, a sprint speed of 37 knots and can carry up to 14 people.  It will patrol waters in the Great Sandy Marine Park stretching from Baffle Creek in the north to Double Island Point in the south and will play a critical role in monitoring marine compliance, providing education, and enhancing monitoring capabilities.

The vessel was named by the Butchulla Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (BNTAC), and in traditional language Bunbee means water vessel.

Apart from the highly efficient hullform, the composite vessel provides extensive advantages over typical aluminium hulled, rigid inflatables vessels:

• Lighter and more fuel efficient
• Softer ride and better punching with the relative longer waterline
• Greater space utilisation and storage volumes with the monocoque composite structure – eg. below floors are fully accessible for storage and equipment.
• Significantly reduced maintenance and much greater life – aluminium corrosion is totally eliminated.
• Hard collar fender allows for greater vessel moulded beam and accommodation spaces, and reduce maintenance, compared with inflatable fenders.

The semi-customisable design allows NRW to cater for any industry requiring an unrelenting patrol boat and suits applications such as Police, SAR, Defence and Border Protection operations to name a few. Options include full walk-around decks, operators computer console in the cabin, head in the accommodation, full galley in the cabin, aft raked windscreen, twin or triple outboard propulsion, Volvo IPS or Waterjet inboard diesel power.