Whi­le the volun­teers of the “Vrij­wil­li­ge Blan­ken­berg­se Zee­red­dings­dienst” (VBZR) are very satis­fied with their cur­rent lar­gest SAR ves­sels, STRAFFE HENDRIK & STERKEN DRIES, the­re are unde­nia­bly points for impro­ve­ment on the­se designs.

The wor­king area of the VBZR extends from the Dut­ch coast at Cad­zand to the Bel­gi­an city Ostend. Res­cue ope­ra­ti­ons out­si­de the 5‑mile zone also fall within the sco­pe of the VBZR.

The main goals for their new design whe­re to redu­ce ver­ti­cal acce­le­ra­ti­on, noi­se, fuel con­sump­ti­on and emis­si­ons, impro­ve towing capa­bi­li­ties, com­fort and safe­ty of tho­se on board.

VBZR pre­sen­ted a con­cept for the new life­boat, this con­cept was the base of which Hab­beké Shipyard’s Naval Archi­tect Pie­ter Meu­ze­laar star­ted to design the Fast Res­cue Craft (FRC) © 1405. The result will be a sta­te of the art all-wea­ther, self-righ­ting Life­boat with excel­lent performance.

The name of the new ves­sel is HEROZ

Hull:

The hull lines are based on her smal­ler sis­ter, the FRC©903 SD, with deep‑V to ensu­re good sea­kee­ping capa­bi­li­ties and per­for­man­ce. The length of the fore­foot is balan­ced to redu­ce the risk of bro­a­ching in fol­lo­wing seas, but also ensu­re enough reser­ve buoyan­cy in case of bow-diving.

Wheel­hou­se:

The ful­ly enclo­sed wheel­hou­se gives maxi­mum com­fort to the crew and allows to accom­mo­da­te an inju­red per­son on a stret­cher. But when the lar­ge pan­to­graph door is open it gives the bene­fits of an open Life­boat. The coxs­wains posi­ti­on is so that he has an unob­struc­ted view all around.

Propul­si­on:

Essen­ti­al for manoeu­vra­bi­li­ty, shal­low-water ope­ra­ti­ons and the safe reco­ve­ry of per­sons at the stern, propul­si­on with water­jets was a given from the start. On the FRC © 1405, each Kame­wa FF375S water­jet is powe­red by a MAN i6 main engi­ne, good for 850 bhp each, so a whop­ping total of 1700 bhp, which pro­pel the boat to a maxi­mum speed of 45 knots!

The engi­ne room and jet room are sepa­ra­ted with a water­tight bulkhead. Alt­hough the engi­nes are mas­si­ve for a Life­boat this size, the­re is ample spa­ce around each of the engi­nes for main­tenan­ce. Each main engi­ne also has a com­ple­te­ly indi­vi­du­al fuel sup­ply. But in case of emer­g­en­cy both fuel tanks can be connected.

Deck lay­out:

The­re is a lar­ge unob­struc­ted aft deck, with flush sto­red reco­ve­ry plat­form. The lay­out of the towing bitts is spe­ci­al­ly desig­ned by the volun­teers of the VBZR and ensu­res maxi­mum towing capabilities.

On the fore deck the­re is also a towing bitt posi­ti­o­ned on the push-bow. The anchor is sto­red insi­de the push-bow, hand-grips ensu­re safe wor­king, even in hea­vy sea state.

Gene­ral particulars:

Length over­all                 : 13,85 m

Beam over­all                   : 4,55 m

Draught                            : 0,80 m

Ope­ra­ti­o­nal weight     : 14,80 ton

Power (total)                  :1700 bhp @ 2300 rpm

Speed max.                     : 45 knots

Speed crui­se                   : 35 knots

Ran­ge (crui­se)                 : 8 hours

Crew                                    : 6

Res­cued                             : 50

Fuel oil capa­ci­ty             : 1350 lt.