High-speed hovercraft operations demand dependable visibility systems, says Griffon Marine chief engineer.
Griffon Marine, the UK based builder of commercial hovercraft, has selected DuroWipers marine windscreen wiper systems for a newly commissioned vessel, with further installations potentially following as demand for its hovercraft range continues to grow.
The agreement comes amid a recent increase in orders for Griffon Marine’s mid-sized 2000TD hovercraft platform, widely deployed across commercial, patrol and offshore support operations.
Paul Irvine, Griffon Marine’s Chief Engineer states, wipers are critical safety equipment on hovercraft: “Reliability is key for all the marine equipment we specify. A hovercraft will always be grounded for a wiper fault, because these are high speed craft that generate a lot of spray.”
Following successful sea trials with Griffon, the bulletproof solution that DuroWipers will supply for the 2000TD consists of three Class 60 DuroWipers powered via a mechanical linkage by a single motor.
As DuroWipers MD Noel Gould explains; “The beauty of a single motor and shared linkage is that synchronisation of each set of wipers largely takes care of itself. One of the big problems with many of our competitors’ marine wiper systems is that they use complex electronics to synchronise separate wipers together, and if this goes wrong, which it can do, it can lead to wipers colliding or jamming which means the vessel is off service until it can be fixed.”
Designed for high speed vessels where space and weight is limited but high performance is required, the Class 60 uses a 24 Volt 50Nm Motor and a 5mm frame with two main drive bearings. This gives added strength for vessels encountering heavy water.
DuroWiper pantographs and pendulums have a patented twin drive rotary mechanism. This converts the rotary motion of the motor, to a reciprocating motion via transfer box to the wiper arms. It gives a maintenance free, smooth, powerful and reliable performance. This allows DuroWipers to come with warranties of 3 years for commercial users, and ten years as well as Lifetime (25 years) specifically for the RNLI and the UK’s Royal Navy. Only consumable items such as the blades are not included in this industry-leading warranty.
Griffon currently has an order for ten 2000TDs with options for two more. Of these, six are going to an undisclosed customer and three are to be delivered to the Finnish Border Guard, who have specified wipers for the side windows as well as the front screen, for better situational awareness in blizzard conditions.
Paul Irvine’s overarching impression of the Class 60 DuroWipers is that they offer robustness and simplicity with great customer service; “Our hovercraft are used by experienced operators, often working in very remote areas where repairs and spare parts are hard to come by. As well as the simple design of the wipers themselves, DuroWipers are a joy to deal with. They are a UK company, they use a straightforward part numbering system that we can find our way easily around and they answer our queries in a timely, professional manner.”
Named for its 2000kg payload, the 12.7m Griffon 2000TD is an aluminium hulled hovercraft with an advanced skirt design, powered by a Deutz V6 turbodiesel engine driving a large diameter variable pitch propeller. 2000TDs are in use worldwide for a range of tasks for military, search & rescue and private owners.
