UK: MarinaMaster 8000 Dredger Introduced

Yacht Havens’ Managing Director, Dylan Kalis, has introduced the latest self-propelled cutter suction dredger MarinaMaster 8000.

What was behind the commissioning of the MarinaMaster 8000?

“We couldn’t identify a suitable dredger in the market. The requirements of our west coast Neyland marina are quite demanding, because we have to dredge at 8m depth, as opposed to the more standard 2 – 3m dredging depth at our east coast Fambridge marina.

In Neyland, the marina is also long and thin, and at some points we have to pump the removed mud up to 1km to the discharge point. The MarinaMaster 8000 is capable of this task, where most dredgers would not be.

Because of Neyland marina’s shape, the machine is often required to work in a tight space. This means it has to be an extremely compact machine, while also capable of performing a combination of unusually high-workload tasks.

We have also devised an innovative system of Spud Poles. These position the dredger on the mud and give it stability as the cutter head goes down to perform its sweep. The Spud Poles stop drag and counteract any backwash movement generated by the effort of the cutter. They also enable us to make the machine uniquely manoeuvrable, in that most dredgers operate a woolly mobility system using cabling or propulsion. The Spud Pole system allows us to actually make the dredger walk – it can either literally walk forward or backward in a straight line, or be made to pivot about one leg, allowing for a full range of motion with total accuracy. This then means that the dredger can be positioned so that each new sweep is guaranteed to be over a new area, making progress more efficient.

In tandem with the other design features, the MarinaMaster 8000 is required to service marinas on both the east and west coasts of the UK, and it therefore had to be transportable by road. A swinging sponson system was devised that enabled us to make it compact enough for road transportation, with a resulting road width of just 4.1m, so it is a highly capable but also highly compact and transportable machine.”

Who was behind the design and manufacture?

“We initially approached Goodchild Marine as we were impressed by their Rufford II dredger, designed by Alan Goodchild to meet the needs of their marina in Norfolk. We defined our requirements and Alan devised the original concept for the MarinaMaster 8000. Realising the unusual engineering demands of the machine resulted in a collaboration with Italdraghe, Italy, who cast their own pumps and specialise in bringing together the right series of components to produce a unique powertrain assembly. Once Alan found Italdraghe and recognised their expertise in designing cutter suction dredgers and sourcing the key powertrain components to work together, a six month collaboration was born, as Goodchild Marine and Yacht Havens worked with Italdraghe to overcome the individual challenges of the project and produce the MarinaMaster 8000.”

Key Points and Benefits of MarinaMaster 8000:

• Designed by Alan Goodchild of Goodchild Marine.

• Engineered and manufactured by Italdraghe, San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy.

• Specification: Road Width 4.1m / Length 13.7m / Iveco C8 diesel engine giving Tier 3 environmental performance.

• Exceptional dredging capability up to 8m depth.

• Waste pumping out up to 1km distance.

• Compact and accurate, enabling it to work safely in a tight space. Can work under floating pontoons and between finger berths without the need to remove them.

• Self-propelled, enabling it to navigate independently between dredging sites.

• Spud Pole system enabling unique stability and manoeuvrability, plus superior dredging efficiency.

• Easy maintenance and replacement of essential systems.

• Easily transportable by road.

The MarinaMaster 8000 will be exhibited at Seaworks International 2013 from 25-27th June.

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Press Release, April 8, 2013