A big fan of our work?
4 November 2019
Large scale projects are quite routine for us but this current project posed some interesting challenges.
With some professional manoeuvring and careful planning, the 3.5m diameter propulsion fan is now in place and ready for testing. It has been secured to the bespoke 9-metre base frame, designed and built in-house.
The fan itself may look rather simplistic, but this custom-made piece of machinery is far from simple. Fitted with a wood cored five-blade air cushion propeller specially coated to withstand the harsh marine environment and regulated by a variable pitch mechanism, the fan really is fit for purpose. With 1450bhp available from the acoustically housed Cummins QSK38 marine diesel and designed to operate efficiently in ambient temperatures from -40ºC to +40 ⁰C, every aspect of the Customer’s specification has been met. So, one done but still three more to follow to complete the propulsion units for this RINA certified marine hovercraft.