Smoothhound copes well with rough waters - four more orders for Vigilante 33s By Phil Lockley

Family-owned Westcountry boat building firm Lyme Boats of Chard has scooped four more orders after it recently completed a second high-speed Vigilante 33, reports Phil Lockley.

This was a charter angling boat, Smoothhound, built for Irish skipper/owner Richard Timony of Donegal, who has become an Irish agent for Lyme Boats.
Lyme Boats chief Brian Pogson, a former fisherman and trained boat builder, said one of the boats currently under construction was a Vigilante 33 charter boat for Skipper Paul McGonagle of Kincasslagh in Co Donegal, which is due for delivery at the end of February.

Also under build is the first Vigilante 33 commercial potting boat for the UK, due for completion by the end of January.

This boat is powered by an Iveco engine and fitted with a Seawinch slave hauler.

"It will be a fast and economical boat with a massive amount of clear deck area, excellent stability and sea keeping, " said Brian Pogson.

"Two further Vigilante 33 workboats complete the present order book, and our demonstration boat, the first Vigilante 33, may also have been sold, so we are delighted with such a response to the design and build."

Richard Timony said it took just 10 hours to steam from Plymouth to Kilmore Quay in Co Wexford on the first leg of a twostop delivery voyage back to Smoothhound's home port. There was a further stay in Dublin before the boat headed back to Co Donegal.

He describes his boat as "a real high speed mile cruncher, keeping up its speed even in poor weather. It has low fuel consumption and its hull is very efficient but beamy, with plenty of deck space - it's the most comfortable high speed boat that I have ever used".

The sea keeping quality of Smoothhound was recently demonstrated when it faced "a terrible storm" tied up alongside the Mullinasole pier at its home port in Co Donegal.
Skipper Timony told FN: "Luckily it was on rope-springs and was kept away from the pier, but waves lashing over the pier made the seas surrounding the boat quite violent; but it rode the sea with no problem at all. It was a massive tide that day and although the pier is normally much higher than the high-tide level, waves simply crashed over it.

Commenting on the economical fuel consumption he said: "When we set off from Plymouth, we were expecting to burn a fair bit of fuel as the twin leg-driven Yamaha ME432 engines have a total power of 630hp. So we carried 1000 litres of extra diesel in a tank on deck and when refuelling at Kilmore Quay we drained some of that extra fuel into the main tank "That gave us an exact fuel consumption which showed just 600 litres were used. I was amazed as we weren't hanging around - we clocked-up an average speed of 22 knots and I don't know of any other boat of 10m in length that would do that and still be comfortable."

Smoothhound's stop at Kilmore Quay coincided with a long spell of poor weather and the boat remained there for five weeks, finally heading at 30 knots for Dublin during a small break in the weather. The boat then hit more poor weather in the North Channel, so the trip home was a "testing ground" for the Vigilante 33 design which she came through with flying colours said Skipper Timony.

He said good seakeeping was vital in the specialist charter angling market in which Smoothhound will work, fishing mainly for tuna which often requires a fair steam. "Customers will not pay to spend a day on an uncomfortable boat, " he said.

Brian Pogson said that during sea trials off Plymouth Smoothhound made a top speed of 37.5 knots - and that was before the engines and propellers were tuned.
"From figures in the final trials we now know she will make over 40 knots, which is what she was designed for, " he added.