SOMERSET, Mass. – January 28, 2025 – The Pilots’ Association of the Bay and River Delaware has taken delivery of another pilot boat from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation. It’s the pilots’ association’s fourth Chesapeake Class launch and eleventh pilot boat built by the Somerset, Mass., shipyard since 1957.
With a deep-V hull designed by Ray Hunt Design, the new all-aluminum launch measures 53.6’ overall, with a 17.8’ beam and a 4.9’ draft. The boat is powered by twin Volvo Penta D16 diesel engines, each rated for 651 mph at 1800 rpm. Top speed is over 25 knots. The engines turn 5-blade Brunton’s propellers via ZF 500-1-A gear boxes. A Humphree interceptor trim control system, with its Automatic Trim Optimization, is installed at the transom.
The vessel’s wheelhouse, with a small trunk, is amidships on a flush deck. It has electrically-heated forward-leaning front and side windows for deicing and four tinted windows on the roof. The wheelhouse has the helm station on center with the Volvo Penta EVC electronic control system and Furuno Nav/Comm. Aft of the helm station are four Stidd reclining seats and a luggage rack. The forecastle includes an upholstered settee and a hanging locker for exposure suits.
The decks and exterior handrails are heated to minimize ice formation from flying spray. A three-zone hydronic cabin, deck, and handrail heating system circulates heated water through tubes fastened below the main deck, handrails and through three fan-coil units, two in the wheelhouse and one in the forecastle. Treated water is heated by a 120,000 Btu Espar Hydronic 35 diesel-fired “boiler” and main engine waste heat. An auxiliary A.C. heater in the wheelhouse heats the vessel while on shore power.
A control station is located at the transom. A rotating pipe davit is welded to the deck at the forward end of the rescue stairs recessed in the boat’s transom. A self-tailing, two-speed manual winch mounted on the davit, along with a Naiad-Dynamics Mate-Saver rescue noose, aids in retrieving a pilot.