How low can you go?
By IBI Magazine
Dixon Yacht Design, in collaboration with See-Solutions, has completed a brief for property developers Ballymore Properties to build a boat able to navigate under a bridge with just over one metre air draft.
The unusual nautical project resulted in the Pan Peninsula Launch, used to transport potential buyers from a glass departure lounge at Arrowhead Quay in Canary Wharf, London, UK, to the floating Marketing Suite for luxury residential development Pan Peninsula in Mill Harbour Dock.
Martin Wasilewski of See-Solutions, project manager, came up with the initial concept for the boat design and employed Dixon Yacht Design to provide naval architecture and the interior and exterior styling.
He worked closely with the design team throughout the project and selected MCC Stenson Boat Builders in Derby to build it.
Described by Anders Berg, head of the Dixon team, as a cross between Batman's boat and a submersible from a James Bond film, the boat was a genuine challenge to design. It was required to pass under a low bridge and operate in shallow dock waters while still providing full standing headroom.
The result is that the Pan Peninsula has an air draft of less than a metre and an underwater draft of 1.6 metres.
Martin Wasilewski commented: "I'm very pleased with the Pan Peninsula vessel. The situation with the low-lying bridge presented us with a real challenge but one that just couldn't be resisted. I think that the outcome is a boat that meets the brief; it looks fantastic, oozes style and can effortlessly sail under the bridge!"
(27 January 2006)
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