Tasmanian boat builder expands into leisure

by Media Services/Boatingandboats on 24 Oct 2006 One of Australia’s most successful builders of large commercial fishing vessels is to enter the international leisure market with the release of the traditionally styled Chesapeake 58 Explorer Motor Yacht.

The venture carries considerable weight as the company’s CEO,Tasmanian Allan Barnett, boasts a lifetime of experience as a commercial fisherman and is recognised as the builder of high quality, cost-effective and efficient commercial vessels.

Since 1990 Allan Barnett Fishing Co. Pty. Ltd. has built a succession of fishing boats some of which have been utilised in the company's fishing fleet and others which have been sold into various owners around Australia and overseas

The Company has recently upgraded the Launceston shipyard facilities and is now capable of housing two, 30 metre craft simultaneously undercover.

The company's fishing fleet has spent most of its time working the waters surrounding Tasmania. This includes the world-renowned but treacherous waters of Bass Strait and the rugged waters off the West Coast of Tasmania.

Barnett chose the Chesapeake 58 design after searching the world for a leisure vessel similar in style and construction to the trawlers that his company, was already building. The principal requirements were that the vessel had to match the best available on the international market, and fit within the production capacity of his yard located near Launceston, in northern Tasmania.

More recently the project has been influenced by his purchase of Perry Catamarans, the builder of Australia’s award winning large luxury sailing and power catamarans.

Two of the Chesapeake 58s are currently under construction. Once all major structural and machinery work is completed they will be motored to the Perry Catamarans yard at Coomera, on the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane, where they will be fitted-out. The same shipwrights and boat builders responsible for the creation of the luxurious Perry 57 cruising yacht will be doing the work.

'It’s exciting to be able to combine the exceptional talents of both yards to produce the Chesapeake 58,' Allan Barnett said. 'We’ve been building trawlers since 1990 and have vessels in fleets in New Zealand, New Caledonia and across Australia, a fact that proves we know what we are doing when it comes to choosing designs and building this type of boat. And the international accolades for the design and construction of the Perry 57 are well documented.'

The Chesapeake 58 designers, Chesapeake Marine Design, in Maryland, USA, planned the vessel as a ‘serious offshore passage maker that is an ideal size to cruise the world under power’. The profile has been kept low to minimise windage and fin stabilisers will ensure the smoothest possible ride in rough conditions. The hull and deck are steel and the superstructure is aluminium – all to USL survey standards. Extended twin fins under the hull will help protect the propellers and allow her to sit on an even keel if ever there is a desire for the vessel to be beached. Two 255hp Cummins diesels will deliver a cruising speed of 10 knots. The displacement is 68 tonnes.

The accommodation comprises an Owner’s Stateroom, Guest Stateroom and a two-bunk cabin. The Main Saloon is remarkably spacious, bright and airy, and the pilothouse is well planned and functional. The design also features a flybridge and the vessel’s tender is located on the boat deck above the Main Saloon. Considerable planning has gone into all aspects of the design so two people can easily operate the vessel.

The first Chesapeake 58 is due for delivery in March 2007. Interest in the design is such that Allan Barnett has already commissioned the design of a Chesapeake 80, which he will put into production in 2007.
Last Updated ( Monday, 23 October 2006 )

Alan Barnet Fishing eased into the boat building business over the last two decades. From 1983-1989 the company purchased several fishing boats, most of which underwent major refits before entering service in the scallop, crayfish and deep sea trawling fisheries.

In 1985 Allan's company built an export fish-processing factory, which handled all fish caught by the company.

1990 the company built the 25 metre trawler 'Markarna' for the deep-sea orange roughy fishery. The 23 metre 'Kaybecana' was originally constructed as a trawler for the company and is now operating in the east coast tuna fishery.

The 20 metre 'Yellow Fin' was constructed for clients from Noumea and built to stringent Bureau Veritas survey and operates in the tuna fishery around New Caledonia.

The 20 metre 'Kaybeanna' was built as a general-purpose crayfish, scallop and auto-longliner for the company and she works in Tasmanian waters.

The 20 metre 'Jordan Kate' was sold to well-known east coast tuna fisherman Mario Basille of Ulladulla, who operates in the east coast tuna fishery.

The 17 metre 'Brid Venture' was constructed for the company as a crayfish/scallop boat and utilized by the company and is operating around Tasmania.

Under construction at the moment is a 17 metre sister-ship to 'Brid Venture' and a 20 metre sister-ship to 'Yellow Fin', 'Jordan Kate' and 'Kaybeanna'.