Westamaran

The Westamaran is a pioneer type of passenger transport high speed catamarans developed by Westermoen Hydrofoil in 1973. The craft was highly successful, and introduced a new era of passenger transport along the Norwegian coast and elsewhere.

On the Bergen to Stavanger route, there was already a high speed service by hydrofoil, introduced early in the 1960s. The initial Westamaran models were somewhat slower than the hydrofoils, but passenger comfort, both in terms of spaciousness but especially foul weather handling, was better in the Westamanarans, so they were better liked by the public.

The Westamaran had asymmetrical hulls, were the insides was essentiall flat, forming a tunnel between the hulls that were rectangular in shape. The profiles were in fact quite like a Storm class torpedo boat cut in two, and the construction of the Westamaran built heavily on the experience gained from the Storm class.

Specifications:
* Capacity: 166 passengers
* Length overall: 26.67m
* Beam: 9.02m
* Draft: 1.20m
* Engines: 2 x Diesel MTU 12 V 396 TC 62
* Power: 2 x 880 kW.
* Layout: Shaft drive through two ZF BW 800 HS 20 hydraulic gearboxes to LIPS fixed propellers.
* Aux. engine: Mercedes OM 314, Stamford MHC 2341 generator 32,5 kVA

External links

* [http://www.hydrofoilen.no/bilder/westamaran-1.jpgWestamaran] , image from http://www.hydrofoilen.no/
* [http://www.classicfastferries.com/cff/pdf/cff_2003_7.pdf Article from Classic Fast Ferries]