HSC INCAT 046

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General Characteristics

Career
Commissioned:	1997
Classification:	Lloyds of London +1A1 HSLC R1 Car Ferry
Home Port:	Nassau, Bahamas
Decommissioned:	still active
Fate:	still active
Displacement:	5,617 tons
Length:	91.3 m
Beam:	26 m
Draught:	3.7 m
Propulsion:	4 Ruston 20 RK 270 medium-speed diesel, 38,000 bhp
Speed:	43 knots
Safety Equipment:	10 x 100-person life rafts, 4 escape slides
Capacity:	Passengers, 762 Automobiles, 240
Complement:	22
Access:	Ro-Ro stern loading

High speed catamaran (HSC) INCAT 046 is a wave-piercing catamaran passenger-vehicle ferry. It has operated under various marketing names, including Devil Cat, The Cat and now The Lynx.

1 Vessel characteristics
2 Service history
3 Sister ships
4 External links

[edit] Vessel characteristics

HSC INCAT 046 is a 91-metre vessel built by InCat Australia in Hobart, Tasmania in 1997 as hull 046. She is a sister ship to HSC Express (holder of a Trans-Atlantic speed record), HSC Max Mols and HSC Master Cat, all of which are Incat91 models.

INCAT 046 is constructed from marine grade aluminium alloys. Each water-borne hull is subdivided into multiple watertight compartments connected by an arched bridging structure with a central forward hull above the smooth water line. Each water-borne hull carries 2 engines which drive water jets mounted on the transom.

Vehicles are stowed in and between both waterborne hulls in a configuration of rising and descending decks which load from a single level transfer bridge at the stern. The main passenger deck is immediately above the vehicle decks and consists of a cafe, gift shop, children's play area and passenger seating lounges, as well as an outside observation deck that runs the width of the ship at the stern. The passenger seating lounges have overhead television monitors which play movies, or television broadcasts, as well as a continuously updated map showing the vessel's GPS coordinates. A smaller secondary passenger deck is located one deck up and has a bar immediately aft of the wheelhouse.

[edit] Service history

HSC INCAT 046 was constructed for TT-Line and operated across Australia's Bass Strait on the world's longest distance high speed ferry service (marketed as Devil Cat), between Station Pier, Port Melbourne, Victoria to The Esplanade, George Town, Tasmania. Typical service speed was 80 km/h with fares averaging $100 (AUD) one-way in peak season (Dec-Jan) and $92 one-way in shoulder season (Jan-Apr). Weather conditions in the Bass Strait occasionally led to cancellation during storms and heavy seas. The vessel's ride during choppy conditions led to its nickname "Spew Cat" and it was retired from the route after a single season.

Marketing logo used on INCAT 046 for Devil Cat service during the 1997 season.

The INCAT 046 was sold to Bay Ferries in 1998 for service on that company's Gulf of Maine route between Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and Bar Harbor, Maine under the marketing name The Cat. The vessel departed Hobart on April 26, 1998, arriving in Yarmouth on May 20, 1998 to great fanfare from American and Canadian news media.

The vessel operated seasonally on the Yarmouth-Bar Harbor route (May-Oct) and was sold in early 2002 to Incat as a trade-in by Bay Ferries for the newer and larger capacity HSC The Cat (which in the case of this vessel, is its official registered name). The vessel was leased by the Interisland Line, a New Zealand company, for which it was used in the Cook Strait that year, using the marketing name The Lynx, however operating issues relating to its wake saw the vessel returned to Incat in early 2003 where it was laid up in Hobart. Bay Ferries subsequently repurchased the vessel and uses it on a route in Trinidad and Tobago between Port of Spain and Scarborough, maintaining the marketing name The Lynx. As of 2006 HSC INCAT 046 remains operating this route in the Caribbean Sea for Bay Ferries, under a wet charter for the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.