"AT THIS PRICE, THIS GREAT VESSEL IS GOING TO SELL FAST!!!!! CALL TODAY!" says actual listing for a US Navy ship.
This is the Sea Slice, a Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), and the coolest craft a civilian can buy. No one else in Monaco, or even Lake Havasu will have one. For a craft that cost $15 million in the late 90s, it's a steal.
When Lockheed Martin (of SR-71 Blackbird fame) finished designing and building, the US Navy launched the Sea Slice in 1996, built to dart around lakes and near-shore water bodies.
The design is a descendent of the small waterplane area twin hull (SWATH) class of ship. Regular SWATHs have two cylindrical pontoons for hulls, both of which sit below the water's surface. That way, it avoids the speed- and stability-sapping waves on the surface. The Sea Slice here has four shortened teardrop-shaped hulls in total — two on each side, in lines behind each other. That design reduces drag even more, and reduces the wake.
This SeaSlice Warship is Yours for $180,000 (Gallery)
For a craft that cost $15 million in the late 90s, it's a steal
To get the 190-ton craft moving at a manufacturer's claimed top speed of 35 mph, the Sea Slice has two MTU diesel engines and two 180-kW Caterpillar generators that give it 6,964 horsepower. Its fuel tanks hold 11,112 gallons — at a little over $2.30 a gallon for diesel, that's about $25,500 for a fill-up. That'll sting, but think of how much you're already saving off the sticker price.
There's plenty of space. The five cabins can be set up for sleeping, and the vessel can accommodate 149 guests. For civilian comforts, there are two 400-gallon fresh water tanks to supply the bathroom with a shower, and the washing machine.
I was wondering the other day what the minimum requirements for a true open ocean yacht would be, if one wanted to leave everything behind ala S.S. Guncounter or Serenity. I came upon this, which depending on aux tanks might work, but I know absolutely nothing about ocean-going vessels.
The standard hull might make maintenance at ports easier.
"The armory was even better. Above the door was a sign: You dream, we build." -Mark Owen, No Easy Day
"My assault weapon won't be 'illegal,' it will be 'undocumented.'" -KL
skb12172 wrote:That would make one hell of a party yacht. If I won the Powerball, I'd do it. Hell, yeah.
YUP.
I don't want a boat, but something like that and Powerball winnings would be awesome.
I was thinking group buy and use it to run up and down the coast of Africa looking for Pirates, but crossing the deep blue might be tough.
Hey, we could set it up like a time share and sell weeks to other adventurous people. No guarantee of action, but every attempt is made and you will always have the pleasure of knowing you made a difference just by being there.
"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." ~Thomas Jefferson
My little part of the blogosphere. http://blogletitburn.wordpress.com/
How does one judge "gas mileage" on something like that. With a fill-up running $25K, I'd want to make sure that it was running efficiently? What's the range on that thing?
If I won the Powerball, though, Nunnaker Yachts would be the place I go. I've got a nephew who works for them, and he gets to drive all the cool boats when they come out of storage, or when the client buys a new boat, or whenever the boss wants something tested. It sounds like a good job, until you realize that it is a job.
AND, just how much would it take to actually get this tub "SEA-WORTHY????" Let's not even think about the new electronics necessary for a vessel that size.
POLITICIANS & DIAPERS NEED TO BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON
A person properly schooled in right and wrong is safe with any weapon. A person with no idea of good and evil is unsafe with a knitting needle, or the cap from a ballpoint pen.
I remain pessimistic given the way BATF and the anti gun crowd have become tape worms in the guts of the Republic. - toad
Ships like this are often incorrectly called catamarans, this is not actually what they are. Catamarans have two conventional hulls, these ships do not.
Designs such as this are actually SWATH ships (Small Water-plain Area Twin Hull). That unique design gives it several advantages for some very specific niche applications, but makes them very impractical for virtually anything else.
BTW - catamarans also suck for all but a few niche applications.