Blount Boats Delivers 3rd Sister Ship to South Ferry

| Posted on |

Warren, R.I. (May 18, 2020) – Blount Boats of Warren, Rhode Island delivers innovative vehicular/passenger ferry, M/V SOUTHERN CROSS to South Ferry, Inc., Shelter Island, NY. The vessel will service the half-mile crossing of partially protected inland waters between Shelter Island and the South Fork of Long Island.

With a LOA of 101’ and maximum beam of 39’ the vessel comfortably carries 18 autos and a maximum deck load of 260,000 pounds. Main propulsion is provided by two Caterpillar Series C-18 Tier III & IMO certified each rated at 470 hp @ 1,800 rpm. Twin Disc MG-516 remote mount, reverse gears transmit power to 4-blade, nibral ice strengthened propellers through 4” Aquamet 22 propeller shafts.

The Clark family, owners of South Ferry Company have been providing transportation between Shelter Island, New York and North Haven, New York on Long Island’s southern tip since the 1700’s. The SOUTHERN CROSS will be a sistership to two other Blount built ferries designed by DeJong & Lebet for South Ferry, the SUNRISE, Hull #311 delivered in 2002 and the SOUTHSIDE, Hull #323 delivered in 2009.

On Green Features:

  1. Extended oil change. Active Puradyne bypass filtration system combined with oil analysis safely extends oil change interval to 3000 hours (based on sister ship performance).
  2.  Clean agent fire suppression system. Engine room fixed fire suppression system utilizes Inergen by Ansul Corporation. It has no ozone depletion potential. In addition – unlike CO-2, it is not deadly to humans.
  3.  Jacket water heating. Crew and passenger spaces are entirely heated by using engine “waste” heat as a heat source. No oil fired or electric heaters utilized.
  4.  Exclusive DC Electric Power /No Generators. Three 24 volt battery banks provide electrical power for all vessel requirements. Normal operation splits the load between the three banks. However, each bank can carry the entire load in an emergency. Rugged and highly efficient deck lighting is provided by a combination of high intensity discharge Xenon floods and LED lights.
  5. Closed loop cooling system. Water cooler with zero discharge.

Other Features:

  1.  Noise Reduction. The entire machinery space above the waterline is lead lined with navy hull board in addition to thermal insulation. Engine mufflers are hospital grade. Engines are mounted on isolation mounts to minimize transmission of sound through hull structure, which results in much lower noise levels in all crew and passenger spaces.
  2. Expedited Gear and Engine Oil Change. Fresh and waste oil tanks in engine room with quick connect fittings on oil pans and reverse gens facilitate rapid oil change and minimum down time. Remote mounted engine and gear oil filters for easy filter change and no spill.
  3. Redundant Navigation Lights. Navigation light failures corrected immediately by switching to back-up with no downtime or safety issue.
  4. Hydraulic Vehicular end gates provides improved crew safety and minimizes time necessary to open/close gates compared to manual gates.
Scroll to Top