Battle Tested
Boston Whaler, Intrepid, Contender—you think you know everything about these famous boatbuilders? Think again. There’s a secret list of military options that turn these models into true weekend warriors.
When you sit down at your local dealership to order that center console you’ve been dreaming about, you’ll get a sheet with check boxes for the usual options: T-top, extra rod holders, teak trim. What you don’t know is that there is a secret options list for your boat that is far more interesting, especially if you’re into Jason Bourne movies or Tom Clancy novels.
This secret list might include such niceties as mounts for twin .50-caliber machine guns, armor plating around the cockpit, grenade launchers, and bulletproof windshields. To see this secret list, you need the right credentials, which means you’re the government in some form: Navy, Marines, SEAL Teams, police departments, SWAT teams. There’s a lot more on these options lists, but if I tell you, they’ll kill me. And you. So let your imagination run rampant.
The point is that the boat you use for towing your kids on wakeboards, fishing with your friends, or as your yacht tender may be the very same boat that SEAL Team Six is using to sneak ashore in Somalia.
There is a long history of American builders of pleasure boats turning out models for far more deadly purposes. Chris-Craft, which had been known for beautiful varnished runabouts, quickly converted full production during World War II to produce rescue boats, landing craft, and, sadly, mahogany radio-controlled target boats that Navy gunners blew to pieces. Andrew Higgins had built skiffs for the Louisiana bayous, but turned out more than 20,000 Higgins landing craft that carried troops ashore (Normandy, Sicily, Guadalcanal) and was called by General Eisenhower “the man who won the war for us.”
When Vietnam came along, Power & Motoryacht’s own Capt. Bill Pike and I were able to attest to the success of Uniflite, which converted its 31-foot cruisers into River Patrol Boats (remember Apocalypse Now?) at the rate of two per day. With a pair of 6-cylinder Detroit Diesels and water jets, the PBRs were the workhorses of the Mekong Delta and rivers.
Today, military boats may be carried into battle slung by cables from helicopters, “inserted” from patrol boats running at 30 knots or, for very secret missions, parachuted from cargo planes at 10,000 feet. But the most interesting point is that, aside from reinforcing areas such as gun mounts, these are all the same boats that you buy from your local broker. No changes in hull shape, no difference in fiberglass layup. Straight from the showroom, your boat is military-grade tough.
A word that often pops up in this military side of the industry is “mission.” Mission-ready. Mission-tough. So, what are those missions?
Let’s look at some boatbuilders and their mil-spec products.
Zodiac
Zodiac, which started by making rubber-coated fabrics for airships, arguably pioneered the inflatable boat, made famous when Jacques Cousteau used them for his Calypso expeditions. Inflatables had been used during World War II by Marine Raiders, but today’s CRRC (Combat Rubber Recon Craft) is the vehicle of choice for Navy SEALs and other elite special ops teams that must sneak ashore in the dead of night. The Zodiac MilPro CRRC is based on a 15-foot design that you might be using to get ashore from your yacht for your morning coffee. These are designed for air drops, helicopter drops, and even underwater caches on submarines, and are powered by up to 55-horsepower outboards with jet pumps rather than props to minimize chance of injury. Since inflatable rubber boats and flying bullets don’t seem to be compatible, the Zodiac MilPro division has created ArmorFlate, the first inflatable bulletproof system for inflatable boats. I can’t tell you any more about it, but, then again, you probably wouldn’t need it to get your morning Starbucks fix anyway.
Zodiac also provides a government version of its 13-foot 9-inch inflatable, called the FC 470, which is like those found on many small pleasure boats and referred to simply as “roll-ups.” These were used by disaster crews when the California Oroville dam threatened to burst, and you’ll find roll-ups as standard gear for fire and rescue crews who have to face water emergencies. You’ll even find them in use in the winter to rescue fishermen who fall through the ice on frozen lakes, because the roll-up can safely slide along the ice.
Certainly the top of the Zodiac MilPro offerings is the Hurricane series of rigid inflatables (RIBs) from 22 to 36 feet, with the CZ7, a 24-footer, being the most popular. Aside from military duty, Hurricanes are proving popular as tenders for large yachts; they’re also used by adventure operators who take tourists on “wet-and-wild” rides in places such as Hawaii. Shock-mitigating seats are offered on Hurricanes to minimize the impact for the crew, with seats that travel up to 8 inches to cushion rough seas. The 38-foot Hurricane 1100 can run at over 50 knots in Sea State 3 (waves of 4 feet) with a full payload of crew and fuel, absorbing up to 6-g impacts perhaps not comfortably, but manageably. Astronauts incur about 3 gs on launch.
Hurricanes are designed to be kicked off the tail ramp of C-130 cargo planes, with the crew jumping alongside the parachuted craft, and they can even be retrieved from the water by racing up the tail ramp of a hovering Chinook helicopter for the quick extraction of a SEAL team from a combat zone. One 36-foot Hurricane recently transited the Northwest Passage, powered by triple outboards that gave it a top speed of more than 60 knots.
Ribcraft
Another rigid inflatable builder that actually transitioned backwards from being strictly a military contractor to offering recreational versions is Ribcraft, which makes no changes for its public offerings. Ribcraft boats are proving popular among owners of very large superyachts, including some longer than 400 feet.
Many Ribcraft boats go to first responders (fire, rescue, and law enforcement) and each is fitted out to the client needs—from high-output firefighting pumps to jockey seating—but its single largest client is the U.S. Navy, which puts the 7M (24-foot) RIB aboard all large Navy ships. Powered with up to 350-horsepower diesel sterndrives, these are used for boarding parties, search and seizure, and anti-terrorism operations, as well as normal shipboard tasks. With a deadrise aft of 23 degrees and forward deadrise of 45 degrees, it’s clear that these Ribcrafts are intended to run fast and soft in all sea conditions. Other models range from 15 to 32 feet, and a 41-footer will soon debut for serious bluewater missions.
Boston Whaler
Unless you’re a military insider, you probably don’t recognize the name Brunswick Commercial & Government Products. Say the words “Boston Whaler,” however, and you know who this is immediately.
Boston Whaler, which launched the first of its “Unsinkable Legends” nearly 60 years ago by sawing the foam-filled hull of a 16-footer in half and then powering the severed boat away, was immediately embraced by both the military and first responders, who saw a boat that could be sent out in the worst conditions. The Navy and Coast Guard promptly acquired a large quantity of Whalers for use in Vietnam by the newly formed Navy SEAL teams as well as for Coast Guard riverine patrols. Since that time, Boston Whalers have proven their mettle worldwide. The Bolivian Navy counts 32 Whalers in its 47-boat fleet.
Over the years, the Whaler hull shape has changed from the previously wet tri-hull to more modern deep-Vs with sponsons, but the unsinkable character has never changed.
Under its Guardian line, Brunswick C&GP takes a Whaler hull and modifies it to fit specific needs, from fire-rescue with high-capacity pumps to military patrol with machine guns. The Guardian line is made up of standard Whalers ranging from 15 to 31 feet, while the Justice line has a deeper-V hull (to 24 degrees) that makes it suitable for offshore missions. The Vigilant series adds a weatherproof pilothouse instead of a center console, but retains the walkaround cockpit; this is available in 27- and 31-foot models. The Challenger 27- and 35-footers add a full cabin, providing bunks, head and, on the 35, a galley. Power across the models can range up to triple outboards (depending on the hull), which provide the speed to bring no-goodniks to justice.
All of the Whalers can be fitted with dive doors, allowing easy access for divers or for in-water rescues. Towing posts, shock mitigating seats, crash rails, and lockers for weapons are some of the options that average boat owners can’t order. And, no, you can’t have the flashing lightbars and sirens, either.
At the high-speed end of the pleasure boat world are the go-fast boats with deep-Vs, five (or more) outboards, offshore capabilities, and the sheer hedonism of speed. Those attributes make them the perfect vessels to run down drug smugglers, joy riders, and anyone else with a fast boat and an aversion to being caught.
Midnight Express
At the height of the drug wars, Midnight Express claimed to build the fastest Border Protection boat in existence: the standard, off-the-showroom-floor 39-foot Interceptor model tricked out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection standards. With quad 300-horsepower Mercury outboards on the transom, the boat was designed for a three-man crew that would work with the CBP Air and Marine Operations as drug interdiction agents. The exact speeds are kept hush-hush, but the same Midnight Express Interceptor bought by a civilian with those engines is going to see the far side of 70 knots without breathing hard.
The Border Protection version was designed to give a 10-hour endurance to the vessel, which is probably all the crew could stand anyway. Shock-mitigating seats, armored crew spaces, and a suite of state-of-the-art electronics, including Automated Identification System (AIS) and vessel-tracking ability, complete the militarization. In pale gray with the CBP blue stripe on the side, this is not the boat a drug trafficker wants to see heading toward him.
The U.S. military and Homeland Security also have a fleet of the same 39-foot Interceptor, also with quad outboards, but it’s a well-kept secret as to where they are and what exactly they’re doing. Don’t even ask.
Contender Boats
At Contender Boats, the company motto is “We Build Sportfishing Boats.” Well, yes, that’s true. But they also build some “toys” for the Department of Defense, among others. With more than 8,000 boats built, it’s anyone’s guess how many of those are skippered by people with badges and weapons. But where and why? Again, it’s a mystery designed to keep the bad guys off guard. But since Contender points out that it is a custom center-console builder, boats are doctored for some interesting missions.
Public records show that in the past few years, Contender Boats has completed government contracts for a total of $1.68 million, with $1.46 million of that going to the Department of Homeland Security for “fishing vessels.” Sure. Them Homeland Security folks are just fishin’ fools.
The rest of those government projects went to various police and sheriff’s departments, and fisheries & wildlife commissions. The police and sheriff’s boats are straightforward and similar to the Contender at your dealer, aside from the shotgun racks and the flashing lights. Same with the FWC boats, but before you try to get away with something, remember that the folks running the FWC craft are either state or Federal agents who can do such things as give you a ticket or put you in handcuffs.
Even the Contender Bay Boat series has been tapped by Fisheries & Wildlife agencies to patrol shallow backwaters for poachers and other such criminals.
Intrepid Boats
Intrepid Boats, another builder of center-console sportfishing boats, has a long history with government projects. It built a Special Ops boat for the U.S. Air Force to use at a Florida airbase, and a stealthy craft it is. Totally flat black from top to bottom, it is nearly invisible at night, which is exactly what the Air Force wanted. Just as eerie is the 30-foot Intrepid built to guard a ship full of plutonium in Asia, but there are no details on whether that Intrepid was equipped with radiation shields.
The 30-foot Intrepid 300 Center Console has been popular with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which has ordered many of the twin-outboard boats, while sheriffs and police pick sizes to fit their needs. In Florida, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department has two of the 400 Intrepids, both emblazoned with the American flag and a bald eagle on the bow. Intended to patrol the growing port of Tampa, they are equipped with—get this—nuclear, chemical, biological, radiological, and explosive detection capabilities. According to the sheriff’s office, they easily handle 8-foot seas. And these boats get used. A 1995 Hillsborough Intrepid was the first the company built with a side dive door, and that boat has gone through 30 sets of engines in its lifetime. That’s three zero. That’s a whole lot of hours on the water!
While there are certainly many custom boatbuilders that can create specialized boats to meet the needs of the military and first-responder market, it saves a lot of your tax dollars when a production model can be used for the same purpose. And, as one boatbuilder said with a grin, “What we learn from running down a drug smuggler helps us make our boats better for our civilian clients.”
And, no, you still can’t order the flashers and siren. We asked.
