VESSEL REVIEW | Bad Company Support – Long-range yacht for deep-sea sport fishing trips

Bad Company Fishing Adventures, a US-owned sport fishing boat company that operates in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, has taken delivery of a new support vessel built by Damen Yachting in the Netherlands. Bad Company Support measures 175 feet (53.3 metres) long and features a prominent wave-piercing bow for improved efficiency. Accommodations are available for an 11-strong crew and eight guests.

Two MTU 12V4000 3,000hp (2,200kW) main engines drive fixed-pitch propellers to enable the vessel to reach speeds of up to 20.5 knots while a more economical 12 knots will yield a range of approximately 5,000 nautical miles. This range makes the vessel ideal for extended fishing trips far from shore, particularly in its main areas of operation in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Ample onboard space for boats and a helicopter

“This new-generation yacht support platform is fast and offers a great combination providing an exceptional level of luxury and operation of adventure craft,” Salih Saim Kaya, Damen Yachting’s Project Manager for Bad Company Support, told Baird Maritime. “The vessel can launch and lift a 50-foot (15-metre), 33,000lb (15,000kg) game boat and even has a containerised main deck hangar for the owner’s Bell 505 helicopter. The hangar also has storage space for a RIB tender, jet skis, and waverunners, while two containerised stainless steel tanks are provided for storing the helicopter’s jet fuel.”

Kaya added that the support vessel was designed to enable operation in different areas regardless of the season and weather conditions. Other craft carried onboard will include a Triton submarine and an MOB boat. A 15-tonne crane is fitted for deploying small boats into the water and retrieving them afterwards.

“The client himself is a well-known sport fisherman, and he conducts a world tour for fishing activities. He has another Damen vessel for his scheduled fishing program, but he decided to order another vessel from Damen Yachting.”

The galley has a dumbwaiter and is placed on the lower deck, freeing up the entire main deck for the owner and the guests. A main deck lounge with a weathertight sliding door can be used as both a dining area and a cinema. The interior spaces benefit from improved insulation, ensuring lower noise and vibration levels compared to earlier vessels.

Amenities, propulsion and electronics ideal for extended-duration trips

Among the other onboard facilities are a sky lounge with an al fresco deck and hot tub, wing stations, crew mess and berthing spaces, a cold room, a freezer, a dry stores room, laundry areas, and a swim platform. Solar panels are installed to supply some of the vessel’s electrical power requirements, reducing reliance on the two onboard Caterpillar generators.

The propulsion setup also includes an electric bow thruster and large-area fin stabilisers to keep the vessel as level as possible for improved comfort. Kaya said that the two MTU main engines were selected in place of four Caterpillar 12-cylinder units used on a previous platform, as these were still able to deliver the same 20.5-knot top speed. The main engines and the two Caterpillar generators are all IMO Tier III-compliant, allowing the vessel to operate across a broader range of offshore and coastal areas.

The electronics suite includes a Praxis alarm system, an area A3 GMDSS, two X-band radars, an ECDIS, an echosounder, and a speed log. Two onboard watermakers are capable of producing 4,000 litres (1,100 gallons) of fresh water per day.

“The vessel is designed as per Lloyd’s Register classification rules covering gross tonnages of 500 and below, whereas previous platforms had Bureau Veritas classification,” Kaya told Baird Maritime. “The helicopter hangar created extra volume on board, and one challenge we faced was in making it containerised and removable while keeping the vessel below 500 GT.”

Bad Company Support is also notable for being the first in a new series designed for operation in areas with extreme weather and sea conditions. As the first in a new series, the vessel’s operational capabilities had not been tested before, and this led to some unforeseen issues during construction.

“All issues that we identified during the commissioning period were successfully resolved, and the solutions we applied in this build will also be incorporated in a later vessel from the same series,” Kaya remarked. “We were aided greatly in this process by close coordination between the customer care team and the crew.”