The Association of Maryland Pilots has ordered two new launches from its longtime partner at Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding in Somerset, Mass. Deliveries are expected in summer 2024.
The group is adding a fifth 52.6-foot Chesapeake- class vessel, while the other is its second 48.5-foot Baltimore-class launch. Both will be outfitted similarly to sister vessels built in 2021.
The Chesapeake-class vessel will be powered by two 641-hp Volvo Penta D16 engines driving five-bladed Bruntons propellers through ZF gears. Electrical power will come from a Northern Lights genset, and a Humphree interceptor system will be installed at the transom.
The Baltimore-class vessel will be equipped with two 600-hp Volvo Penta D13s, ZF gears and Humphree interceptors. Northern Lights will supply the genset on this vessel, too.
Both aluminum launches are designed by Ray Hunt Design with a deep-V hull form. They will be outfitted with Harken safety rail systems and a hydraulically powered J-basket man-overboard recovery system at the transom.
The vessels will be equipped with heated decks and handrails, Furuno navigation electronics and FLIR thermal imaging cameras.