THE WORLDS FINEST SHIP, ALSO KNOWN AS HOME

• Raffles
• Onboard
• Ashore
• Financial
• Donald Starkey Designs
• Exploration
• FAQ
• Technical
• Press
• Contact

• A one of a kind ship
• Facts and dimensions
• LR service notations
• General description
• Apartments
• The electric ship
• Main propulsion
• Electrical systems
• Auxiliary machinery  services and systems
• Dependability,  redundancy and back up
• Safety, fire fighting and  lifesaving
• Navigation,  communications and  computerisation
• The marina and aft deck
• Boats, planes, and toys
• Lloyd’s Register
• Raffles operating costs
• Caution
• PDF version

Boats, aircrafts, vehicles and toys

Much of the equipment carried on Raffles has a dual purpose with many items contributing both to providing for its owners recreation and to ensure the long life or safety of the vessel.

Providing non divers access to an underwater world, Spyfish also allows regular survey of the hull, in water.

An example is the two Spyfish ROV. These can be deployed from Raffles itself or on its 15m expedition / dive / survey boats and provide those people who can’t dive with real time underwater viewing on a large screen of very high quality.

Deployed from onboard they are also used to survey the hull on a regular basis to monitor fouling or damage.

Deployed from the survey boats they can also be used to ensure that Raffles planned anchorages in the many locations that may be less than well charted, are safe..

The ships boats themselves are mainly for recreation or transport as ferries. However most of the larger boats are also outfitted as back up lifeboats and the 15m exploration boats even have radar, echo sounders, full satcom’s, etc.

Purely for recreation the 38ft Stompcraft, carbon fibre composite sail boat is competition class sleeping six for extended sailing even across the Atlantic in company with Raffles.

The marina doors and the 100 ton crane at aft are specially designed that in an emergency, with the ship dead in the water with no mains power, they can still be operated and boats can still be safely launched.

Most smaller boats are RIB type and range in size from 4 person, water taxis up to 20 passenger 35 knot triple water jet ferry.

For diving, high speed taxis, or just messing about

The Murphy Moose float plane carried is a replica of the famed De-Havilland Beaver and is intended for use mainly as an air ambulance for emergency evacuation. It can also be used as an air taxi or simply for recreational flying. It is strong enough with its bush plane antecedents to be launched by the 100 ton crane and take off in a seaway. It is also used for survey and SAR duty .

Raffles two man helicopter is carried mainly for SAR duty but can also be used for recreation and surveying.

The two man autogyros fitted with floats are intended mainly for recreation but also are used in SAR and survey roles.

A 1.5km range UAV with real time video is also carried for SAR duties.

Planes
	A true bush plane, the Murphy Moose main use is as an air ambulance.
	The two man gas turbine helicopter is as easy to fly as a car, with no tail rotor.

The landing craft can carry a 4WD to shore as well as all the other miscellaneous vehicles carried. Most of the vehicles carried are electric or hybrids and range from bicycles to an 8 seat aluminium mini bus. Stored in the wet dock the landing craft is loaded by the 100 ton crane. A removable bladder fuel tank that can be loaded into its well also allows its use in emergency as a tanker for escorting lifeboats out of Antarctica or to sustain survivors onshore.

An unusual feature of Raffles is that its four 150 survivor enclosed lifeboats do not ever need to be used as ferries because it carries its own water taxis and fast ferries.

Two other features of Raffles related to its boat operations are that it has boat booms P&S of the aft deck to which boats afloat can be safely secured temporarily or overnight when at anchor, with low light CCTV coverage of the area.

Also that its single landing pontoon for use at anchor is a special aluminium semi submersible design with the ships short companion way landing on it via an air pad. Combined, motion when unloading / loading passengers from boats is very much reduced.

The water toys on Raffles are too numerous to detail and range from body boards through jet skis to ski boats as well as the obvious windsurfers and kayaks. Most are stowed around the marina and / or in the larger boats.

Vehicles and toys
	For real exploration hop aboard U Boat Worx of Holland 3 - 4 persons submarine for dives up to 40 meters under the sea
	Two autogyros mainly for fun but also rescue / survey duty.
	At sea the electric powered micro drone is always ready for instant take off, programmed to automatically search in a 600 meters wide zigzag pattern to 1.5km astern of the ship with its colour, tilt controlled video camera.
	The landing craft takes vehicles of Land Rover size to shore from an anchored Raffles.
	8 seat aluminium electric - hybrid bus