Naiad Inflatables of Newport, Inc.

Situated in Portsmouth at the New England Boat Works facility, Steve Connett has a great view of the Lagoon and upper bay. But this is the office, not where the boats are built. The boat building happens in one of the many sheds in the NEB complex. In fact NEB does the majority of the fabrication and welding while Naiad Newport sells the projects, manages the projects, finishes, delivers and services the completed boats.

The current build pictured here is an 11.3 Meter dive boat that’s going to Hawaii. This will be an outboard powered boat with twin 300hp Verado’s. She’ll do about 40 knots and be Coast Guard approved to carry 20 passengers. Like several of the outboard boats they have built recently, this one features a stepped hull design. All Naiads are built using 5086 marine grade aluminum below the water line and a combination of 5086 and 6061 above water line. Some of the boats get painted with an Awlgrip® product and some are left as unfinished aluminum. As a boat building material, aluminum is strong, light and easy to repair. With work boats, aluminum makes a lot of sense. Boots, tools and dive equipment can ruin a gelcoated surface fast. The fuel tanks on the larger boats are also aluminum and supplied by Luther’s in Bristol RI. In addition to its durability, another advantage of aluminum is the degree of customization it allows for. Although it can be more expensive, unlike FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) there are no molds to build, and each design can be tweaked on the drawing board before the build without adding much time to the process. The individual pieces are cut off-site utilizing either a water jet or laser cutter and shipped to the shop ready to be assembled and welded. Typical build time for a boat this size is 22 weeks. This hull will get 2 piece (inner / outer) inflatable tubes that are durable and easy to repair. The boats can be fitted with foam tubes for applications where there will be lots of abrasion like a Pilot boat.

Naiad Inflatables of Newport is very interested in pursuing large military contracts. To facilitate this, they have entered into a teaming agreement with the giant defense contractor Textron Marine & Land Systems. So far, they have collaborated on three projects; an 11.8 meter boat that was built as a demonstrator for TM&LS, and has since been sold to Naval Underwater Warfare Center, a 10 meter step-hulled twin-outboard that was built to validate a +50 knot top speed in response to an RFQ (Request for Quote) from the Hong Kong Police Department, and a twin diesel powered 12 meter that was originally designed in response to a United States Coast Guard RFQ. The arrangement allows Naiad to bid on projects that are much larger then they have the capacity to complete in Portsmouth, and offers Textron a partner with expertise in a small and specialized niche market. If the Government wants inflatable boats, Textron wants to be ready. Pictured is one of a set of two 10M boats that Naiad delivered to the Marine Corps in February of this year. They are designed to carry 17 solders and perform in adverse conditions. This image was taken at Camp Pendleton. The boats are now deployed over seas in the Middle East. When we spoke to Ken Brodin last week, Naiad was working on a bid for 11 boats like these where Naiad would team with Textron to build. Naiad Newport builds about 4 or 5 boats a year now, so this would be a big deal. To sell these projects and meet this kind of client, Naiad participates in the Navy’s Multi Agency Craft Conference each year in June.

However, the business for heavy duty inflatables is not all commercial. Naiad Inflatables of Newport also builds yacht tenders like the t/t Kiwi Magic. She is 11.8M and powered with twin 540hp Cummins QSC8.3 diesels driving twin Hamilton HJ322 water jets. This boat belongs to Bill Koch and shadows his 12 Meter race boat. They are also just finishing up a tender for the owner of a large New England car dealership. And there are thrill seeking adventurers like James Cameron who used three Naiad custom built boats to assist in their exploration of the Titanic as featured on the Discovery channel. Working with a diverse cliental and building custom boats is “a fun way to spend the day” as Ken puts it. You can visit them at: www.naiadnewport.com
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