Stern Flap Powering Performance Prediction for the Coast Guard 110-Foot WPB Island Class Patrol Boat

Abstract

The United States Coast Guard, in supporting and executing its growing list of missions, employs the 110 ft WPB Coastal Patrol Board as a multipurpose platform. Recently, the internal conflicts in Haiti which resulted in the mass exodus of people required extensive use of 110 ft WPBs. These Coastal Patrol Boats are being deployed for longer periods of time with longer on-scene time than before. But with this growing list of missions and recent developments, the Coast Guard's budget has not increased. The Coast Guard has had to do more with less. In order to do this, one must look at ways of reducing the operating cost of the cutters. Analytical analysis of a 110 ft WPB Coastal Patrol Boat is used to show that retrofitting these vessels with a stern flap will lead to an effective energy enhancement with application to the entire 110 ft WPB Coastal Patrol Boat Fleet. The projected energy savings per cutter per year is over $5165. With a fleet of 49, the projected fleet savings per year is $253 085. The payback period for the installation costs would be just over one year.