Wanganui Chronicle: 01.11.2008 by John Maslin

Multi-million-dollar contracts in New Zealand and the US have seen a Wanganui industry boom over the past few months, even as the national business outlook has worsened.

Q-West Boat Builders is now building vessels for Whalewatch Kaikoura and the Lake Manapouri power station plus private boats for the American market, requiring a large number of staff, including 20 boatbuilders.

An article on Port Taranaki's new vessel, the Rawinia...

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Since Auckland's Pine Harbour ferry service was introduced in January 2002, with a patronage of around 50 per day, the service has grown to where the company is now taking over 350 passengers per day, doing 11 return trips...

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One of the most thoughtful and exhaustive boat searches ever conducted in New Zealand came to fruition towards the end of last year when Q-West in Wanganui launched Deodar III Auckland’s latest police boat. The officer in charge of the Auckland Police Maritime Unit, Senior Sergeant Martin Paget, began looking for a new boat to replace the unit's ageing Deodar II about two years ago. “The Deodar II is 15 years old, and there have been significant advances in hull design and construction materials since we bought her. We didn't just want to replace what we had with a new version of the same thing,” Martin said. And to ensure this did not happen the Police team who drew up the specifications or wish list, specified outcome results and left it to the designers to come up with the answers.

Complex electronics are carefully matched

The backbone of the Deodar III's electronic systems is the Northstar 8000i network, which displays a multitude of different functions onto the four main 12in and 15in bridge screens and a single 12in screen on the flybridge.
The system was conceived, designed and manufactured in New Zealand. It employs innovative technology not seen previously in touch screen control, digital radar processing, professional series C-Map charting and specialist software that allowed the Police and Customs to specify control and display functions they could not have achieved elsewhere, says Bettina Latham of Crystal Electronics.

Central Today Newspaper December/January 2008 -Issue 47

Q-West Boat Builders Limited is expanding its already diverse skills in boat building through the construction of a $3 million vessel for the New Zealand Police.

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TV3 News website
Mon, 19 Nov 2007 07:32p.m.

Boating baddies beware, the Police have just unveiled a new high speed, high-tech police boat – the Deodar III.

The vessel will be ready to start service on the Hauraki Gulf in mid December, after it finishes sea trials in the area.

The catamaran cost $2.8 million and is equipped with Hamilton jet-engines that can propel the vessel to 30 knots.

With it’s wealth of high-tech monitoring equipment, the vessel will expand sea-borne policing and search and rescue work to include customs duties.

Auckland’s first police launch was named Deodar, in honour of the warship a former police minister served.

It was commissioned in the 1960s and served until sinking in 1989 after being rammed by another ship.

Deodar II was launched in 1992 and had a long and luckier career on the Hauraki Gulf. It is hoped that Deodar III will keep the tradition alive.

Click here to view origional artilce and video

The innovative new police launch, Deodar III, heads over the Whanganui River bar to sea.

10.11.2007
By WILLIAM ROBERTSON
Wanganui Chronicle

A WANGANUI-built boat bound for Auckland takes with it a number of innovations that will aid maritime police work on the Waitemata Harbour.

Trials of the new police launch, Deodar III, have been extremely successful, according to Colin Mitchell, general manager of Q-West Boat Builders Ltd.

Senior Sergeant Martin Paget, officer in charge of the Auckland maritime police unit, they were pleased with the stable and roomy new boat.

Police had been testing the new vessel throughout this week. Weve found these particular boats are more than able to meet our needs, Mr Paget said.

The Deodar III is a catamaran rather than a standard single-hull vessel, and its design brought advantages.

It's quiker, can carry more people and is easier to launch, he said.

It was fitted with the latest electronics that police would use to locate targets and navigate with.

The large dinghy on the back of the vessel was innovative and had a particularly unusual launching capability.

Mr Paget said it would enable police to get to very shallow water more easily, board other boats with far less risk and go about discretely when necessary.

Castlecliff-based company Q-West was contracted to build all NZ police maritime vessels over the next decade. The contract represented an earning potential of $12 million.

Maritime Unit members have voted to accept a new career structure that recognises the increased responsibility associated with their role.

New Zealand Herald

A new $2.8 million police launch will be operating in Auckland in time for summer, with a second for Wellington probably not far behind.

Whale Watch Kaikoura was so satisfied with the first vessel Q-West built for them two years a go, it has come back for more.