Sentinel Boats gets closer to completing boats it is designing for the Royal New Zealand Navy

A vessel described as ‘the ute of the navy’ is beginning to take shape as an overseas navy visits a Hobart workshop to analyse the boats it ordered.

New Zealand Defence Force personnel at the Sentinel workshop at Derwent Park. Picture: Supplied.

The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) will soon get some fresh new vessels courtesy of a Hobart boat manufacturing company.

Sentinel Boats has been contracted to supply the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) with 17 780R vessels.

The agreement also includes an option for three extra electric or hybrid propulsion vessels for the Kiwis to use for training and development purposes.

Sentinel Boats recently welcomed a delegation from the NZDF, which spent two days at the company’s workshop at Derwent Park to “finely tune every aspect of the cutting-edge 780R platform.”

New Zealand Defence Force personnel at the Sentinel workshop at Derwent Park. Picture: Supplied.

The company’s CEO, George McGuire, said the visit gave the delegation an insight into the building process and the unique properties of High-Density Polypropylene (HDPE) for performance boat building.

“Collaboration is essential because you can get a boat 95 per cent right, and the 5 per cent will be the things the operators have a problem with,” Mr McGuire said.

“Whereas with everyone bringing their perspective and unique insights into how the boats will be used and maintained, we can get a chance to get it 100 per cent right.

“We can adjust the design to take in account all the different cases and supply a boat that is ready to go from day one without any modifications required.”

New Zealand Defence Force personnel at the Sentinel workshop at Derwent Park. Picture: Supplied.

RNZN Commander Murray Tuffin said it had confidence in Sentinel.

“We understand we are a tough customer - we set a list of really tough requirements and expect delivery on time, on schedule, and better than what we asked for, and so to have the relationship and rapport with Sentinel makes a huge difference to the process,” Commander Tuffin said.

“It’s the ute of the navy, basically - everything you can think of doing with a boat at sea, we’re going to try and do it with one boat - so it’s got a huge list of requirements, and that’s what these couple of days are about; zeroing in on each requirement and making sure it ticks all the boxes at once.”

The NZDF is set to receive the first of its 17 780Rs from Sentinel in the second half of 2025.