The Highfield brand appears to be a relatively youngProducer of rigid hull inflatable boats because production has only been taking place in Weihai, China, since 2011. TheHowever, the brand's roots lie with Swift Marinea
Australian manufacturer who has been specialising in rigid-hull inflatable boats with aluminium hulls for around 30 years.for tough applications which also enjoy a good reputation as workboats with authorities, for example.
The fact that this expertise has been incorporated into Highfield's designs is recognisable at first glance.
The company is owned by French and Chinese investors, is run by a European management team andExports to 38 countries. The importer in Germany is Wassersport Keckeis GmbH in Mühlhausen-Ehingen.
In principle, theHulls made from a high-strength aluminium alloywhich is chromatised and powder-coated. The outer skin of the Highfield Patrol 600 is made offive millimetre thick panelswhich are supplemented with stringers up to ten millimetres thick.
As the Patrol line also has commercial customers in its sights, the basic version of the hoses with their six chambers is made of chlorosulphonated polyethylene (CSM), aextremely resistant fabric with elastomer coating, which is known under its old brand name "Hypalon".
The material is currently manufactured by the French specialist Pennel & Flipo under the name "Orca". If you don't have such high demands, you can also order the boat with PVC hoses made from "Valmex". The shipyard obtains this material from the German manufacturer Mehler Texnologies from Hückelhoven near Fulda in Hesse.
The final assembly of many components only takes place at the importer in Germany.
This has the advantage that the customer can still influence the exact positioning of the console, the driver's seat, the type of steering or the choice of manufacturer and the installation of other parts.
You can read the full article in the August issue of BOOTE.
Available here from 17 July 2019.
