3/21/2013

Photo courtesy of Bob Welton

A Superior firm used the frozen harbor as a backdrop Thursday to display its expanded line of fire and rescue boats.

Lake Assault Boats, which designs and builds its aluminum watercraft at Fraser Shipyards, produces specialized boats up to 36 feet in length and priced into six figures, said Jim Kubala, operations manager. It manufactured 17 of them in 2012 and hopes to expand both staff and output this year, he said.

“Our boats are unique,” he noted, featuring welded aluminum and including models that feature an opening bow to accommodate exiting four-wheelers or similar equipment at remote sites that are difficult to access.

Users include the Lake Vermilion Fire Brigade, which demonstrated the boats at the public landing beneath the Blatnik Bridge. The unit displayed its Brigade III rescue craft, a 25x8’6” all-aluminum boat capable of reaching speeds of 50 miles per hour over water and faster on ice. Also on exhibit was a 19x8-foot St. Louis County Sheriff’s Rescue Squad ice rescue boat.

A key feature of the mission-specific boats is their ability to travel from ice to water and back. That design also is ideal for passing through swamps and wet grass, Kubala said. They’re driven by high-horsepower V8 engines that direct their power into multi-blade fans.

Lake Assault Boats is locally owned by the Capstan Corporation and operates as a division of Fraser Industries. Recent deliveries have been to areas including Portage, Ind.; Nashville and Hendersonville, Tenn.; Kearny, N.J.; Cleveland, Ohio; Bettendorf, Iowa, and Prescott, Wis. Since Lake Assault was acquired from its founder and moved to Superior in December 2010, Lake Assault has designed, built, delivered and commissioned 28 custom boats.

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