Ukranian craft assembled in the USA
BY Merit McCrea
SAN DIEGO – BRIG in Karkiv Ukraine is globally know for it’s production of speedy RIB design vessels. Gary Swedback, CEO of NAI Mexico traveled to the war-torn city to commission construction. There he commissioned the construction of a BRIG Eagle 10 – a 10 meter vessel (~33 feet) as Russian missiles threatened daily. In fact the very intersection he’d been by several times was obliterated the following day. Swedback said “ It was part dream and part hope and part support for Ukraine. Build a special boat at a factory in the forest near Kharkiv—safely transport it to Odessa, and ship it across the world to California.”
That’s how it began. A few months later the partially completed vessel was packed into a shipping container in pieces and shipped to the Golden State, Sunset Marine in El Cajon where Joey Harrod and his team was tasked to unpack, assemble and outfit the craft, half a world away.
Swedback said, “Artillery was still landing near the boat on the day they packed it, in 5 sections into the container and shipped it. The truck made it to Odessa port at the Black Sea. Then to Turkey, Spain, Panama Canal, Mexico and to Los Angeles.”
Harrod called it an interesting build. It came in parts, a bare hull, center console, tower and more all waiting to be bolted together. It was a new boat, one he didn’t know. More than that, it appeared it had been engineered in pieces, hadn’t been assembled then undone and packed — trusted to faith it would all go together.
Joey said they did just a little bit of mods, but it basically went together without a hitch. The only thing was one handle that had to be moved to put up the tower.
It was “one of the faster boats that we’ve made.” They sea-trialed it to 60 knots and the twin Suzukis had more to give, being held back at break-in rpms and he called the craft “a lot of fun” to run.
Sunset sourced and installed those dual-prop machines, all electronics and nav gear, Fusion sterio and more. At this writing the boat was back to the yard for Sea Deck installation and having a cover made – finishing touches for the BRIG Eagle 10.
