This is a great model and probably the only realistic looking fireboat Lego ever made in the 21st century. All the others may have had unique designs, and sometimes looked cool, but made no sense.

@LordDunsany I agree. Which is why I easily converted my fireboat (set 7906) into a WW2 PT boat of sorts. I like set 60005, especially since the boat isn't too large to fit in my harbour, however it makes no sense and is basically just a speedboat with a quick firer artillery piece on the front, oh wait sorry no that's a 'water cannon'.

I really miss the days of city in the sort of early to mid 2000s like 2010-2013 roughly when we got (mostly) realistic sets with interesting ideas like this set, Public Transport, the various Great Vehicles, the original Mining theme etc. etc. rather than 2014-present where it's all just police and fire and very specific to this exact time period (a fireboat like this for example has a timeless quality about it that it wouldn't look out of place next to old sets, new sets, or a city set anytime in the past whereas all the sets now scream 2022 which is really annoying.)

Firing a boat...tsk, tsk...probably has a family too...:)

Seriously, I don't have a single one of these hull-types, and I really should. I mean, I like the...semi-catamaran style of having the hull 'jut-out' like it had/has pontoons; which would be good for stability and buoyancy. Also looks like it could have other properties, like the 'Arctic' sets 'Icebreaker' used this hull. Oh, well; other ships first I suppose...

It's a nice one, if a little bit empty. Fire boats usually only have a bed, a table and computers inside if you're lucky. And tge occasional clip or tool rack. Storage tanks or dedicated sections for tools would be nice, like a cupboard.
And yeah, if I was a kid I would definitely use those cannons for something more 'violent' at least once...

It feels ages ago since the last good fire and police boats in City anyway.

This boat is on fire!

After 20 years of evolution the main fire hoist only extends out 4 bricks which seems a little disappointing for a specialized piece. The piston should attach to the outside of the boom to allow a longer beam. I always wondered why the main deck is not raised 3 bricks higher to allow the lower deck to be more accessible and have windows etc.

I know we tend to get a lot of Fire stuff but this boat actually looks really good. 2010 was when I came out of my Dark Ages but I don't remember this one, possibly a retail exclusive.

Fire Boat!? That is a ship (a small one at that but still)!

That’s a lot of hoses, how much fire they expecting? What am I saying, this is Lego City, there’s fires all the time all over the place!

@Yooha said:
" This boat is on fire! "

HEY!

HEY! I kind of remember this. Not sure if it was on my want list or not.

@Lego_lord said:
"Out of pure curiosity, I sometimes check the evolution of certain sets. Fire boats evolved so much since the first one with minifigs 4025 in 1982. Other major fireboats being:
1987 - 4020 : Seems very basic,
1991 - 4031 : Best one in my opinion (Helipad makes a great difference),
2004 - 7046 : Not so beautiful but works,
2007 - 7906 : Nice and sporty,
2007 - 7944 : One and only, that's why it's crazy cool,
2010 - 7207 : Last of the bigger, better fireboats,
2016 - 60109 : It doesn't look like a fireboat.
The rest is not big enough to mention here.

"

To me the one that started it all is 775 / 316. I so wanted this when I was a kid. I got the police one 314 and somehow I thought the fire-boat also had pre-minifig in it - still like it anyway.

@Jack_Sassy
There’s no hard and fast rule for ship vs boat, but the rule of thumb I learned when I worked for a boatbuilder is 100’ is the dividing line. I just asked a coworker who’s former US Navy, and he thinks somewhere between 120’-200’. Scaled to minifigs, I got this hull at 63’9”.

Other common distinctions are if it carries cargo by sea (this doesn’t), or if it has a permanent crew (doubtful). Another is that ships carry boats but not vice versa, but I don’t recall ever seeing LEGO firefighting vessels carrying launches or tenders. There’s a distinction that’s specific to sailing vessels (3+ masts = ship). The US Navy has an interesting way of differentiating them, which is if the hull heels into or out of a sharp turn (not really helpful if you can’t actually test for it, but something I’d never heard of before). That one has to do with the relationship between center of mass and center of buoyancy.

I like it! I’ve always had so many other LEGO priorities that City stuff always get short shrift even though I do love City and plan to do a big City layout one day, and I’ve gotten very little firefighter stuff even within City, so I never did get this, but kind of wish I had.

LEGO fire boats are always a little nostalgic for me no matter what, since one of the first sets I ever had was either 316 or its American counterpart 775 (I’m not sure which it was - in the mid-to-late ‘70s I was an American Air Force brat living in the UK where my dad was stationed, and I’m not sure which of my childhood sets were purchased at local English shops and which came from the base exchange, so I might have had either European or US releases). I remember actually playing with that floating ship in the bathtub; it would have been one of the last (if not the last) tub toy I ever played with at bath time.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Jack_Sassy
There’s no hard and fast rule for ship vs boat, but the rule of thumb I learned when I worked for a boatbuilder is 100’ is the dividing line. I just asked a coworker who’s former US Navy, and he thinks somewhere between 120’-200’. Scaled to minifigs, I got this hull at 63’9”.

Other common distinctions are if it carries cargo by sea (this doesn’t), or if it has a permanent crew (doubtful). Another is that ships carry boats but not vice versa, but I don’t recall ever seeing LEGO firefighting vessels carrying launches or tenders. There’s a distinction that’s specific to sailing vessels (3+ masts = ship). The US Navy has an interesting way of differentiating them, which is if the hull heels into or out of a sharp turn (not really helpful if you can’t actually test for it, but something I’d never heard of before). That one has to do with the relationship between center of mass and center of buoyancy."

It seems you are right! I don't know so much about modern ship distinction so just assumed that this one is a ship too, as it doesn't look like much of a boat. So far I have taken it quite seriously but perhaps I shouldn't.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Jack_Sassy
There’s no hard and fast rule for ship vs boat, but the rule of thumb I learned when I worked for a boatbuilder is 100’ is the dividing line. I just asked a coworker who’s former US Navy, and he thinks somewhere between 120’-200’. Scaled to minifigs, I got this hull at 63’9”.

Other common distinctions are if it carries cargo by sea (this doesn’t), or if it has a permanent crew (doubtful). Another is that ships carry boats but not vice versa, but I don’t recall ever seeing LEGO firefighting vessels carrying launches or tenders. There’s a distinction that’s specific to sailing vessels (3+ masts = ship). The US Navy has an interesting way of differentiating them, which is if the hull heels into or out of a sharp turn (not really helpful if you can’t actually test for it, but something I’d never heard of before). That one has to do with the relationship between center of mass and center of buoyancy."

It also depends on who you ask. As an uncle always said: boats go out on sea, ships go on rivers. And yes, he had a ship, not a boat. But then his son claimed the exact opposite. And obviously, he was the one with a ship....

The one thing they could agree on: anything not carrying cargo was certainly a boat....

@Lego_lord said:
"Out of pure curiosity, I sometimes check the evolution of certain sets. Fire boats evolved so much since the first one with minifigs 4025 in 1982. Other major fireboats being:
1987 - 4020 : Seems very basic,
1991 - 4031 : Best one in my opinion (Helipad makes a great difference),
2004 - 7046 : Not so beautiful but works,
2007 - 7906 : Nice and sporty,
2007 - 7944 : One and only, that's why it's crazy cool,
2010 - 7207: Last of the bigger, better fireboats,
2016 - 60109 : It doesn't look like a fireboat.
The rest is not big enough to mention here.

"

Wow, the artwork for the first 2 is beautiful. Got the orange of the flames in the water. They really lost something along the way from that front.

@WizardOfOss:
I suspect there are a lot of navies in the world who would raise an objection to that last definition. The US Navy definition is particularly interesting because it’s based entirely on how the vessel handles. By a similar measure, motorcycles are motor vehicles that lean to the inside when turning, and automobiles are vehicles that lean to the outside when turning.

My coworker mentioned something about a 6’ tug being the smallest vessel the US Navy considers a ship. 6’ seemed unpondworthy, never mind the open ocean (he worked ordnance for fighter jets on the big carriers, so might not have the best knowledge of vessels that are smaller than a house), so I did a little research. The smallest “ship” class in the US Navy is the Boomin’ Beaver, a tug that measures a mere 19’ long, with a 5’ draft. Meanwhile, all submarines, no matter how large, are always “boats” (I’m wondering if this has to do with the “way it handles” definition).

Chase McCain stole this one didn’t he?