Fitting a pair of Cummins QSK38
The single most expensive component of a new boat is the engines and installation is one of the most crucial days in the build process. It takes several months to build a typical inland river pushboat but lifting the engines into the hull is a short intense job. Joey Portier at Intacoastal Iron Works in Bourg Louisiana has done the job countless times and was very familiar with the dimensions of the Cummins Tier 2 mechanical KTA38 engine. However, last December a client for one…
Intracoastal Producing More Push Boats
Joey Portier shows the donut welded in place to protect the stern bearing on the Jackie Gonsoulin. Joey Portier, yard manager at Intracoastal Iron Works, Inc, carries a lot of construction details for the yard?s 72 by 30-foot push boat in his head. Asked about shafting details on the two that they are currently building for Lebeouf Bros. Towing, he explains that they are 19 feet long. The six-inch shafts swell to seven inches after the journal is installed. The journal is a piece…
Modular Construction at Intracoastal Marine
Louisiana shipyards are famous for launching fine boats from some pretty basic facilities. Raymond Viguerie's Intracoastal Marine is a good example. His yard near Bourg Louisiana doesn?t need fancy building sheds. It relies on good people like yard manager Joey Portier to keep the several boats building at any given time moving along to schedule. An important part of keeping to the schedule is the use of modular construction. While working with a small crew, the yard has been able to build the M/V Alexandra Danos with efficiency and a minimum of time spent climbing in and out of the hull. The 140 by 34-foot mini-supply vessel was fabricated in three modules. One module was for the raised foc?sle and superstructure, another for the forward hull and the third for the aft hull.
Launch Day in Bourg, La.
Joey Portier, yard manager at Intercoastal Iron Works, recently sent this photo of the splashy launch that they had for Lebeouf Brothers Towing's latest push boat. As in others built to the Frank Basile design, this 72 x 32-ft. push boat is powered by twin Cummins KTA38 M1 main engines rated at 1,000 hp each. At Intracoastal Ironworks Joey Portier manages the yard for owner Raymond Viguerie. The yard delivered one of the Basile-designed 72-footers, the Katie Gronsulin, to Lebeouf Brothers Towing in the fall of 2006. They launched this one in early May and will deliver shortly. In line behind the Richard Gonsoulin II are orders for at least one more for Lebeouf and then two for Higman Marine.
