Neuville Brothers Building Powerful Crewboat
Steve Miguez is adding a fourth crew boat to his Iberia Crewboats fleet. Like the Mr. Blake, Mr. Ridge and Lady Glenda that he already operates, the Lady Marie is being built across the road from his New Iberia home at the Neuville Boat Works. This is the thirteenth boat that Steve has had built at the yard since he started in the business as a 21-year-old in 1975. Like the last one that he had built there, it is 150 ft. over all with a 28-ft. beam. Tankage and most other aspects of the new vessel are the same. The major departure from earlier vessel is to be found in the engine room. The earlier boat was powered by five of Cummins six-cylinder KTA19 M4 engines rated at 700 hp each for a total of 3,500 hp.
Neuville Mixes Large and Small Crewboats
Kerry Neuville recently built an 18-ft. aluminum skiff with his son and now parks it in the same shed where he and his brother started their boatbuilding careers. Across the yard from the little shed Neuville Boatworks huge building sheds bustle with their usual activity. With a 154 x 30 x 12.5-ft. crew boat (160-foot overall) nearing completion for Steve Miguez’s Iberia Crewboats and scheduled for a March delivery. A sister-ship is being framed up on an inverted jig in one of the other building sheds. Both vessels will be powered by four Cummins KTA38 M2 engines provide power for the vessel. Each engine produces 1350 hp at 1950 RPM into Twin Disc MG-6650 gears with 2.47:1 reduction. The 5400 hp crewboats will achieve speeds of 26 knots.
