Vessel Deliveries

California Fish & Game recently took delivery of P/V Thresher, a 54 ft. all-aluminum catamaran, designed by Teknicraft of Aukland, New Zealand, and built by Kvichak Marine, of Seattle, Wash.

The partially foil-supported catamaran will be stationed in Dana Point as a Fish and Game Marine Enforcement patrol vessel for Southern California.

The cat's beam is 20.2 ft., and weighs nearly 28 tons fully loaded. Powered by twin Caterpillar 3196 DITA diesel engines, driving 30 in. stainless steel propellers through Twin Disc MG 5114A gears, Thresher cruises at 26 knots with a top speed of 30 knots.

Deck equipment includes an aft deck A-frame to deploy and retrieve a customer-supplied Hurricane inflatable. A rotating articulated crab block davit enables the hoisting and retrieval of fishing traps and pots of a diameter up to 60 in. To accommodate swinging pots and traps aboard, a 48 in. wide lift-out side opening is positioned next to the davit.

Thresher will conduct commercial and sport fishery enforcement patrols from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border, including the Channel Islands.

Cal Dive Aker Dove Christened

Aker Marine Contractors (AMC) announce recently delivered Anchor Handling Tug Construction Vessel Cal Dive Aker Dove was christened in the Houston Ship Channel. After a brief blessing ceremony, Roma Dove, wife of AMC Chairman Peter Dove, performed the christening.

Soon after the ceremony, the 16,000 hp, 180-ton bollard pull vessel slipped its berth and headed out to tow MODU Homer Ferrington, on contract to Mariner Energy, from Sabine to an offshore location on Garden Banks Block 73, where it will run out the anchors. Cal Dive Aker Dove heralds the introduction of a new class of service vessel capable of performing a range of construction activities in deep water.

The 285 ft long, Jones-Act-qualified vessel is equipped with a 300 ton, rotating "A" frame gantry; 150 hp, 10,000 ft depth rated ROV; and accommodations for up to 52 offshore workers.

Leevac Completes Contract for Hornbeck

Leevac Shipyards, in Jennings, La., has delivered the third of a three-vessel contract to Hornbeck Offshore Services, a division of Hornbeck-Leevac Marine Services. The 240 x 54 x 18 ft. OSV, HOS Cornerstone, along with recently completed HOS Deepwater, are the largest of the series of vessels being built for Hornbeck Offshore Services.

HOS Cornerstone is powered by two Caterpillar engines totaling 4,000 hp, two 800 hp continuous bowthrusters, one 400 hp stern thruster and three 250kW generators. The vessel is equipped with high lift rudders, which accentuate the maneuvering capability. The Nautronix DPS ensures position keeping.

The vessels have specifications of 8,550 sq. ft. of clear deck area; internal tankage of 6,475 barrels of liquid mud; 8,400 cu. ft. of bulk capacity; 150,000 gal. of fuel; 235,000 gal. of drill water and 50,000 gal. of potable water.

Washburn & Doughty Delivers Susan Moran

Washburn and Doughty has delivered the third in a series of six identical 92 ft. Z-drive tugs for Moran Towing Corp. Susan Moran joins sister ships Marci Moran and Karen Moran for the towing company. The three remaining tugs are already on the ways at Washburn & Doughty, with Tracy Moran ready for launching.

Susan Moran measures 92 x 39 x 13.9 ft., and is built to Maltese Cross A1, AMS with notation: Towing Service standard. Service speed for Susan Moran is 13 knots, and it has a 34,000 gal. fuel oil capacity. The vessel is powered by two EMD 16-645-E2 main engines rated at 4,000 hp @ 900 rpm, driving Ulstein Z-drives.

Susan Moran features Hule D fendering for the side and sub fendering, and Schuyler Soft Loop on both the bow and stern. On deck, the vessel features two Markey capstans, and two 1,500 SCUM fire monitors fed by a 3,000 gpm Aurora fire pump. The pilothouse is outfitted with a Furuno GP35 GPS, two ICOM M127 VHFs, a Furuno FR 7062/4 radar and a Danforth Constellation compass.

Western Towboat Launches New Line-Haul Vessel

Western Towboat Co., Inc., Seattle, has improved its Alaskan towing service with a new Z-drive oceangoing line-haul tug. Pacific Titan entered service in mid-April, towing a 10,000 long ton (10,160 metric ton) displacement cargo barge between Seattle and multiple ports in southeast Alaska.

Western built the 110-ft., 4,520 bhp (3,372 bkW) tug with design assistance from Jensen Maritime, Seattle. The new boat is a sister vessel to Western Titan, which entered service in October 1997. One notable difference in the new boat is its Centa carbon fiber shafts and couplings. "This is the first tug we know of to use this technology," said Bob Shrewsbury, Jr., Western president.

Propulsion power comes from two Cat 3516B marine diesel engines, each rated 2,260 bhp (1,686 bkW) at 1,600 rpm, supplied by N C Power Systems, Seattle. The electronically controlled Cat engines drive Ulstein Z-drives with Nautican propellers and nozzles.

This will be the fourth Western vessel equipped with Cat 3516B engines. "Everybody, from port engineers to operators, likes these electronic engines," said Shrewsbury. "They're smooth-running, with low smoke and good fuel economy, and we've put a lot of hours on them."

Pacific Titan is equipped with a Nordic tow winch holding 2,600 ft of 2.25 in. wire. Two Cat 3306B engines turning 90 ekW generators at 1,800 rpm provide auxiliary power.

Triple Screw Towboat from Orange Texas Yard

Stockstill Boat Rentals of New Iberia, La. received its 64 x 28 x 9.5 ft. push boat from Inland Boatworks of Orange, Texas. The new boat is the second delivered from the Inland yard to this customer, as 54 x 22 ft. Mitzi Evelyn was delivered in December of 1997.

The new boat, named Brian Paul will be the owner's first pushboat with Cummins power. Propulsion will be provided by three Cummins six-cylinder KTA19 engines rated for 500 hp at 1,800 rpm, turning six-in. stainless shafts and 66 x 48 in. Rice four blade bronze through Twin Disc 516 gears at 6:1.

This triple screw Cummins-powered propulsion package with its shallow draft and redundancy is becoming the industry standard for work on the Inter-Coastal Waterway. Brian Paul will also have a pair of Cummins 6BT5.9 powered 60 Kw gen sets.

Owner Donald Stockstill, who also operates 11 crew boats, reports he has a third pushboat in the planning stages.

Marco Shipyard Delivers Tractor Tug

Marco Shipyard Seattle continued its successful tractor tug series with the delivery of its tenth member, Millennium Falcon, to Harley Marine Services of Seattle.

Christened this past February, the powerful versatile tug is capable of providing ship assist, and inland and ocean towing. Similar to its predecessors, the first of which was delivered to Pacific Coast Maritime in 1995, the tug measures 105 ft., with an overall beam of 37 ft. and a molded depth of 17 ft. Millennium Falcon is powered by a pair of CAT diesels, providing a total of 4,400 bhp driving Ulstein Z-drive units. Auxiliary power is provided by two CAT 3304BT diesels, each with 105 kW generators and hydraulic PTOs.

Supplied by Burrard Iron Works, the model HE split-drum headline winch is fitted with 500 ft. of three in. diameter Vetstran Line. Other equipment includes switchboards, distribution panels and wiring by Harris Electric; master alarm panel by Marine Controls; and electronics furnished by Radio-Holland USA.