Page 19: of Marine News Magazine (July 2005)

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sel can hold 149 passengers in three passenger areas and operates with a crew of three.

Gulf Craft

Gulf Craft is a renowned builder of crew boats for the offshore oil industry. However, in 2005, the company has shifted emphasis to fast ferries. In June they delivered the

Marquette II, an 80-ft. by 24-ft. ferry to Star Line, which operates between Mackinaw on the Lower Peninsula of

Michigan and Mackinac Island, a 16-mile voyage. The ferry company also operates from St. Ignace on the main- land to the island.

In the summer season, the company operates over 65 trips per day and the new boat was delivered just in time for the 2005 summer season. In addition to passengers, the ferries of Star Line carry bicycles and luggage, but no cargo. The company operates six ferries on the routes, all built by Gulf Craft. "We think Gulf Craft builds great boats and they are great people to work with," said Tom

Pfeiffelmann, general manager and one of the principal owners of Star Line. The company is also retiring one vessel, Marquette, another Gulf Craft-built boat.

Star Line operates what they call Hydro-Jet ferries. The ferries use a waterjet to create a high plume of water behind the boat. More than a visual device, the waterjet adds three miles per hour the ferries speed, according to

Pfeiffelmann. "Our vessels travel at over 31 mph, so we can make the 16 mile trip in less than 30 minutes."

Power for the vessels is from a pair of Detroit Diesel

MTU 16V2000 engines rated at 1,410 hp each working into Twin Disc gears and conventional props. There is also a Detroit Diesel MTU Series 60 diesel engine rated at 600 hp at 2,100 rpm that powers the North American water jet that creates the rooster tail behind the vessel.

The Marquette II is a Subchapter K vessel with seating for 158 on the main deck, 102 exterior seats on the mid deck and 70 on the upper deck for at total of 330. "The trip is relatively short so we do not offer any kind of food service," Pfeiffelmann noted

Working so close to shore the vessel needs a minimum of pilothouse electronics including a pair of Furuno radars a pair of Horizon VHF units, a public address sys- tem and a Furuno Loudhailer.

The big news at Gulf Craft this year and stretching into 2006 are a pair of large high-speed ferries under con- struction. The first to be delivered is the familiar story at

Gulf Craft of a repeat customer In January 2004, Gulf

Craft delivered the Key West Express, a 150 x 34-ft. high speed passenger catamaran to Key West Shuttle LLC capable of holding 378 passengers and traveling at 38 knots.

Now the company wants to add a larger and faster ves- sel to its fleet. The new vessel with a February 2006 delivery date will be 170 ft. by 38 ft. wide capable of car- rying 513 passengers at over 40 knots.

Crowther Multihulls of Australia designed the vessel as they do all of Gulf Craft's high-speed catamarans.

To reach these speeds, four MTU 16V4000 engines rated at 3,100 each will power the vessel. There will be two engines in each catamaran hull. Waterjets will be

HM 811 units by Hamilton. Two Northern Lights 99 kW generators will supply electrical power.

The second high-speed passenger catamaran will be for

Safeway Maritime Transportation of Rotan, Bay Island,

July, 2005 • MarineNews 19

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The Marquette II is the seventh vessel owned by Star Line built by Gulf Craft. The vessel is a Subchapter K vessel with a passenger capacity of 330.

Island Boats first steel hulled vessels are the 72-ft. Half Moon Cay #1 and Half Moon Cay #2 to be used by Holland America Lines to ferry passengers from the cruise ship to a company owned island and return to the ship.

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