Page 67: of Marine News Magazine (November 2011)

www.marinelink.com MN67Some engines have a turbo lag where you want power immediately but it takes time to build up and beavailable. But these engines have superb handling characteristics, andthat?s extremely important when you?re doing tight maneuvers like we encounter quite often.? Smith Maritime is looking into repowering the Rhea in the near future, and Smith says that because of the lack of maintenance issues andreliability he?s experienced with Mitsubishi thus far, they will likely employ Mitsubishi engines again. ?We need to be reliable and assured that we?ll always be there to do our jobs,? said Smith. ?Our newer tug- boats are all designed with triple redundancy ? three engines, three propellers, triple all the vital compo- nents and parts. If a tug fails or is late, it?s enormously costly. Everything leads back to the reliability issue.? And, despite those initial impressions of Latham Smith as the ?reckless thrill seeker?, it is perhaps ironic that he might very well value reliability more than most. In this case, that?s where Mitsubishi comes in. MN#11 (66-81):MN 2011 Layouts 11/3/2011 10:01 AM Page 67