Page 37: of Marine News Magazine (June 2017)

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ous sectors. A long-time North River customer, their ? eet includes jet-propelled boats capable of speeds up to forty knots, all fully certi? ed to effectively execute a wide array of services. All told, BCSL now has 12 North River boats in its ? eet, ranging in sizes from 38 feet up to 58 feet.

This new crew transfer boat has a lower crew cabin de- signed for 24 passengers/crew with an aft located upper pilot house designed for 3 crew. Twin Scania Di 16L die- sel engines, ZF transmissions and Hamilton 403 jets can push the fully loaded, 55,000 pound boat at speeds in excess of 37 knots.

Separately, North River has signaled its intent to branch out into the commercial ? shing game. Blocher explains, “North River Boats is a company that builds ? shing boats with the highest percentage of these boats being used by recreational sport ? shermen. We have a large ? eet of char- ter ? shing vessels in Alaska and British Columbia. The

Bristol Bay ? shing ? eet is aging and we see a new opportu- nity to expand our diverse offerings.”

One of the things that North River does well is to diver- sify into many different markets. And, says Blocher, that means being ? exible when the situation warrants. “When we started looking at this project we looked at the tradi- tional designs that are out there. Bristol Bay is a differ- ent market as the boat cannot be any longer than 32 feet.

They key to being successful here is to be able to provide a boat that will be able get into the shallows and hold a lot of ? sh. Our design does exactly that. We decided on

Pat Eberhardt with Coastwise Corporation to provide the engineering and design support for this craft. They are a very well-known design ? rm that has engineered many ? shing vessels used in Alaska and the Northwest. That knowledge has enabled us to design the ultimate Bristol

Bay ? shing vessel.”

OOKING ACK ORGING HEAD

L B , F A

The new Navy contract and existing recreational work, augmented by the foray into the commercial ? shing sector, ought to keep North River boats busy into the foreseeable future. In what might be viewed as a sea change, the one constant at North River seems to be its ability to adjust to ever-changing market conditions. There are possibly no two markets that could be more different than that rep- resented by military speci? cations and that demanded by the recreational boating public. And, yet, this niche West

Coast-based builder seems to satisfy both nicely. It’s about delivering quality and ? exibility, at the right price, in the right custom-designed hull. Mission accomplished.

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