Page 36: of Marine News Magazine (April 2022)

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Feature

Ship Repair & Conversion

JMS Naval Architects

Before: red areas After: blue areas were removed are new

Enterprises in Kingston, N.Y., and they did the fabrication ? cations had to be made to incorporate operational capa- and installation of the new houses. We used Cooley Marine bilities speci? c to the pilots’ mission, speci? cally boarding for the interior, they’re out of Connecticut. We were able to the vessel at sea safely. “The design included modi? cations do this whole project locally.” to the boarding area, extending the bridge wings for im-

The converted Maine Responder, now renamed New proved visibility, incorporating a heated deck to de-ice the

York to replace the previous vessel of the same name, offers boarding area, a man-overboard rescue system and a means a number of signi? cant improvements over its predeces- to rapidly launch a rescue boat.” sor. “It can hold station for six weeks as opposed to three The result was a port rescue station with net recovery weeks, so it’ll only have to come in half as often. It has a system, deck de-icing systems at port and starboard pilot much larger fuel capacity, much larger potable water ca- boarding stations, hot water/steam system for power wash- pacity. And that was part of our criteria when we sat down ing to de-ice the pilot boats when alongside in winter, new with JMS. One of the things we wanted to do was get knuckle boom crane to service the port and starboard rigid more time out of the vessel offshore before it would have in? atable boats (RIB) and load gear pier side, and small to come in for shore days,” Burns said. boat fueling/transfer stations port and starboard.

New potable water tanks with 60,000 gallons capac- Also added were two-way communication speakers from ity were fabricated and installed to help enable the longer boarding area to the pilothouse port and starboard bridge stays offshore. Another major addition was the construc- wings; buzzer system for communication between the pi- tion of a two-deck house that sleeps up to 28 pilots, with lothouse and crew mess and the port and starboard board- a pilot’s lounge and mess hall. “Although safety was the ing areas; ? oor to ceiling windows facing aft and down ? rst priority in the design, the pilots’ comfort while they for viewing of pilot boarding station; relocating controls were onboard was a close second. We conducted a baseline to bridge wing, steering, engine, VHF, gyro repeater, bow noise survey and speci? ed materials and installation meth- thruster, new two-way talk back to boarding station; and ods intended to make the accommodation spaces as quiet side windows facing outboard, sliding/opening.

as possible and conducive to the pilots getting quality rest The completed vessel, the new New York, retains its between assignments.” helicopter pad, ABS classi? cation, and U.S. Coast Guard

The bridge wings were also extended to give a clear view certi? cate of inspection (COI) as a Subchapter I vessel.

of the pilot launch landing area on each side of the vessel “We’re very happy with the new vessel that we have, and with CCTV camera system installed throughout the ves- we’re really looking forward to putting it into service and sel’s interior and exterior spaces. Powell said other modi- getting many years out of it,” Burns said.

36 | MN April 2022