Page 42: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2005)

Circle 223 on Reader Service Card 42 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News

In her first weeks of operation, the most recent addition to Diamond

Services black-hulled fleet of crew boats, was working out of Port

Fourchon, La. Diamond's senior Capt.

Tracy Frederick was in command of the

DP-1 boat. Asking a visitor to remove his shoes before walking on the immac- ulate non-skid maroon-red wheelhouse floor, he said, "This is a lot of boat to handle. When I have to put a man up on production platform and I have to set the stern right alongside, but that is where these jets are so good. The maneuver- ability is so fast and accurate, there is no delay because the gear is always turning and I just use the bucket and throttle. On the wheel there is only about a quarter turn and you have full thrust to port or starboard. You can drive it like a car."

Tracy makes it sound easy but when you look out from his rear controls over more than 130-ft. of boat between there and the stern you realize that he is maybe not taking enough credit for his own skills. The jets, that Tracy is refer- ring to are four Hamilton HM-721 waterjets powered by four Cummins

KTA38-SQ. M. mains producing 1,350 hp each at 1,900 rpm and turning through ZF 2550 marine gears. It is a much proven engine package about which Tracy is equally enthusiastic hav- ing worked with the same engines on

Diamond Services' six-year old Mr.

Steven.

Design credits on the boat go to A.K.

Suda of New Orleans with construction at the new Conrad Aluminum, LLC yard in Amelia near Morgan City, La.. In fact the boat carries the yard's 001 builder's plate. The 180 x 32 x 14.6-ft. boat also carries 39,000 gallons of fuel, 68,000 gallons of water and up to 300 tons of freight on her 112 x 26-ft. cargo deck.

Seating is provided for 70 passengers in the main deck cabin and accommoda- tion for up to nine crew members is in the hull.

In addition to its dynamic positioning system and full suite of electronics,

Tracy is pleased with the Fanbeam Laser

Radar 4.1 station keeping system that takes reflected signals from a rig and interfaces with the DP system to main- tain real space positioning, "Last night I was using the Fanbeam in a 13 knot

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Offshore Technology Annual

Conrad Aluminum Delivers its First Crew Boat

Ready to leave Port Fourchon for the off shore rigs.

Mary Grace Main Particulars

Owner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Diamond Services

Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Conrad Aluminum LLC

Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A.K. Suda

Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ABS

Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180 ft.

Breadth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 ft.

Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14.6 ft.

Main engines . . . . . . . .4 x Cummins KTA38-SQ. M.

Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5,400 hp

Waterjets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Hamilton HM-721

Gears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ZF 2550

Gensets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cummins

Bowthruster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thrustmaster

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