Dravo SteelShip Delivers Towboat With Elevating Pilothouse To International Paper

Dravo SteelShip Corporation, Route #4, Pine Bluff, Ark. 71601, recently delivered a SteelShip 80 with elevating pilothouse to International Paper Company, Woodlands Division, Mobile, Ala. The new vessel, named the Forest Queen, will be operating on the Yazoo River, crewed by International Paper Company personnel under the direction of Charlie Carlton, marine superintendent, towing logs for their pulp operation at Natchez, Miss.

The Forest Queen is a Steel- Ship 80 standard design with molded dimensions of 80 feet by 26 feet by 8 feet. The hull has extra heavy framing and is plated with 3/8-inch A-36 steel except the forward deck and transom which are 1/2-inch, the bottom aft is 3/8-inch, and the headlog and corners are 3/4-inch.

The hull is divided into 11 watertight compartments.

She is powered by Caterpillar D-398 turbocharged and aftercooled engines, equipped with Caterpillar 7261 gears turning Kahlenberg 72-inch, four-blade, stainless-steel propellers. The 7- inch steel shafts have chrome nickel boron sleeves at wear points turning in Johnson Stave Bearings and Johnson Air Seal Stuffing Boxes. The engine coolers are SteelShip's standard heavy angle, welded to the hull bottom with Fernstrum grid coolers for the after cooling circuit. The engines are equipped with Westinghouse air brake controls and air starting.

A specially designed SteelShip monitoring system monitors 28 points on the vessel, which include in addition to the standard pressure and monitoring: bilge water level, fuel levels, cooling water level, crankcase oil level, control air, and ships air pressure, and hydraulic flow.

In order to clear the low bridges on the Yazoo River, the Forest Queen has a retracted height of 19 feet and a pilot's eye level of 26 feet 6 inches in the raised position so that the pilot has clear visibility over high stacked pulpwood. The pilothouse lift utilizes a Dover cylinder with a 10-foot stroke. The radar antenna and radio antennae are arranged to fold with a separate air cylinder to allow extreme low bridge clearance.

The vessel has plush carpeted quarters for a crew of nine men, which are fully air-conditioned and heated for year-round operation.

The galley and quarters include all electric cooking, dishwasher, trash compactor, extra deep freeze, washer and dryer, and all the other comforts of home.

While maintaining only a 6-foot maximum draft, the Forest Queen carries 16,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 3,000 gallons of potable water. A fuel transfer system is arranged with a separate meter to allow the engineer to record daily fuel consumption for the engines and generator sets. The vessel has a 5,280-gallon waste holding tank and a waste disposal system which allows all bilge and sanitary waste to be burned through the main engine exhaust.

The vessel is also equipped with a 3-horsepower Barnes waste pump to discharge waste to the shore into approved public systems.

Bilge and fire piping systems are equipped with Barnes, 10 CLE, 5-horsepower pumps which can be quickly air connected for emergency operations. Air system is two Quincy Model 325, 5-horsepower air compressors working in tandem to supply the necessary compressed air for general ships service, starting, controls, pilothouse, Kahlenberg T-2 air horn, and air windshield wiper.

Electricity is supplied by two General Motors 6-71, 75-kw, 60- cycle, 3-phase generator sets with keel cooling and dry exhaust.

The steering system is a smooth operating air over hydraulic system using Westinghouse air brake controls over SteelShip's standard design hydraulic steering system, which has adjustable tie rods for all rudders and is remotely greased from inside of the upper engine room.

In addition to the normal deck outfitting, the Forest Queen has a 5,000-pound boat davit, lifeboat, and handy and sturdy walkway to the towknees at main cabin top level, and a generous storage area in the forepeak void. Towknees were equipped with special brackets for hanging deck ratehes and other equipment in convenient locations for the crew. She has Beebe 7.5-hp Model 40 electric towing winches with deck and pilothouse control.

Supervision of the construction was carried by Y.K. Mok, naval architect of New Orleans, La. Mr.

Mok also participated in the customizing of the standard Steel- Ship 80 to provide the exact arrangement and outfitting necessary for International Paper Company's logging operation. The vessel was custom-outfitted for International Paper Company from one of Dravo SteelShip's standard designs, allowing delivery from bare hull to finish boat in only 120 days.

Dravo SteelShip Corporation also has under construction two SteelShip 50s, soon to be delivered to other customers, and six other stock SteelShip vessels which are offered for sale with delivery ranging from 30 to 90 days, depending upon machinery selected. For more information on any Dravo SteelShip Corporation vessels, for inland or offshore use, write Edward D. Fry, Dravo SteelShip Corporation, Route 4, Box 167, Pine Bluff, Ark. 71602.