Caterpillar-Powered Fishing Vessel Delivered By Rodriguez Boat Builders

A trend toward more versatile fishing vessels may be established by a new craft, the Pacific Monarch, built by Rodriguez Boat Builders, Bayou La Batre, Ala., for service in Alaska and the Bering Sea.

In recent years, fishing vessel designers and builders have been caught in a squeeze of conflicting requirements. Competitive pressures demand more efficiency in handling and preserving product for stowage, causing the newer vessels to be more specialized. On the other hand, shorter and shorter seasons force the specialized vessels to either spend a lot of time tied up in the off-season, or adopt makeshift measures to fish in ways for which they are not designed.

In the Pacific Monarch, Elliott Bay Design Group has produced an arrangement that offers relatively quick, inexpensive conversion, allowing operations as either a longliner or a crabber. In either configuration she is properly arranged and outfitted, as if designed to specialize in the task at hand.

According to Ken Lane, Elliott Bay's vice president and leader of the Pacific Monarch project, the two keys to ease of conversion are the hold arrangement and resolution of the conflicting deck space needs of the two types of vessel.

The Pacific Monarch resolves the hold problem by providing insulated, refrigerated hold compartments that may be used for storage of fish on one voyage and flooded for crab on the next trip.

Except for the conversion features, the 125-foot-long by 34-footbeam vessel is conventional. The hull is steel, designed per ABS and USCG rules. Propulsion power is provided by a pair of2624-hp Caterpillar engines, and the three diesel generators have a total capacity of 685 kw.

For free literature on the capabilities and facilities of Rodriguez Boat Builders, Circle 58 on Reader Service Card

Maritime Reporter Magazine, page 9, Nov 1991

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Maritime Reporter

First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.