South America Gets "Kit" Traelers

Wales-based, high-tech boat building company, Steel-Kit (U.K.) Ltd. is working with South American prawn fishing companies and repairers to provide "state-of-the-art" computer generated steel and aluminium building kits for on board processing, prawn fishing vessels.

A recent project has been the development of prototype kits, hulls and finished vessels for two 75 ft. (23-m) factory deck shrimp trawlers with sophisticated onboard sorting, cooking and freezing facilities. As a development of this project Steel-Kit has designed, and is organizing on behalf of the owner, a dedicated shipbuilding and repair facility in South America that will produce up to 10 boats a year initially with additional capacity as required. Commenting on the project, managing director Don Fuller-Love said, "This is an exciting opportunity for us. We are looking forward to expanding our activities to South America." The company intends to use the new facility to supply Kits, hulls and finished vessels in South America, North America and Mexico.

Steel-Kit has also supplied kits and hulls for the general fishing, shellfish and fish farming industries as well as a number of private yachts, tugs, passenger vessels and inland waterway vessels.

Another very different project currently being handled by the company is the first of 12 American-style. 48 ft. (14.6 m) aluminium lake cruisers.

Currently the company is providing quotations, prices and technical support to yards, fishing vessel owners and operators who wish to apply for the grants now available for new vessel building. Steel-Kit is working with leading fishing vessel designers S. C. McAllister & Co. along with other respected ship designers to supply detailed drawings.

specifications, kits and hulls for a range of safe, comfortable and modern vessels capable of revitalizing the fishing.

passenger and workboat fleets of the world.

The kits have been developed by Steel-Kit over a period of 25 years of boatbuilding. All parts are interlocking and self jigging and require the minimum of shaping in order to produce sophisticated hull shapes. Steel-Kit's boat yard customers have been shown to be able to save up to 75 percent of manhours over conventional fabrication methods.

The working environment is far cleaner and quieter as all the cutting and preparation of plates has been carried out by N/C controlled water-cooled plasma cutters at the Steel-Kit works.

The company provides full telephone.

E-mail and on-site backup as well as training.

In addition to providing a service developing new designs, the company has a range of over 200 vessels in kit form covering the entire spectrum of boat types in steel and aluminium that can be delivered ready for assembly within three weeks.

C i r c l e 16 o n Reader S e r v i c e C a rd

Maritime Reporter Magazine, page 27, Oct 2000

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