With the regulated catch quotas of contemporary fisheries, design versatility for a fishing boat can be important. A new 19.81- by 7.31-metre combination crab trap and groundfish trawler designed by NAVANEX for building by Chantier Naval Forillon, both of Gaspé, Quebec, Canada, is a fine example of this.
Owners, Listuguj Mi'gmaq Government, anticipate accepting delivery in April of 2022.
The steel-hulled vessel will have a raised fo'c'sle design with an aluminium pilot house. When crab fishing, the clear, aft deck will be capable of carrying up to 150 collapsible, 100-pound (45-kilogram) crab pots. When rigged for trawling, a gantry will be mounted over the stern with two net drums. A pair to trawl winches can be mounted on a platform aft of the raised fo'c'sle.
The designers have included features to make the vessel more comfortable for a crew of up to seven people. A bulbous bow, in addition to improving fuel efficiency, will help reduce pitching when working gear into a swell. A pair of stabilisers will be mounted, following a design first installed by Chantier Naval Forillon on the trawler Fundy Leader built in 2006. A number of these systems have since been fitted to other vessels.
The stabiliser is a simple steel plate, hinged at the bottom on the bilge chine. It can be hydraulically raised flat against the hull or lowered to a horizontal position. The boat's designer, Jean-Nil Morissette, explains that they function very well to dampen motion both when travelling or when working gear.
Propulsion power will be an IMO-compliant tier III, Cummins QSK19 producing 750 hp (559 kW) at 1,800 rpm. To meet the IMO tier III emissions, the QSK19 main engine is fitted with a proven SCR catalyst.
The transmission is a Twin Disc MGX-5222 gear with 5.04:1 reduction. This will turn a four-blade Rice Kaplan Skewed propeller with a 57-inch (1,447mm) diameter and a 67-inch (1,701mm) pitch. The prop's trust is enhanced with a Rice Speed nozzle. This system will give the vessel a cruising speed of nine knots and a bollard pull of 8.2 tonnes.
A comprehensive set of deck equipment will include a Heila HLM 3-2S deck crane. For crabbing there will be a crab hauler, crab table, crab boom and crab block. For trawling, in addition to the two trawl winches and net drums, there will be a bag winch. The anchor winch is mounted so that the anchor will lower to the side of the bulbous bow.
Auxiliary power includes a Cummins QSB7-DM genset producing 65 kW and an additional QSM11-DM engine producing 355 hp (264kW) at 1,800 rpm. This engine will drive the vessel's hydraulic pumps and a back-up 65kW genset.
Crew accommodation will be foreword in the raised fo'c'sle with the galley and mess in the aft part of that cabin. The RSW-equipped holds will have capacity for 60,000 pounds (27,215 kilograms) of crab in four sections. An insulated bait hold will have a volume of 7.8 metres. Tankage will include 23,000 litres for fuel and 7,900 litres for water.
