VESSEL REVIEW | Crystal River & Faithful – Scottish newbuilds to operate as pair trawl team

Macduff Shipyards has handed over two new trawlers to fishermen Stewart Buchan and David Cardno of Fraserburgh, Scotland.

Designed by Macduff Ship Design, Buchan's Faithful and Cardno's Crystal River are to operate exclusively as a pair trawl team fishing out of their home port of Fraserburgh. The vessels have been built to an identical design, with hulls that each measure 26.5 by 7.8 by 4.2 metres.

This hull form was developed using CFD technology, assisted by the Wolfson Unit in Southampton, to interrogate and optimise their design to reduce resistance and fuel consumption whilst also allowing for large volume fish holds, each with capacity for 1,150 boxes, on each vessel.

Each trawler features a bespoke hydraulic deck machinery package consisting of a large triple barrel winch powered by a Hagglunds CA210 motor, two split net drums, one bagging net drum, one small gear handling winch, a cod-end lifting winch and a dedicated anchor windlass. Thistle Marine supplied both the MFB8 landing crane and MBK13 power block crane, both of which feature a slew ring base.

Primary hydraulic power is provided by a single Denison hydraulic pump driven from a dedicated Cummins QSL9-M auxiliary engine producing 246 kW whilst secondary hydraulic power is provided by a separate Denison hydraulic pump driven from a power take-off fitted to the main propulsion's gearbox. A hydraulically powered bow thruster is also fitted and has a rated output of 208 kW. The hydraulic system, designed by the yard, is cooled via a Blokland box cooler and Bowman heat exchanger.

The propulsion package features a 2.5-metre fixed-pitch propeller driven by a Caterpillar C32 main engine producing 560 kW at 1,600 to 1,800 rpm through a Masson Marine W7400 reversible gearbox with 9.077:1 reduction.

The efficiency gains predicted during the early design phase were realised during engine trials with the vessel achieving nine knots at only 50 per cent engine load and 10.7 knots at 100 per cent load. Both vessels also feature a triple rudder system along with a modern high-lift propeller nozzle.

Cooling systems for all engines are served by box coolers supplied by Blokland Non-Ferro.

Electrical power onboard is provided by two Mitsubishi generator sets, each with a rating of 98 ekW. The generators are of sufficient size to run the vessel's power independently providing complete redundancy.

The electrical systems onboard were designed and fitted by R.D. Downie, which also fabricated the vessel's switchboard and the control panels for all the pumps and motor starters. In addition to this, R.D. Downie also provided the fire, bilge, and gas alarm systems on board along with the navigation light panel and assisted with the installation of the navigation equipment.

The fish processing deck on each trawler features a tailor-made catch handling system built by the yard from the owner's design. Two separate compartments are formed within the fish processing area. Each of these compartments contains a 2.5-tonne Geneglace ice machine and associated plant. The fish hold refrigeration system along with ice machines were supplied and fitted by Premier Refrigeration.

The high-specification navigation package was supplied and fitted onboard by Woodsons while the trawl monitor sensors were supplied and installed by Scanmar.

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