VESSEL REVIEW | Ile Vertime – Ultra-modern 22.5m stern trawler/seiner for France

Long time French shipbuilding collaborators Socarenam and Coprexma have joined forces once again to produce an impressive and innovative multi-purpose 22.5-metre pelagic seiner/stern trawler for the Atlantic port of Les Sables d'Olonne.

The elegant, comfortable and economical vessel is easily adapted from stern trawling to Danish seining for pelagic species. It will fish for l'Armament Cooperatif Artisinal Vendeen (ACAV), a fifty-year-old co-operative of coastal fishing vessel owners operating from l'Ille Vertime offshore from the busy port of Les Sables d'Orlonne. The boat is co-owned by ACAV and its skipper, Dominic Lelievre.

With a beam of 7.9 metres combined with its 22.5 metre LOA, Ile Vertime has considerable volume and thus catch capacity. This also enables its crew to carry out almost all fishing operations comfortably and safely under the cover of a very effective shelter-deck. A further benefit of its almost completely decked design is that almost all its fishing equipment is similarly protected from the elements.

This volume also enhances the habitability of the boat which has well-insulated, dry, quiet and spacious crew cabins, galley and mess. The vessel's design specification is the result of more than eight years experience of the owners with three previous trawler/seiners of slightly smaller sizes. Coprexma, too, has had more than thirty years experience of designing fishing vessels and workboats of a wide range of types and sizes.

The wheelhouse is spacious and has uninterrupted 360 degree visibility with an excellent view over the bow. This maximises safety. All operations can be conducted from the wheelhouse in total comfort and security.

The vessel is fitted with a unique propulsion system which was developed by the designers, Coprexma. It involves a 561 kW Caterpillar 3508C diesel driving through a Masson MM W7400 reduction gearbox to a 2.4-metre diameter propeller in a tunnel. The tunnel has the dual purpose of minimising the vessel's draught and improving its propulsive efficiency so as to reduce its fuel consumption by 30 per cent compared with other vessels of similar size and power. It is known as the "tunnel of LOC" or tunnel of low fuel consumption and has the additional benefit of providing a bollard pull of 15 tonnes. Very useful for trawling.

The saving in fuel consumption amounts, in practice, to around two to three hundred litres of diesel per day. This may also have benefitted from the boat's very prominent bulbous bow.

This quite complex boat has been constructed to a very high standard by the 55-year-old ship builder Socarenam. It should look after its crew and owners very well.