14 Oct. or Nov. 2001

A Cummins Media Release from Alan Haig-Brown, 604-520-6748

Repower Time In British Columbia

For Don Biggs and his partner Harvey Veasey at Nanaimo, B.C.based Hub Towing, reliability is all important. When you operatea one boat fleet it can get real hard to cover for down time. Itwas with this in mind that they decided to replace the twoCummins KTA-19 main engines in their boat during the usual fallslowdown. "We do some ship docking and we shuttle chip barges forSeaSpan as well as doing log towing for Chemainus and some of theother mills," says Don of the all purpose towing company's 50-foot McIlwain-designed tug Promoter.

During sea trials for the new engines on the Fraser RiverDon explained he has had the boat since it was built at AlberniEngineering in 1981. Over the years, with various change-outs ofthe Cummins engines, he had ended up with two different agedengines, "We've had good service from the Cummins engines, butthe starboard engine had been in the boat for seven or eightyears and was getting a little tired so we decided to changeboth."

He and his partner replaced with the same engines at theimproved rating of 500 hp at 1800 RPM which will give thePromoter a little higher bollard pull than the old engines ratedat 470 hp each at the same RPM. They kept the same Twin Discmodel 518 6.49:1 marine gears turning the 68 inch diameter propswith their powerful 62-inch pitch and kort nozzles.

The re-engining of Hub's boat was done at Les Woodward'sPoplar Island Marine located in the Shelter Island Marine complexjust off the Fraser's main arm. At the same time the boat wasgiven some new steel on the bulwarks, the Harrison and Robbinswinch was overhauled and painted. "That's the last overhaul I'lldo on the boat before I retire," says Don Biggs with a smile.

At the same time Don's boat was getting new engines, BurrardTowing's 42X14-foot tug Fraser Yarder (ex Nanaimo Yarder) wasreplacing her single KTA-19 with a rebuilt. The smaller tug willtake 470 hp out of the engine at 1800 RPM to turn a 58X56 threebladed prop in a steerable kort nozzle through a 5.17:1 Twin discgear. It is interesting to note the faster turning but smallerprop that the smaller Fraser Yarder has compared to the ten inchlarger but slower turning lower pitched wheels on the twinengined Promoter. The KTA-19, manufactured since 1976, has shownitself to be highly adaptable to such variations from tugs to fishboats to high speed water jet powered crew boats.

(Photos, you are welcome to keep any of these on file for futureuse in repower articles, please credit Cummins Marine)

1. Don Biggs in the wheelhouse of the Promoter.
2. The Promoter on sea trials for her new KTA-19 engines.
3&4. A rebuilt KTA-19 is lowered into the Fraser Yarder by the crew at Poplar Island Marine.

For further information contact:

Don Biggs
Hub Towing
Nanaimo, B.C.
Phone: (250)753-5644

Bill Parrot
Burrard Towing
201-8449 Main St.
Vancouver, B.C.
Phone: (604)323-2023

Frank Ridd
Cummins British Columbia
18452-96th Ave.
Surrey, B.C. V4N 3P8
Phone: (604)882-5000
Fax: (604)882-5080

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