15 Nov. 24, 1997

A range of photos to accompany this article are available. To have copies sent to you, please contact Rachel Bridges at Cummins Commercial Marine Sales in Charleston, South Carolina.

Phone:803 745 1585 Fax: 803 745 1549 or E-Mail: Rachel Bridges

CANDY FLEET COMMISSIONS TWO BOATS AT WORKBOAT SHOW

Passing workboats crowded the New Orleans shore of the Mississippi for a closer look at a sparkling blue hulls and white super structures of the Candy Fleet's two new boats being commissioned there. As a highlight of the vibrant 1997 Workboat Show on November 5-6. Candy Fleet owner Kenny Nelkin brought the two boats up the river from Swift Ships' Morgan City yard where they had just been completed. One, the high speed crew boat M/V Candy Cotton, employs a high tech combination of jet and propeller propulsion. The other, the 220-foot off shore supply vessel M/V Candy Trader, makes use of a bow thruster and independent rudders to achieve Dynamic Positioning (DP). While guest ate and drank from a lavish spread of Louisiana's finest, the boats were given their due with Phyllis Leone breaking the traditional Christening bottle over the bows of the Candy Cotton and Andre Stone doing the honours for the Candy Trader.

Kenny Nelkin, President of the Candy Fleet, makes exclusive use of Cummins KTA19 and KTA38 engines for the main engines on his extensive fleet of crew boats. When he ordered the 220-foot off shore supply vessel Candy Trader he specified Cummins auxiliary power. The auxiliary package includes four engines. Ship's service will be provided by a pair of NT855-G4 turning 125 KW gen sets. One of these two engines will also be equipped with a power take off to drive a liquid mud pump. An NT-855-M rated 240 hp @1800 RPM will be drive both a liquid mud pump and a dry bulk mud compressor. A six-cylinder KTA19-M rated 530 hp@1800 RPM will drive the bow thruster. This engine will also provide power to drive a fire pump. The powerful 48-inch diameter bowthruster works with the independently controllable rudders on the EMD 2050 hp main engines to make the vessel function with the computer controlled Dynamic Positioning system when off loading to an an oil rig. In most weather conditions, this will mean the vessel does not have deploy lines out to the rig from the stern quarters and to a buoy from the bow in order to hold positions as has been the practice in the past. While some recent OSVs have been designed with DP that employs both bow and stern thrusters, the independent or split rudder system and bow thruster on the Candy Trader will achieve the same level of function.

In a unique collaboration, the hull of the vessel, with deck and house, was delivered last April from Leevac Shipyard in Jennings to Swift Ships in Morgan City for finishing out. Following the New Orleans commissioning ceremonies the Candy Trader returned to Swift Ships for final sea trials prior to going to work in the Gulf of Mexico. A sistership in what will eventually be a series of six vessels is currently under construction.

The second blue-hulled boat at the New Orleans commissioning was also built at Swift Ships for Kenny Nelkin's Candy Fleet. Crew boats have been the mainstay of the fleet which helped to tough it through the lean years of the 1980s. Now business is booming and the Candy Fleet is gaining a reputation as innovators in crew boat propulsion. With the oil exploration moving ever further off shore, crew boat charters are calling for larger vessels with greater speed and cargo capacity.

The 145-foot Candy Cotton, the fourth in a series, delivers both. With four KTA19-M4 engines rated at 700 hp turning props and a single 1000 hp KTA38-M1 driving a straight jet without reversing or steering buckets, the new boats are achieving excellent results. Candy Fleet Vice President Rex Burch explains that with out the Hamilton 571 jet providing extra boost, the four KTA19 engines would support props of 38X38-inches. With the extra thrust from the jet, they can overwheel the boat with 40X38-inch props. This takes the load off the engines so increases efficiency and allows a light boat speed of 26 knots that is reduced by only one or two knots with a 70 ton cargo. The hulls ability to plane when loaded is given a boost by the addition of extra sponsons built out from the chine. Tapering to the bow they extend out several inches at the stern. These sponsons, or lift chines add to the hull bottom area to create lift while slowing the boat's roll in seas.

The boat has two engine rooms. One right at the stern is for the KTA38-M1 with a short drive and the Hamilton jet pump set into a protective box just short of the transom as there is no steering or reverse buckets to protrude out beyond the transom. Forward of this engine room is one containing the four KTA19-M4 engines, with the two inboard engines set further forward than the two outboard engines. Under the hull, the two inboard props, without rudders, are well ahead of the ruddered outboard props. The outboard port prop rotates right hand, the inboard prop has a left rotation. The starboard inside wheel turns right and the outboard turns left. This provides stable steering with the outboard props and rudders while allowing the props to work against each other for pivoting.

"You pivot with the inboard props and walk with the outboard props and rudders," explains Danny Miller who has skippered the sister ship Candy Store since its January 1997 delivery.

Miller has been on crew boats for eleven years and is more than pleased with his latest charge. It has a number of innovative features like the three video cameras that allow him to monitor the engine rooms, passenger areas and cargo deck from the wheel house. He is also keen about the single jet which can, in shallow water or heavy drift wood conditions, push the boat on its own at eight knots. One trip that he makes takes him 480 miles with up to 16 stops for rig-crew changes. If all the stops turn quickly he can make the complete round trip in just 25 hours.

For more information on the Candy Fleet boat:

Kenny Nelkin
President
The Candy Fleet
P.O.Box 2444
Morgan City, LA 70381
Phone: (504) 384-5835

"Red" Cunningham
Cummins Mid-South Inc.
Hwy. 90 East
P.O Box 1229
Amelia, LA 70340
Ph: 504 631-0576 Fax: 504 631-0081

A.J. Blanchard
Marketing Manager
Swift Ships Inc.
P.O.Box 1908
1105 Levee Rd.
Morgan City, LA 70380
Ph: 504 384-1700 Fax: 504 384-0914

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