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May 17, 2003

Proven Alaskan Design for Westman-Built Boat

The ubiquitous Alaska limit seiner evolved from a regulation that restricted the salmon seine boat’s length to 58 feet. Many decades of design innovation have gone into building the most possible boat to that limited length. One of the premier contemporary designs it from the Seattle-based naval architect firm of Jensen Maritime. Noted for its beamy raised focs’le design and bulbous bow, these boats typically carry a 23 or even 24-foot beam. In addition to their packing capacities they are noted for the sea keeping abilities.

It was this latter that attracted an Alaskan business man to consider the design for a new boat. Although he didn’t plan to fish commercially with it, he did want a boat that was comfortable in the often rugged Alaskan waters. At the same time he was freed from the 58-foot regulatory limit. Keeping to the 23-foot beam, he asked Jonathan Parrot at Jensen Maritime to add to the boat’s over all length to get a 70x23-foot design.

It was this design that he took to Bob Gudmundson of Westman Marine in Blaine Washington. Gudmundson had sold his share in the hugely successful Dakota Creek shipyard and was operating the smaller yard concentrating on quality repairs. The opportunity to build a high quality new boat excited him. Working with a small crew but big yard techniques of modular construction has resulted in a work boat with some interesting design and quality upgrades.

With the house set well forward the long after deck will feature an aluminum bait shack such as is common on Alaskan halibut boats. But instead of bait and longline, it will enclose two extra staterooms. The hold is being retained and a knuckle boom installed on a pedestal behind the main deck house for cargo and skiff handling. Ballast tanks have been installed in the double side skin of the hold. The 18-foot square wheelhouse with surrounding windows will provide an excellent observation deck. Below it, in the raised foc’sle a master suite is set in the bow with heads and shower to port and galley/mess to starboard. A stairway leads down to an additional stateroom to starboard and a utility/laundry room to port. A water tight door will offer passage from there aft to the hold area.. Another door opens forward to the engine room.

Main engine power is a Cummins QSK19 engine rated for 660-HP at 1800 RPM. The owner wants reliability and low maintenance throughout the boat. A Cummins powered gen set will charge a large bank of batteries so that there is no need to run the gen set when anchored in a quiet Alaskan fjord. The low maintenance theme follows on the deck level where stainless steel has been used for all the railings, rail caps and fair leads.

The Cummins main engine turns into a Twin Disc MG5170 gear with 5.95:1 reduction. A 19-foot intermediate shaft and a 16-foot tail shaft allow the engine to be set well forward in the hull. The propeller is 68x61-inch four blade stainless from Sound Propeller. Hydraulic take-offs on the generator engine and on the main engine support the operation of a variety of machinery including the three ton Hydro Pro knuckle crane and a Wesmar 50 HP bow thruster.

When the boat is delivered this August it will leave Puget Sound with an aluminum skiff on deck, but the light weight skiff will carry sport fishing rods, not the towline for a seine net.

For further information:

Bob Gudmundson
Yard Manager
Westman Marine
218 McMilian
PO Box 948
Blaine, Washington
98231-0948
Phone: 360 332 5051
Fax: 360 332 5506

Chris Raichlen
Cummins Northwest, Inc.
811 S.W. Grady Way
Renton, WA 98057_9811
Phone: 425 235_3400
Phone: 1 800 274_0336
Fax: 425 545_7374
Mobile: 206 786 0424
Web: http://www.cumminsnorthwest.com/

Jonathon Parrott P.E.
Chief Naval Architect
Jensen Maritime Consultants Inc.
Seattle, Washington 98199
Phone: (206)284_1274
Fax: (206)284_2556
Web: www.jensenmaritime.com/

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