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June 16, 2003

Cave-In-Rock on Ohio: River Enterprises Repowers

Evansville, Indiana based Mike Kilgore of Cummins Cumberland, reports that there is little happening on the Ohio River for new-builds but he is doing a steady business in repowers. Ingram Barge Lines has a program to replace the two-cycle diesels in their smaller boats with Cummins KTA19s and KTA38s. A number of smaller operators are doing the same so that the total number of sales justifies keeping a number of these model engines in stock.

A typical repower was carried out recently by Tom Patton of River Enterprises at Cave-In-Rock Illinois. In the early 19th century, the 55-foot wide cavern overlooking the Ohio River was a notorious hangout for river pirates including the Mason Gang and the Harpe Brothers. By the 1830's, however, the massive immigration of settlers into Illinois drove out the "river rats". With settlement came the coal mining and later aggregate for building the cities down stream also grew in importance. Patton’s River Enterprise operates a three towboat to move barges around the area and to help make up the 15-barge three-wide by five-long tows designed to fit into the Ohio River locks. The company also has an aggregate-loading facility as well as operating a barge-cover stacking and barge cleaning facility.

Patton bought the 55x22-foot Caroline B in March 2002 with a pair of older engines. Although built at Barber Shipyards at St. Louis in 1981, she is a sister to a Jeffboat vessel that he already had in his fleet. As he shopped for a new engine, the choice came down to a V-12 model delivering 540 HP and the Cummins KTA19 delivering 530 HP. There was a slightly higher projected fuel consumption on the V-12, but it was his preference for the six-cylinder in-line design that really sold Patton on the Cummins. "And I use to operate boats for my Dad," recalls Pattton, "He had repowered with some Cummins and they were really reliable."

Patton did the installation in his own yard and found that it all went smoothly. The new engines came coupled to TwinDisc MG5170 gears with 5.95:1 ratios. While he had the engines out of the boat, he had the bilges cleaned and painted, cleaned the insides of the fuel and water tanks and installed new instrument panels in the engine room and wheelhouse. The Caroline B is back at work moving the 195x35-foot barges around on the Ohio.

For photos or more information:

Tom Patton
President
River Enterprises Inc.,
Cave-In-Rock, Illinois
Phone: 618 289 3244
E-mail: rei@shawneelink.com

For more on Ohio River repowers, contact:

Mike Kilgore
Cummins Cumberland
Evansville, Indiana
Phone: (812) 867_4400
E-mail: Mike.E.Kilgore@Cummins.com

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