Macduff Shipyards completes latest fishing trawler for skipper
A marine company has completed its latest new build fishing vessel.
Forever Faithful PD 289 has been constructed by Macduff Shipyards for local owner Andrew West.
The vessel replaces his previous one of the same name, built by the yard in 2016, and is the fifth trawler that has been constructed for the West family.
The boat is intended to fish out of Peterhead, targeting primarily prawns in the North Sea region.
A Macduff Shipyards spokesman said: “The Forever Faithful is the third vessel in a series of sister ships which were all built at the company’s Buckie site, which the yard continues to develop and invest in.
“The new build follows on from the Zenith BF 106, handed over at the beginning of last summer, and the Celestial Dawn BF 109, handed over in summer 2022.
“All three vessels feature the same hull form and general fishing arrangement; however, each have their own unique layout to suit the owners’ preferences.
“Designed between the yard and Macduff Ship Design, during the early design phase of the lead vessel the yard commissioned the Wolfson Unit in Southampton to run a case study of two hull forms utilising CFD technology.
“The first hull form was in fact the previous Forever Faithful which Andrew owned and skippered at that time.
“The second was the new concept model featuring increased length, a gradual bustle forward of the propeller and a unique stem where the bulbous bow was not fully submerged but rather tapered gradually into the bow’s upper region.
“Results from the study indicated a significant reduction in hull resistance at the two test speeds of eight and 10 knots which has now been verified, with the new Forever Faithful steaming around one knot faster at full engine power than the previous Forever Faithful, both vessels sharing the same engine and available power.
“This increase in hull efficiency enables the owner to run the engine at a lower loading to save fuel, and in turn, reduce the emissions and environmental impact of the vessel.”
To further reduce the environmental impact of the boat, the propulsion package was very carefully considered.
The vessel features a gearbox with a large 10:1 reduction, the largest reduction ratio the yard has fitted to date with a fixed pitch propeller.
This gearbox allowed the yard to fit a 2.5 metre diameter propeller, fitted within a modern profile of nozzle duct, providing high thrust at low speeds but also a slight increase of thrust at steaming speeds too compared to the previous vessel. The propulsion power is provided by a Caterpillar main engine with a power output of 600hp.
The main engine on Forever Faithful is a Tier III certified engine and as typical features a system which enables the engine to meet the new, more stringent emission standards set by the IMO.
The system was proven to work well during sea trials where the silencer helped to reduce noise levels throughout the vessel.
It is the third system of this design fitted by the yard to date, and the sixth boat the yard has delivered with Tier III certified engines.
The hull of Forever Faithful is built entirely from steel, apart from the wheelhouse and mast which are aluminium, and features a double chine hull form, transom stern and modern bow designed to cut cleanly through the sea with less energy leading to a reduction in fuel consumption and emissions along with increased crew comfort.
Although a sister ship to two other vessels, the layout of the Forever Faithful varies significantly, both inside and out.
In a first for the yard, the accommodation above the deck is fitted solely to the port side, with two washrooms and the cabin access and a generously sized galley mess running forward.
To the starboard side features a dry locker centre, with the fish hopper outboard of this, immediately forward of the shelter where the two net drums are situated.
Once the catch has been lifted onboard, it is taken forward by a hydraulic conveyor onto the working deck, where the catch is selected and washed.
The Forever Faithful is arranged for freezing the catch at sea. Once the catch is sorted and washed, it is then packed at the forward end of the working deck, before being taken into a blast room on the forward port side, immediately forward of the galley when the prawns are frozen at -35 to -40 degrees centigrade for a period of around four hours to six hours.
The blast room can hold around 1000kg of packed product on the stainless-steel racking arranged inside.
Once the product is frozen, it is then lowered directly into the cold store below, situated in hold until it is landed at the end of the trip.
A bulkhead with large cold store door divides the fish hold into two, and the forward part is arranged as a traditional wet fish hold with its own chilling system, and capable of holding around 250 boxes of chilled fish.
