NATALIA: CHANGING WITH THE TIMES

摘要

When the 58 by 14.5 foot aluminium seiner Order of Magnitude was built at Kodiak Marine Construction in 1990, fuel was cheap and roe herring prices were high.With minutes making a difference in being in position to set on herring, Ray Wadsworth wanted an edge on the competition and bought it by installing a 3000hp gas turbine. He also designed his own 32-inch water jet and included a 425hp Cummins KT19 auxiliary for slower speeds and for fishing with a more economical fuel burn. In that original configuration, both engines turned the water-jet through a single transmission.However, when fuel and fish prices dictated a rethink, Ray Wadsworth tore out the gas turbine and the jet. He kept the Cummins KT19 and added a Twin Disc 514 gear with 2:1 ratio and a 32 by 36-inch four-blade prop in a tunnel. The boat had done 52 knotswith the gas turbine and fast is nice - but burning 265 gallons per hour doesn't leave much to take home. The boat seined profitably on the KT19 diesel with an eight-knot speed.Bruce Schactler saw the boat's potential and bought it in 2006, when the fishery and the fuel price had settled into the new reality. The price of fuel had more than doubled. The herring were fetching about a quarter of what they had peaked at in the 1990s.