Gulfmark is to big a company to require captains to maintain the engine room. Lord knows they can pay a decent unlicensed engineer $300 a day like several other companies. Fuck maintaining the engine room on a crew boat that rivals and in many ways surpasses the engine room of work boats.
Seacor built 2 of the Swath hulls that did like 40+ knots but they got sent to Africa, so know body knows how they would do in the Gulf. I think the cost to build, day rate, speed increase just really doesn’t work out at the end of the day.[/QUOTE]
amen to that… I think they should be making these companies to run licensed engineers when these crew boats have more hp than most workboats.
Now it they would just make it so that any vessel serving in any commercial capacity, under 26ft and those not carrying cargo or passengers for hire, had to be inspected and properly manned I’d feel a little better.
[QUOTE=Jemplayer;64744]Yea tugs FINELY become inspected vessels.
Now it they would just make it so that any vessel serving in any commercial capacity, under 26ft and those not carrying cargo or passengers for hire, had to be inspected and properly manned I’d feel a little better.[/QUOTE]
What is your concern here? I don’t believe that the 8 meter tugs are presenting any unreasonable risk. From what I have seen, they aren’t frequently used outside of construction, dredging, and localized barge shifting work. For these sorts of operations it would impose too great a burden on the company to require a USCG licensed Captain to be on staff or on call.
The 8 meter exception was retained in the NPRM for Subchapter M inspected towing vessels, so it will probably remain the rule.
On the topic of the crewboat linked in the op, it is interesting that besides Seacor companies are continuing with ever larger monohulls instead of catamarans. I wonder what the difference in cost is for construction and operation. Doesn’t the catamaran design create a faster, more stable vessel? The wind farm crew supply vessels all seem to be catamarans. Is that because of the way they do passenger transfers to the monopiles?
[QUOTE=orangejulius;64762]I think the reason for the ever larger mono hulls is that that cats cant carry the deckload thats the way it was explained to me.[/QUOTE]
Load distribution is the problem. Weight per square ft can be critical.
When you start getting into stability with the cat hulls I believe is where they start having issues. The same company whom designed the cat hulls for Seacor (Incat Crowther) designed this hull for GOL. Both hulls were built at Gulfcraft shipyard in Patterson La. Both of the catamaran boats were sent overseas where they still mostly change crews by boat. While in the gulf crewboats have morphed into a new class of what they call fast/supply boats. Seacors largest fast/supply in the gulf is a 190ft. monohull I believe and Chouest has built 195ft. monohulls also. Everything is getting larger. Just look at the OSVs coming out.
[QUOTE=CaptB;65038]When you start getting into stability with the cat hulls I believe is where they start having issues. The same company whom designed the cat hulls for Seacor (Incat Crowther) designed this hull for GOL. Both hulls were built at Gulfcraft shipyard in Patterson La. Both of the catamaran boats were sent overseas where they still mostly change crews by boat. While in the gulf crewboats have morphed into a new class of what they call fast/supply boats. Seacors largest fast/supply in the gulf is a 190ft. monohull I believe and Chouest has built 195ft. monohulls also. Everything is getting larger. Just look at the OSVs coming out.[/QUOTE]
I guess it is classed on CHC (Chicken Haulage Capacity).
the main question is how does she ride? did the add water tanks up front to keep the bow in the water? also how does she DP backed up into the current do the engines overheat? These where major flaws in the one I ran. I wonder if theyve finally addressed them.
I’ll have to ask the guys onboard about the ride. The jet boats Gulfmark had built came from Midship marine out of Harvey. I promise you if you don’t have experience on a Gulfcraft boat the difference is substantial. Midship has built maybe 10 large crewboats where Gulfcraft has built hundreds. At GOL we used to have base model 145 ft. Gulfcrafts we sold to build 175-180 ft. DP boats from Breaux Bay Craft with all the bells and whistles. On a rough day I’d take the smaller Gulfcraft if it were my call.
The amenities in the Netty are very very nice though I do know that much. Very high tech in the wheelhouse also.
Id be curious to know the ride. I know seacor put gyro trim tabs on there new jet boat I have heard that makes a huge difference. Are yall getting ride of all your little crew boats and going to the bigger ones?
What is your concern here? I don’t believe that the 8 meter tugs are presenting any unreasonable risk. From what I have seen, they aren’t frequently used outside of construction, dredging, and localized barge shifting work. For these sorts of operations it would impose too great a burden on the company to require a USCG licensed Captain to be on staff or on call.
It’s just a personal feeling that any commercial activity of any type that takes place on a motorized vessel should have a licensed captain on board. Using the logic that it’s to expensive to have a licensed captain on staff is false in my book. Using that as a guide your one step away saying that any licensed captain is to expansive and an unnecessary expense.
On a rough day I’d take the smaller Gulfcraft if it were my call
I’ve always felt the opposite, Gulfcraft’s like to snap roll to much in my opinion. The best riding boat I ever was on was a 165’ Breux, but that was the old wide bodies that Chouest has. They went with a narrower hull with their new boats, and the ride suffered noticeable. But I would still take them over a Gulfcraft.
Now I will say that Guflcraft’s interiors are the best laid out and best materials. Never understood why Breux insists on putting the quarters at the foot of the stairs where every one passes to get to the galley. You also get a better ride in the quarters when placed towards the rear like Gulfcraft does.
midships ride was basically launching out of the water at speed instead of cutting. Our 181s built by graham gulf ride like champs thought just wish they handled like the midship boats.
The breaux bay craft hulls don’t have the tank capacities of the Gulfcraft hulls. The old double chime hulls that Gulfcraft used to put out are the best riding boats ever. Now I’ve never ridden on the new Seacor boats with the taller superstructure and could imagine it having a snap roll as you mentioned.
This boat would be much better served with a drop down thruster in DP operations. For some reason a lot of companies put tons of thought and planning into OSV’s and just seem to skip over this when design/building crew boats.
To answer a previous post, one major problem with a catamaran is stability problems when heavily loaded as well as the significant loss of below deck tankage. You can lose anywhere from 25-45% (maybe more) of your below deck tank capacities when leaving a monohull and going to a cat. Just depends on the application and what you are trying to achieve with the boat.