Clogherhead skipper Niall Connolly's new 23.5m trawler Stella Nova DA 57 has been designed for maximum versatility by Ove Kristensen of the Hvide Sande boatyard Vestvaerftet.

As a result, Stella Nova is expected to alternate between twin-rig prawn trawling off the south and west coasts of Ireland out to the Porcupine Bank, and midwater pairtrawling when targeting tuna in the Bay of Biscay in August and September.

Stella Nova's round bilge hull and superstructure were built in Latvia by the Riga Shipyard before being towed to Hvide Sande, where Vestvaerftet installed the engineroom and deck machinery and fitted out the trawler for the Supreme Fishing Company of Kilkeel.

"Stella Nova more than fulfils my expectations and I am eagerly looking forward to establishing the boat's fishing credentials, " Skipper Niall Connolly tells FN as the vessel's twin-rig prawn nets are loaded at Howth. These were made locally by Eamonn Howard of Pepe Trawls.

"The level of construction from Riga Shipyard and the quality of fit-out and finish achieved by Vestvaerftet is superb, " he says. "Ove Kristensen and the highly experienced team have been great to work with throughout the design and build programme.

"Early indications are that Stella Nova will prove to be a good seaboat, but we will undoubtedly put this to the test in months to come."

Stella Nova marks a major change of direction for the Supreme Fishing Company and Niall Connolly, who originally skippered the firm's beam trawlers Alma C, Lisa C and Margaret C.

As quotas for their main target species of North Sea plaice were severely reduced over a number of years at the same time as fuel prices continued to rise, the owners took the decision to sell their beamers and invest in twin-rig trawlers.

Two years ago Niall Connolly bought the Campbeltown-built twinrigger Fidelia from Jim Connolly when he took delivery of the 24.7m Supreme II from French yard Socarenam.

Fidelia was followed by the 23m French twin-rig trawler La Fregate III, which is now fishing from Howth as Margaret Mary DA 56.

When the large-scale development of Clogherhead Harbour is completed later this year, Stella Nova is expected to regularly land at her home port. The catches will be handled by the Clogherhead Fishermen's Co-operative, the trawler's agent.

Near the end of the delivery trip to Howth from Denmark, Skipper Niall Connolly took Stella Nova into the mouth of the new deepwater pier at Clogherhead so that family and friends could view the newest addition to the port's modern fleet.

Stella Nova has an LOA of 23.5m, a beam of 7.2m and a moulded depth of 4.2m. The trawler's round bilge hull was galvanised for extra corrosion protection before being coated with Hempel paints.

Four bulkheads divide the hull below the main deck into forepeak, fishroom, engineroom, accommodation cabins and steering gear flat. At main deck level, the elongated deck casing, including a skipper's cabin, galley/messdeck, shower and toilet facilities, is arranged along the port side of the vessel from the open quarter to forward of amidships.

Designed for handling twinrig and pair trawl gear and for bagging catches over the transom, the trawler's working arrangements show a carefully thought-out vessel. For safety, the main deck is reserved for catch-handling duties with all the fishing gear worked off the shelterdeck.

Thyboron Skibs and Motor Rapp manufactured Stella Nova's deck machinery. Two of the three 15t winches, which are spooled with 1400m of Randers 22mm diameter trawl wire, are mounted forward on the shelterdeck, giving straight warp leads aft to the low-level hanging blocks suspended from the trawl gantry.

The third winch for the middle wire is centrally positioned on the same deck abaft the wheelhouse, in line with a box in the transom into which the middle clump is lowered for secure storage.

A variety of twin-rig trawls are carried ready to shoot away from two 2 x 7.5t split net drums arranged across the full width of the vessel's transom stern. By being incorporated in the aft raked trawl gantry, the bottom edges of the large diameter net drums are slightly lower than the shelterdeck, ensuring a low centre of gravity and heaving angle while keeping the main deck clear.

Torn trawls can be hauled down off any drum onto the quarterdeck before being hauled along the main deck by passing a rope over a roller fitted on the forward bulkhead. A fifth spare net is carried on a single net drum situated aft on the main deck and offset to port. A 24in Thistle powerblock mounted on a TMP KL9 crane stepped atop the middle roller frame is also fitted aft to assist with handling the trawl gear.

A 6t Gilson winch, stepped towards the end of the threequarter length shelterdeck, is used to take the codends aboard on the starboard side of the transom.

A large reception hopper is positioned aft and catches are taken forward by conveyor to a large free-standing prawnsorting table with a selection of basket racks.

Two washers are fitted close to the basket racks ensuring that filled baskets of prawns are thoroughly cleaned and placed into a chill dip tank in the minimum time to ensure catch quality.

Fitted with deck and bulkhead refrigeration and served by a Geneglace ice machine delivering 3t of flake ice every 24 hours, the fully insulated and lined 118 cu metre fishroom can easily accommodate some 600 nest/stack boxes.

Stella Nova is powered by a Cat 3508 engine that delivers 441kW per 1800rpm. A Mekanord 5.87:1 reduction gearbox couples the main engine to a 2070mm diameter CP propeller housed in a propulsion nozzle to combine maximum bollard pull and fuel economy with a top speed of 11 knots. Two gearbox PTOs drive the trawler's main hydraulic systems.

Two Cat 3056 auxiliary engines drive 105kVa Stamford 415/3/50 generators. There is also a Deutz 18kVa harbour set. A 45kVa motor is used to power the hydraulic machinery required when the vessel is berthed alongside with the main engine stopped.

The spacious engineroom is well laid out, giving excellent access for all levels of service requirements to the main and ancillary machinery fitted.

Double bottom tanks under the fish room floor and wing tanks in the engine room enable Stella Nova to carry 33,000 litres of fuel.

The internal accommodation areas, which include two four-berth cabins and a skipper's en-suite cabin, have been finished to a high standard by Vestvaerftet, with extensive use of light-coloured natural wood laminates.

Stella Nova will use an array of twin-rig prawn trawls made at Howth by Eamonn Howard of Pepe Trawls, for whom Skipper Connolly is a longstanding customer.

When targeting prawns on clean ground Stella Nova will tow 40-fathom wide mouth grass rope twin-rig trawls. Made from compact netting to minimise towing resistance and fuel consumption, these trawls have 670 x 80mm meshes in the fishing circles, with 160mm meshes in the top sections of the wings.

Similar netting and upper mesh sizes are used in the twin-rig prawn hopper trawls Skipper Connolly will use when working on a harder bottom. These 36-fathom nets have 600 x 80mm meshes in the round and are rigged on 6in, 8in and 10in discs.

The clean ground and hopper trawls will be spread by 60 fathoms of 22mm diameter combination sweeps and a set of 72in Type 11 trawl doors and an 800kg middle roller manufactured in Denmark by Thyboron Skibssmedie.

Stella Nova is the third boat Danish builder Vestvaerftet has delivered to Ireland in recent years, with Dingle skipper Paul Flannery's 27m Guiding Star II T 120 being followed by Denis Carbery's 23m Atlantic Quest.

The successful performances of these vessels, allied to competitive pricing, prompt delivery dates and high build standards have resulted in the Hvide Sande shipyard securing four more orders for Ireland.

Union Hall skipper Niall Deasy is scheduled to take delivery of the 22.4m twinrig/midwater pair-trawler trawler Ocean Pioneer in October. This will replace the similarly sized wooden-hulled Sceptre S 338, built by Forbes of Sandhaven in 1982 as John Scott FR 473.

The 21m prawn twin-rig trawler Patrick C is expected to be handed over to Jim Connolly of Clogherhead towards the end of this year, after which Vestvaerftet will work on two 23.5m twin-rig trawlers for Castletownbere partnerships.

Comprehensive wheelhouse package

Barry Electronics of Killybegs supplied and installed Stella Nova's wheelhouse electronics equipment from which information is displayed on an array of 19in and 17in Neovo TFT screens which are flushmounted in the main forward console.

Fish finding and bottom sounding duties are performed by a Simrad EQ60 dual frequency colour sounder operating on 38kHz and 200kHz and a Furuno FCV-582L sounder. Provision has been made to fit a sonar unit at a later date, with a compartment already in place in the forepeak.

The main radar is a Furuno FAR2117 ARPA backed up by a Furuno FR 1832 set. Vessel positioning data is processed by a Furuno GP-32 GPS receiver and a Furuno SC-50 GPS satellite compass, which in turn interfaced with the Simrad AP50 autopilot, MaxSea 2D/3D dual display and Sodena EasyWin plotting systems.

Communications equipment includes a Furuno FS1570 MF/HF DSC and Furuno FS1503 SSB radio telephones, Sailor and Icom DSC VHFs, Furuno NX300 Navtex and a Phontech talkback system.

Barry Electronics also supplied the vessel's comprehensive CCTV system, which uses four cameras and two 15in Neovo monitors.

Specification

DETAILS

Owner: Supreme Fishing Company Ltd, Kilkeel, Co Down Designer/boatyard: Vestvaerftet ApS, Hvide Sande, Denmark Agent: Clogherhead Fishermen's Co-operative, Clogherhead, Co Louth

DIMENSIONS and CAPACITIES

Length overall: 23.5m. Length reg: 18.8m. Beam: 7.2m.

Depth moulded: 4.2m. Draft: 4.2m. Tonnage: 190t gross.

Fuel: 33,000 litres. Fresh water: 10,000 litres. Lube oil: 600 litres. Hydraulic oil: 700 litres. Fishroom: 118 cu m.

ENGINEROOM

Main engine: CAT 3508 of 441kW at 1800rpm driving through a Mekanord 430 HS 5.87:1 reduction gearbox to a 2080mm diameter four bladed Korsor CP21 propeller.

Speed: 11 knots.

Auxiliary engines: Two Cat 3056 engines driving 105kVA Stamford 415/3/50 generators; Deutz 18kVA harbour genset.

Bow thruster: Hundested SFT3 67kW.

DECK MACHINERY

Supplier: Thyboron Skibs & Motor.

Three split trawl winches 15t holding 750 fathoms of 22mm diameter wire; Two 2 x 7.5t split net drums; gilson winch 6t; netsounder winch 3t; TMP landing crane and TMP KL9 net handling crane with Thistle Marine 24in powerblock head.

FISH HANDLING/FISHROOM

Fish handling system: Vestvaerftet ApS & Thyboron Skibs & Motor.

Fishroom chilling: Lemvig K & M, Denmark.

Ice-making machine: Geneglace 3t per 24 hrs.

ELECTRONICS

Supplier: Barry Electronics Ltd, Killybegs, Co Donegal Navigation Furuno FAR-2117 ARPA radar c/w 19in Neovo X-19AV display & Furuno FR-1832 daylight radar c/w ARPA; Furuno GP-32 GPS receiver; Maxsea 2D/3D plotting system c/w dual displays, ARPA, AIS and NT on 19in Neovo X-19AV monitors; Sodena Easy Win Plotter c/w ARPA, C-Map Charts for All Ireland; Simrad AP50 autopilot; Furuno SC-50 GPS satellite compass.

Fishfinding Simrad EQ60 dual frequency (38/200kHz) colour sounder c/w 17in Neovo X-17AV display; Furuno FCV-582L echosounder; Simrad PI44 net monitoring system c/w distance and centre clump sensors.

Communications Furuno FS1570 MF/HF DSC SSB radio telephone; Furuno FS1503 MF/HF RT; Icom M601 DSC VHF; Sailor RT-2048 VHF; Simrad Axis 30 portable VHF; Furuno NX-300 Navtex;

Phontech 3101 intercom c/w eight stations talkback system; CCTV system c/w four cameras and two 15in Neovo A/V monitors; T&T Easy Track Sat C VMS system; Globalstar GSP2900 satellite phone c/w weather forecast software; NASA AIS engine; Jotron 40S/FB4 EPIRB; Simrad SA50 SART; Pols S188 60kg fishroom scales c/w wheelhouse printer; TV/FM distribution system.

ACCOMMODATION

One single-berth and two four-berth cabins.

FISHING GEAR

Warp supplier: Nordsotrawl - 3 x 450 fathoms of 20mm diameter wire. Net supplier: Pepe Trawls, Howth - four 40fathom wide mouth prawn grass rope twin-rig trawls with 670 x 80mm meshes in fishing circle and four 36-fathom 600 x 80mm mesh prawn hopper nets rigged on 6in, 8in & 10in discs. Trawl doors: Thyboron Skibssmedie A/S Type 11 72in. Middle clump: Thyboron Skibssmedie A/S 800kg.

GENERAL

Engine controls: Koblet. Insurance: British Marine Mutual.

Paint: Hempel. Skipper's chairs: two Skipper, Esberg.

Steering: Scan MT-1000. Windows: Bohamet.

News

Danish-built twin-rigger for Clogherhead