The pride Skipper Ewan Robertson, his brother Alan (engineer) and cousins Kevin and Jonathon Wood showed in their impressive new vessel Scotia BF 32, berthed in Buckie harbour waiting for the final paperwork to be processed, was matched only by their enthusiasm and strong desire to start fishing.

It is always good to see such eagerness and enthusiasm displayed as part of a forwardlooking attitude that has resulted in Scotia's owner, the Hillhead Fishing Company of Portknockie, and designer/ builder Karstensens Shipyard of Skagen, Denmark, combining to successfully develop a new class of versatile mediumsized boat.

Bruce Robertson of Hillhead Fishing tells FN: "We made a conscious decision to opt for a dual-purpose scalloper/prawn trawler after the deepwater trawler Crystal River BF 32 was decommissioned.

"While fishing opportunities have generally been more settled for the past two years, you never know what instability could be created again by the EU at the annual end of year fisheries talks in Brussels.

"Building a dual purpose scalloper/trawler ensures that the skipper and crew will have greater flexibility in fishing methods and be able to adapt more easily to both fishing opportunities and prevailing weather conditions."

When prawn trawling, Scotia is expected to work trips of four to five days' duration up to 100 miles offshore, fishing mainly in the North Sea, before landing through Peterhead Fishermen.

Designed for use either as a stern-bagging triple-rig trawler or an eight-a-side scalloper, when the contents of the dredges will be emptied into side conveyors at shelterdeck level, the 14.95m Scotia breaks new ground for the Scottish fleet on several fronts.

With a beam of 6.4m, a moulded depth of 3.4m and a draft of 3.6m, Scotia's round bilge steel hull incorporates a bulbous bow, sternskeg, flared stem and transom stern. The level of the full length shelterdeck is recessed towards the transom to facilitate handling both the trawl gear and prawn/whitefish/scallop catches.

Below main deck the hull is subdivided into five watertight compartments, forepeak, deep fuel oil tanks, fishroom, engine room and aftpeak.

The accommodation areas are on the main deck forward of the fish handling area and the two double trawl winches located up against the deckcasing bulkhead.

Access to the aft engine room is via a central casing, which also houses the engine exhausts that exit through a raked single trawl gantry.

Skagen company North East Marine manufactured Scotia's trawl winches that have a core pull rating of 10t. Designed for either wheelhouse or local deck control and made to suit the deck space available, these two barrel units are unusual in that they are of split design.

Spooled with four 300 fathoms of Randers 16mm diameter wire for triple-rig trawling, the winch drums have a capacity of 600 fathoms. This ensures that when Scotia switches over to scalloping, two lengths of trawl wire can be easily wound on top of the wire already on the neighbouring barrel, to enable 200 fathoms of 24mm diameter scalloping wire to be spooled on to the two empty drums.

The trawl/scallop wires lead vertically upwards through raised shelterdeck coamings to hanging blocks under the strengthened wheelhouse roof. The wires have straight leads at head height aft to four hanging blocks on the low trawl gantry arranged across the transom.

Four identical 23 fathom prawn scraper nets are carried on two plain net drums fitted with a middle flange and driven by heavy duty motors giving a core pull of 12t.

The level of the shelterdeck is stepped down between the scallop troughs to allow the net drums to be positioned level with the transom rail.

Tubular guiding-on frames are positioned in line with the net drums, eliminating the need for crewmen to drop in heavy shooting pins while at sea.

After they are taken aboard by either of the two 5t gilson winches mounted on the shelterdeck abaft the wheelhouse, the codends will be released above the hydraulically operated central hopper under the fabricated box section lifting gantry.

An elevated conveyor is used to lift catches from the base of the hopper and move them forward. The conveyor off which the crew will sort and gut the catch, while standing with their backs to the scallop trough, is slightly offset to starboard of Scotia's centreline.

Selections are placed in elevated selecting baskets, while prawn tails are directed into baskets on the deck via separate chutes. On removal from the central washer, catches will be transferred for boxing in the 65m fishroom.

Heavily insulated and lined and fitted with central ice ponds, the fishroom, which has a working capacity of about 400 boxes, is fitted with a Nordkol deck and bulkhead chilling system.

Provision has been made to easily convert 20cu m of the fishroom to freezing at a later date, depending on market requirements.

When switching over to scalloping, Scotia will tow eight dredges aside. After the main winches have hauled the scallop beams alongside, the gilson winches and the midships gantry will be used to lift the scallop dredges up to shelterdeck level, from where the dredges will be tipped individually into the side hoppers.

Heavy-duty rubber conveyors fitted at the base of the hoppers will be used to move the contents of the dredges aft.

Standing in a recessed well, a crewman will select scallops off the conveyor while allowing other debris to remain on the belt before it falls off over the stern. Baskets of scallops will then be tipped into the central trawl reception hopper, from where the main catch handling conveyor will automatically deliver them to the fishroom for bagging via a small chute.

When trawling, gratings are positioned on top of the side hoppers to provide maximum safe access aft for the crew.

Having spent the last six months fishing aboard the new scalloper Georgia Dawn INS 140, the skipper/owner of which, George Jack, provided much appreciated advice on scalloping to Scotia's owners during the design process, it is not surprising that Ewan Robertson will be using identical gear.

This will include frames and tooth bars manufactured by Stuart Adams of Oban Scallop Gear, while Deeside Marine & Southwest Trawlers, Kirkcudbright, will supply the chains and bellies.

The absence of fuel-tank room and a neat layout enhance the space available in the engineroom, facilitating all levels of service maintenance. Engineer Alan Robertson also has access to a separate, well-equipped workshop aft on the starboard quarter. A gear store occupies the similar space on the port side, with watertight hatches providing access from the main deck.

Scotia's propulsion unit is a Volvo Penta unit that develops 263kW at 1100rpm and is coupled to a Hundested 6.45:1 reduction gearbox to turn a 1800mm diameter four-bladed Hundested CP propeller housed in a matching steering nozzle. This combination achieved 9.2 knots on sea trials off the coast of Denmark. The vessel's high-pressure (maximum 200 bar) hydraulic system is powered by a Denison pump driven from a PTO mounted on the gearbox.

Two Mitsubishi S6S auxiliary engines, rated 50kW at 1500rpm and driving 45kW Stamford 415/3/50 generators, are also fitted. All catchhandling conveyors are electrically driven.

The aluminium wheelhouse is finished to the customary standards associated with Karstensens, with extensive use of hardwood complementing lightcoloured laminates.

A similar combination of finish has been used in the four-berth cabin arranged at the port shoulder, and the wrap round stem galley and messdeck.

The main forward console is returned around the corners of the wheelhouse, while a smaller island console is positioned between the NorSap and wheelhouse chairs, which back onto the central chart table. The trawl console is situated aft on the port side, from where Skipper Robertson can take full control of shooting and hauling the triple-rig gear. Two sets of Kobelt engine and RollsRoyce Tenfjord steering controls are fitted.

Fish detection onboard Scotia is handled by a Simrad ES-60 50kHz colour sounder.

Positioning data from two Furuno GP-32 GPS navigators and a Robertson RGC50 gyro compass is interfaced to the Robertson AP45 autopilot, Olex dual screen, Quodfish 501 and Sodena TurboWin plotting systems.

Sailor GMDSS and DSC SSB and VHF communication equipment supplement the Thrane & Thrane Sat Com C.

SPECIFICATION DETAILS
Owner: Hillhead Fishing Company Ltd, Portknockie, Banffshire.

Designer/boatyard: Karstensens Skibsvaerft A/S, Skagen, Denmark.

Agent: Peterhead Fishermen Ltd, Peterhead.

DIMENSIONS and CAPACITIES Length overall: 14.95m. Length reg: 14.12m. Beam:

6.4m. Depth moulded: 3.4m. Draft: 3.6m. Tonnage: 40t gross. Fuel: 15,000 litres. Fresh water: 2,000 litres.

Lube oil: 300 litres. Hydraulic oil: 700 litres. Fishroom:

60 cu metres.

ENGINEROOM Main engine: Volvo Penta TAMD 165 of 263kW at 1100rpm driving through a Hundested 6.45:1 reduction gearbox to a 1800mm diameter four-bladed Hundested CP 9 1/2 propeller housed in steering nozzle. Speed: 9.2 knots.

Auxiliary engines: Two Mitsubishi S6S of 50kW at 1500rpm driving Stamford 45kVA 415/3/50 generators.

Fuel oil separator: Alfa Laval MAB 103-24.

Bilge ejector: Ellehammer. Pumps: Deckwash, main engine and hydraulic cooling Bombas Azcue.

DECK MACHINERY Supplier: North East Marine, Skagen. Two two-barrel split trawl winches 10t, two plain net drums c/w middle flange 12t, two Gilson winches 5t, landing winch 1t.

FISH HANDLING/FISHROOM Fish handling system: Bo Andersen A/P.

Fishroom chilling: Nordkol with Bock compressor.

ELECTRONICS Suppliers: Owners and Woodsons of Aberdeen.

Navigation Furuno M1834 black box radar, two Furuno GP-32 GPS receivers, Quodfish 501, Sodenna TurboWin and Olex dual screen seabed mapping plotting systems, Robertson AP45 autopilot, Robertson RGC50 gyro-compass.

Fishfinding Simrad ES-60 50kHz coloursounder, Simrad ITI and Scanmar net monitoring systems.

Communications Sailor RE2100 HF/SB GMDSS radio telephone, Sailor RT4801 DSC & RT2048 VHFs, Thrane & Thrane Satcom C, PhonTech talkback system; SeaTel 3294E satellite TV.

ACCOMMODATION One four-berth cabin.

FISHING GEAR Warp supplier: Randers 4 x 300 fathoms of 16mm diameter wire for triple rig trawling and 200 fathoms of 24mm diameter wire for scallop dredging. Net Supplier:

NordsoTrawl, Hvide Sande - four 23 fathom prawn scraper triple rig trawls with 280 x 105mm meshes in fishing circle rigged on 4in/6in/8in/10in discs. Doors: Thyboron Skibssmedie A/S - two 80in Thyboron Type 4 outer and two Thyboron Type 4 50in inner trawl doors. Scallop dredge manufacturers: Oban Scallop Gear Ltd (frames and tooth bars) and Deeside Marine & Southwest Trawlers, Kirkcudbright (chains and bellies).

GENERAL Engine controls: Kobelt. Finance: Royal Bank of Scotland, Peterhead. Insurance: Scottish Boatowners, Buckie. Lifesaving appliances: Cosalt. Paint: Sigma.

Steering: Rolls-Royce Tenfjord SR562 - 20kNm.

Wheelhouse chairs: 2 x Nor Sap 1500. Windows: van Wingerden.

News

Innovative triple-rig trawler/scalloper