Bayou La Batre, Ala, is known for building some of the best workboats in the country.
Nearly two dozen boat yards and fabricating shops are active in the area turning out
all sorts of vessels. With the recent emphasis toward exploring and producing oil
and gas in the Gulf of Mexico, Bayou LaBatre has expanded its shipbuilding base beyond
its famous shrimp trawlers and into oil field support vessels.
Cross the lift bridge guarding the entrance into town, turn down Shell Belt Road a
couple of miles and you come to Boconco Shipbuilding, run by Rusty and Kenny Bosarge.
The yard is focusing on completing two very capable supply boats for Skansi Marine of
New Orleans. The first of the two vessels to go into service is the 160-foot by 36-foot
by 12.5-foot Meg L. Skansi. A nearly identical vessel that is 170 feet long is set to go
into service in the 4th quarter.
ONE HULL OF A DESIGN
The Meg L. Skansi may well be the most advanced supply boat ever
built for its size. It certainly has a number of unique engineering
features that add to its functionality, economy and livability.
The uniqueness of the vessel is due in large part to its hull framing.
Framed longitudinally rather than transversally, the boat has more
living space in the superstructure, allowing the entire “house” to be
moved forward. The use of an Ulstein-type bow also allows for more
space forward in the hull while still allowing for the mandatory collision
bulkhead. This has allowed a longer cargo deck and four decks of “living”
space rather than the conventional three.
From a boat-building perspective, this type of framing makes a world
of sense, Boconco believes. “Non-tight bulkheads have been reduced
from a weight of 78 tons to 15 tons,” according to Kenny Bosarge and
has yielded a hull as strong as one that is conventionally framed.
The reduction in bulkhead tonnage translates into more cargo-carrying
capacity topside,” Bosarge added.
Engineering on the framing design was by Matt Kawasaki of Design
Associates, New Orleans, La. “Matt did an outstanding job designing
the hull,” said Bosarge. “In many ways it is the key element that
makes every-thing else work.”
This framing method gives the vessel other advantages as well. On
the Meg L. Skansi and the slightly longer sister ship, the mud
tanks have no bulkhead subdivisions, making them much easier to
clean when changing mud products. “It’s a lot easier to clean
one big tank with four sides than a tank that is subdivided every
four feet,” said David Skansi, president of Skansi Marine.
“Circulating the mud to keep it a homogenous mixture is easier
as well,” Skansi added.
Benefits of this framing system are most evident in the living
quarters. The lack of transverse framing means that the forward
hull area can hold more than forepeak ballast and the bow thruster.
Just aft of the bow thruster and its engine are four staterooms holding
12 persons. Cargo water tanks surround these staterooms on two sides.
In the superstructure on the main deck level is the largest galley,
mess and lounge I have ever seen on a supply boat of this size. The
area also has two heads complete with showers and a one-person stateroom
for the cook. A walk-in cooler and separate freezer is built into the galley.
The Foc’sle deck of the superstructure also has twin heads with showers and
five staterooms for 10 persons including 4 crew.
The pilot house is also huge by standards of this size supply boat.
It is dominated by a large U-shaped console forward and an aft-facing
control station located between the stacks. Large windows give the
pilot a commanding view of the aft deck.
The forward console needs to have plenty of room for the
outstanding operational feature of this vessel. It may be the
only supply vessel of this size that has a dynamic positioning
system installed.
DP IN THE SEA
Dynamic positioning is being installed on OSV’s in the greater
numbers, but up to now it has been reserved for the large anchor
handlers and supply boats 240-feet long and upwards.
Dynamic positioning is a computer-driven system that allows a
vessel to remain “on station” in one spot regardless of wind and
sea state. Using inputs from a global positioning system, a
gyrocompass, a wind sensor and other inputs, the dynamic
positioning system uses a computer program to control the main
engines, a bow thruster and port and starboard rudders to keep
the boat at a predetermined position.
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The Meg L. Skansi uses a DP-0 system. DP-1 and DP-2 systems do the
same job but require an additional bow thruster and a stern
thruster plus other duplicate systems. The more redundant the DP-1
and DP-2 systems are often used on drill ships and larger OSV’s
operating in deeper water with higher sea states.
Unique to the Skansi Marine DP system is that it is a totally
integrated approach with one supplier designing and building all
of the steering, navigation, communications and alarm systems often
using touch screen interfaces.
That company is Engine Monitor Incorporated of Harahan, La. They
have engineered and built their own DP system, the first one made
in the USA.
EMI supplies the inputs to the DPS module and outputs information
to a steering module that controls the rudders and a control module that
operates the main engine and the bow thruster.
EMI-supplied navigation equipment includes the DPS hardware and software,
a Raytheon Gyrostar II, two JRC radars, two Satellite GPS units, a Furuno
Plotter and a Furuno Fathometer.
Communications gear from EMI includes three Standard VHF radios,
a Furuno SSB and a 12-station C-phone.
EMI also supplied the boat’s alarm systems including a deadman
alarm. A 64-point alarm panel, a five station general alarm and
an ABS control station in the engine room. EMI also provided a
liquid mud control panel with automated valves.
The propulsion machinery on the Meg L. Skansi is a Cummins
IMO-compliant package consisting of a pair of KTA-38-MO main
engines developing 850 hp each working into ZF 5.85:1 gears.
Cummins also supplied a pair of 6CT8.3 diesels driving 99 kw
generators. A Cummins 360 hp N-14 diesel drives a bow thruster
supplied by Ships Machinery, Miami, Fla., who also supplied the
five-bladed propellers. All diesel engines supplies by Cummins
Mid South, Kenner, La.
Because of the exceptionally clean hull design both the shipyard
and the owner feel the vessel will travel at 15 knots, faster
than most supply boats in this class.
The vessel is setup to carry 40,111 gallons of cargo water, 50,000
gallons of fuel and 1507 barrels of liquid mud. The liquid mud tanks
are piped so they can carry water or fuel if mud is not required on
the job. On the 170-foot long vessel that is being built, cargo water
and fuel capacities are larger due to the 10-foot longer hull. The
extra space also allows the vessel to carry 21,000 gallons of methanol
for rig stimulation and workover jobs.
Other suppliers for the Meg L. Skansi include filtration systems
by Complete Filter of Harahan, La.; mud pumps by Power Speciality
of Morgan City, La.; other pumps by Byrne, Rice and Turner of New
Orleans; engine exhaust silencers by Fabacher, Harvey, La.; and
all safety equipment by Donovan Marine.
Building and delivering two very high-tech supply boats within
months of each other would tax the capabilities of larger boat
yards. “I am very pleased and comfortable with Bonconco,” Skansi
said. “They have met our deadlines and their engineering, project
management and workmanship are all outstanding.”
As important as these two Skansi supply vessels are to Boconco,
they have other projects in the pipeline. Fabrication areas in
the yard are busily working on two additional supply boats plus
refurbishing a 200 foot class lift boat.
Behind these projects are six supply boats for one customer, not
a bad backlog for a company in business for just a few years.
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