Article written in October, 2010 edition of National Fisherman Magazine.
Down at Everest Marine & Equipment in Burlington, Wash., Stewart Everest, along with Penn Cove Shellfish in Coupeville, Wash., just launched the seventh 64-foot aluminum boat for Coast Seafoods in Bellevue, Wash. And Everest Marine & Equipment is getting ready to build another one.
One of the seven was a mussel processor and the other six were oyster dredges. Each of the seven involved some tinkering with the design to carry weight better in a loaded condition and gain a little speed.
On hull number six, Everest figured things were as good as they were going to get. "That was it. That was optimal," he says. "Then it was decided to change the jet and the engine."
Putting a different engine in the boat that was just launched meant a jump in horsepower from 330 to 455 in a John Deere 6125. The John Deere is hooked up to a Traktor Jet TJ-610HT water jet with a 24-inch impeller.
Everest was hoping to pull 17 knots out of that power package, but on the sea trials, he said the oyster dredge hit 20.2 knots. The previous boats were only making 12 to 13 knots. Loaded down with a 50-ton cargo of freshly dredged oyster, she makes 10 knots.
Those 50 tons of oysters are landed on a stainless steel deck that overlays aluminum decking. There's a coating of two-part epoxy paint and 3M 5200 between the metals to prevent corrosion.
Just before he was set to start work on the next dredge, Everest was crawling over, in and around the just finished oyster boat. Thinking the next 64-footer can be a little faster, Everest was moving weights.
"Took the fuel out and moved it around. We're deciding where we want weights in the next one. I may move the engine bulkhead and engine forward 1 foot. We are talking small amounts. We are trying to achieve the perfect load, to get more speed out of the loaded and the unloaded scenarios. It's tough. The loaded characteristics are perfect. They are the best I've ever achieved. Now we are trying to tweak more speed out and still maintain that load," Everest explains. - Michael Crowley
