The job, in summary, was the refitting of a vessel to a line hauler and pot hauler for the Patagonian tooth fish for which our customer fishes in the South Atlantic.
It involved several stages and over 1500 hours work by our service technicians over the course of around eight weeks. Not only were we providing new equipment but also had to utilise existing hydraulic components.
The factory had to be built from scratch, and the factory processing system re-designed in consultation with the customer and other contractors. We designed and manufactured the power system for the line hauling system which included the main and after hauler, hook separator, baiting machine and rotation rack. The system had to operate a maximum 165 l/min and up to 240 bar.
The Hanson Hauler, which is similar to a large single winch and storage drum system, was designed with specs of a maximum flow of 750 l/min and pressure up to 206 bar. Incorporated into this was the auxiliary system to run the anchor windless.
The anchor windless system was also re-designed which involved a hydraulic motor to drive another hydraulic screw pump. This was necessary as the ships electrical system was limited in its output, to drive the anchor pump.
A large electrical change over valve was designed and manufactured by HYTECH to handle the 750 l/min of oil flow. In relation to the Hanson Hauler were the pot conveyors which were a new concept and the hydraulic system had to be installed to run it, along with a Comer gearbox, supplied by HYTRANS, to get the torque and speed required by the customer. The pot conveyor had to run 30 pots along a deck chain drive, each pot weighing around 50kg.
We also installed 4 sets of winches for various applications. The Deck Crane had to be stripped and an evaluation had to be completed to conclude the best system and as a result a Palfinger radio remote control system was installed.
In summary our technicians were involved with the following areas of the vessel: The Factory, Pot Conveyor, Hanson Hauler, Baiting Machine, Line Hauler, Deck Crane, Winches, Fish Muncher, Anchor and the supply of spare parts.
Click here to see the complete series of photos from the project
