Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
"Ala. yard returns to fish boats; oysters, crabs keep bay busy," Raymond & Associates, Bayou La Batre, Ala.; Deltaville Boatyard, Deltaville, Va. |
Collection |
National Fisherman Articles by Larry Chowning |
Catalog Number |
2020.9.2.500 |
Date |
JUNE, 2013 |
Scope & Content |
NATIONAL FISHERMAN, JUNE, 2013, Pgs. 38-40 AROUND THE YARDS, SOUTH "Ala. yard returns to fish boats; oysters, crabs keep bay busy," By Larry Chowning Raymond & Associates of Bayou La Batre, Ala., is building a 98' x 27' x 14' scalloper for Tichon Seafood Corp. of New Bed- ford, Mass. Sterling Marine in Gulf Breeze, Fla., designed the boat. Tichon Seafood owns two scallop vessels, the Patriots and the Raiders, and has been in the seafood business since 1943 selling fish, lobsters and scallops. The boatyard’s Bill Haney says the new boat is replac- ing the Raiders and will also be taking its name. The scal- loper will fish out of New Bedford. Raymond & Associates is the old La- Force Shipyard that was established in 1975 by Frankie LaForce. From 1979 to 2007, the yard built more than 100 commercial fishing boats. Raymond La- Force established Raymond & Associ- ates on adjoining property in 2005 but it is now all one boatyard. Raymond & Associates has mostly built towboats, offshore supply boats, deck and tank barges. "We haven’t built a commercial fishing boat in four or five years," says Haney. But the boatyard is going back to its roots with the con- struction of the Raiders. The scalloper’s hull will be plated with half-inch steel on the bottom and after deck, 3/4-inch for the side decks and transom, and 5/16-inch steel on the foc’s’le deck and pilothouse. Down in the engine room will be a 1,000-hp Cum- mins KTA38 diesel working through a Twin Disc MG- 5075 marine gear with a 7:1 reduction gear that turns a four-blade prop. Besides building the Raid- er, three shrimp boats were in the yard for repairs in March. "A lot of boys got BP money from the oil spill, and they are putting that money back into their boats," Haney says. Even though Virginia opened its crab and peeler pot season at dawn on March 18, most watermen are wisely waiting for water temperatures to rise enough that the crabs will come out of the mud. Instead of wasting time setting pots, they are working on their boats, building pots and getting ready for wanner weather. Keith Ruse of Deltaville Boatyard in Deltaville, Va., is hauling boats for both crabbers and oystermen, and most watermen are doing their own main- tenance work. "We have several boats scheduled to come in next week for routine maintenance," he says. "We will probably have 30 [wooden] deadrises in here this season. I’m charging them $5 a foot to haul, no daily fees and encourag- ing them to do their own work. "Deltaville is no longer a major boat- building center as it was just a few de- cades ago," says Ruse. "It has become the repair capital of the Chesapeake Bay because of the local talent pool." That talent comes from the days when Del- taville was Virginia’s center of wooden deadnse boatbuilding. Deltaville has also become a sailing haven for recreational boats, as the com- munity is located at the tip of the Middle Peninsula, which juts out into Chesa- peake Bay. Though Ruse has a tremen- dous amount of recreational boat work, he says, "I still like to cater to the wa- termen. The Deltaville community has a great watermen’s heritage. We should not forget that." In addition to crab boats. Ruse also hauled the 60-foot Miss. Delaney, an oyster boat owned by Shores & Ruark Seafood Co. ofUrbanna, Va. "We just basically did an annual spring mainte- nance haul out on the Miss. Delaney." says Ruse. "We painted her bottom and installed new zincs." Ruse’s yard recently purchased a 75- ton Travelift with a 25-foot inside open- ing. "The main thing about the Miss Delaney was that we had a time hauling her because she’s over 24-feet wide — but she was just narrow enough for us to get her in the lift. "We are seeing more activity with oyster boats as the fishery has begun to come back some. Everyone is glad to see oysters come back," Ruse says. With the bottom work completed by Deltaville Boatyard, the Miss. Delaney went back to Shores & Ruark’s dock for repairs to the outside of the house. She will be used in April to dredge seed oys- ters in the state sponsored seed-harvest- ing program out of Virginia’s Pianka- tank River. |
Source |
Chowning, Larry |
Imagefile |
011\202092500.JPG |