Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
"'Big Shrimpin'' gets new boat; 85 years old and still building," Williams Fabrication, Coden, Ala.; Willard Norris, Deltavivlle, Va. |
Collection |
National Fisherman Articles by Larry Chowning |
Catalog Number |
2020.9.2.469 |
Date |
JUNE, 2012 |
Scope & Content |
NATIONAL FISHERMAN, JUNE, 2012, Pgs. 40-41 BOATS & GEAR AROUND THE YARDS, SOUTH "'Big Shrimpin'' gets new boat; 85 years old and still building," By Larry Chowning Williams Fabrication in Coden, Ala., is building a steel 105' x 27' x 13' shrimp boat for Dominick Ficarino of Dominick's Seafood in nearby Bayou La Batre. The boat will fish in the Gulf of Mexico and be part of the History Channel's series "Big Shrimpin’." The program follows three captains of shrimp boats and their crews who work Ficarino’s boats as they compete for larger Willard Norris says the skiff he’s building will be good for oystering. catches. The new boat will have extra berths to accommodate a film crew. A Caterpillar 3508 rated at 1,000 horsepower is the main engine. It will P work through a Twin Disc 540 marine gear. There is also a 299-kW generator for electrical needs and a 375-hp John Deere diesel to power the hydraulics. "Dominick is a repeat customer who has been satisfied with our work," says Lane Williams of Williams Fabrication. "It’s great to be building a shrimp boat again. It’s real unusual in this economy. Most of Bayou La Batre’s boatyards are building workboats as the market for commercial fishing boats has waned. "The cost of materials has gone up so much," says Williams, listing one reasonv the market is sluggish. "A boat today will cost S2.5 to S3 million compared to 10 years ago when you could build the same boat for SI million." In a deal that might bring in more business, Williams Fabrication recent- ly converted the mechanically driven winch system on a deepwater Mexican shrimp boat to hydraulic power. The shrimper had older winches from McElroy Machine & Manufacturing and Douglas Winch Co. Those were re- placed with Pullmaster hydraulic winch- es, says Williams. "The old mechanical systems have a lot of moving parts that can go bad, and if they break a chain in that deepwater, $50,000 worth of chain, doors and nets could be lost." The Mexican shrimp fishery is a 200-fathom-deep ocean fishery where boats use 3,600 feet of cable to tow the net. Recently a NMFS representative in Mississippi sent several Mexican fisher- men to Williams Fabrication for a conversation on hydraulics. "We’ve done one, and I think we are going to do six more," Wil- liams says. "It’s right much work to converting it over, but it’s work and we can do it." Up in Chesapeake Bay, Willard Norris of Deltaville, Va., continues to build wooden boats for commercial fishermen. He is now building a 26' x 8' wooden deadrise skiff on spec. Norris says unlike when he started building boats 50 years ago, now he has to search for reasonably priced quality wood. The pine stem in his boat came out of a 100-year-old warehouse that was being torn down in Richmond. The 26' x 5 1/2" x 7 1/4" spruce-pine keel was cut by Wesley Sanger of New Point, Va., who owns a small cus- tom-cut sawmill. Sanger is also a builder of wooden deadrise boats and has worked the water. Norris’ boat is 26 feet long because the keel was cut that long. "I wanted to go at least 25 feet with the length but when he cut it 26 feet I just went ahead and made her 26," he says. "I was lucky to get a good pine keel. A fir keel cost a barrel of money. I called Wesley and he said he had a just right tree that he could cut a nice keel from." Norris used older spruce pine for the side and bot- tom planks, which were hand picked from another mill in Gloucester County. All fasteners are stainless steel nails. Norris will coat the boat with West System epoxy. He says the 26-footer will be ideal for crabbing and oystering. "She will handle a 22-inch-wide oyster dredge very nicely." At 85 years old, Norris is not only still building boats, he also maintains a charter-boat license. This March, he had 67 parties booked for the upcoming fishing season that starts May 6. "I keep busy doing what I like to do." he says. "I It may not look like it now, but this 105-foot shrimper is destined for a TV role. guess I’m lucky that way." |
Source |
Chowning, Larry |
Imagefile |
011\202092469.JPG |