This winter, the Bristol Bay gillnetter Starship was hauled at Maritime Fabrication's La Conner, Wash., boatbuilding facility for “conversion work, so its owner can combination fish it in Southeast Alaska,” said Maritime Fabrication’s general manager Isaac Oczkewicz.
“He’d take it out of service in Bristol Bay,” where it would be gillnetting for salmon “so he can combination fish it out of Petersburg,” for both gillnetting salmon and longlining for halibut.
The boat’s owner will be setting and hauling gear over the transom, thus the transom was lowered, and Maritime Fabrication built a deck reel and a stern roller that fits into the modified transom for longlining and gillnetting over the stern.
A canopy frame was built over the boat’s cockpit to hold a skiff “and possibly a cover,” said Ockewicz. “A combination shelter deck and skiff storage.”
Leaving Bristol Bay to work in other waters also meant the Starship required bottom paint. “It has never had bottom paint. That’s typical for a Bristol Bay boat,” said Ockewicz. “In Bristol Bay they are in the water for a short period of time, and it is very fresh water. There’s just not a need for bottom paint.”
Thus, the Starship’s hull was sandblaster from the waterline down, a primer coast was applied and then antifoulant paint.
Maritime Fabrication builds a 49’ x 18’ fiberglass coastal crabber that Ockewicz says, “there has been renewed interest in. We might have limited production on these. The interest is for a boat that can pack product, go a little bit faster and be used for day crabbing. Instead of having a big steel boat and spending a week on the grounds, this boat can go out quickly, get your gear set or run your gear, come back and not have to spend the night on your boat offshore.”
Maritime Fabrication has built six of the 49-footers in the past 15 years. Obviously not a great amount of attention is paid to accommodations. They’ve been powered with the Scania DI 13 or the John Deere 6135, which provides enough power for 10 to 12-knot speed.
“More depends how they configure it. One of the possible current customers wants 15 knots,” said Ockewicz, adding that they’ll know in two or three months if any of the 49-footers will be built this year.
