At the 2024 Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle, Brad Tibbs of Kolstrand came again to sell the deck gear the company is famous for. “I came to my first Expo in 2006,” says Tibbs. “That’s 19 years." At the Kolstrand booth, Tibbs stands next to an array of equipment. “We call in the Christmas tree,” he says.
Starting at the top, Tibbs points to the Kolstrand TopTailer. “It’s a slack taker for a purse seine winch,” he says. The TopTailer consists of a steel bar with a hydraulic-powered nylon roller that keeps a strain on the purse line coming off the capstan head. The TopTailer includes two adjustable speed control valves and mounting brackets for port and starboard side hauling
“It keeps people away from the capstan head, a dangerous machine,” says Tibbs. “And it eliminates the need to have someone tending the line. The guys buying it are saying that it’s harder to get crew, and this helps.”
Next down on the Christmas tree is the longline fish stripper hook cleaner, which measures 12 by 12 by 23 inches, and Kolstrand markets it as suitable for small and large vessels alike. Tibbs notes that the stripper comes in manual or hydraulic hinge models and that the hydraulic mechanism opens the stripper frame quickly when clearing snarls. “It also has an adjustable mounting arm for the Nordic 17, 24, and 30-inch longline haulers,” says Tibbs.
Below the fish stripper hook cleaner, Tibbs displays the Westport-II, a line coiler built with a Charlyn 101 high-speed hydraulic motor for Dungeness crabbers. “It’s a scaled-down version of our king crab coiler,” he says. “Made for the smaller line.”
There are several key features Tibbs likes about the Dungy coiler. “Instead of a spring to control the pinch tension on the tires, we use a gas shock. One of the benefits of this is that it helps dampen out the shock of knots or splices going through.” Tibbs also notes that the on-off lever is very smooth, and the pinch tires are made of a soft rubber compound instead of pneumatic tires. “What’s nice about that is that if you start to get a groove worn in the wheel, you can grind it down flat again,” he says.
The Kolstrand Christmas tree also includes the company’s 4-inch and 5-inch flip style davit rollers. Tibbs points out they are both built of stainless steel with 2-7/8-inch diameter Vertical and Large 5-inch diameter horizontal rollers that all turn on stainless bearings and shafts and are engineered to not spread under extreme loads. “They’re manufactured for either port or starboard side fishing,” says Tibbs. At the base of the tree, a small winch sits on the floor. “That’s our anchor winch,” says Tibbs. “This is the hydraulic control valve that allows it to free-wheel during payout.” Powered with an 18.3-cubic inch White RE Series Hydraulic Motor, the winch includes a positive stop ratchet and dog to lock the drum when anchored, and it’s pre-plumbed with stainless steel fitting to avoid leaks.
“It’s what we’re bringing to the shows,” says Tibbs, noting that the company offers much more.
