Things are never slow or dull at Fred Wahl Marine Construction, and what’s going on at the Reedsport, Ore., boatyard is not just about Pacific Northwest fleets. At the beginning of March there were vessels at the yard from fishing communities as diverse as Long Beach, Calif., Newport, Ore., and Sand Point, Alaska.
The vessel out of Long Beach is the Provider, a 59’11” x 24’ squid seiner at the yard for a new wheelhouse and other work. The vessel had been sponsoned in 2014, but the original wheelhouse remained. However, over time the joint work between the new deck and the original wheelhouse began to significantly corrode, requiring a complete wheelhouse replacement. Additional work on the Provider includes a new stern tube and “improved steering components,” said Kendal Blake, Fred Wahl Marine Construction's marine designer.
Hailing from Newport, Ore., is the 60’ x 30’ Excalibur that was in “to correct an issue from a sponson 10 years ago,” said Blake. The bow bulwarks needed to be raised 26 inches “to improve water deflection,” he said. Previously the bulwarks were “only about shin high with a handrail.” Other work on the Excalibur included plating renewal in the freshwater tanks and a stainless steel chafe guard on the mast’s aft face.
The vessel out of Sand Point, Alaska, is the 122’6” x 32’ Keta, a Bering Sea crabber. It’s in for bottom paint, zincs and a new anchor winch.
An older boat coming in for a new wheelhouse is the 108’ x 28’ Early Dawn, which was built in 1978 and now works the Bering Sea’s golden crab fishery. The Early Dawn is scheduled to be hauled at Fred Wahl Marine next November. “It’s an original Marco” from the Marco Shipyard in Seattle, noted Blake.
In addition to getting a new wheelhouse, the Early Dawn will be sponsoned out to 41’. “The sponson will improve stability and eventually, hold capacity,” said Blake. “It’s going to be a pretty radical design setup, with much increased visibility.”
The Stormy Seas, a shrimper and crabber out of Charleston, Ore., is also coming to the yard for maintenance work, including new shafting.
A future fishing vessel that’s getting a lot of attention at the yard is the 58’ x 28’6” steel hull being built on spec. It’s a Fred Wahl Marine Construction design that’s “similar to previous 58’ x 28’6” vessels,” said Blake, referring to Fred Wahl’s well-known “Super 8” fishing vessels that have been built at the yard since the early 2000s.
The fisheries in which this 58-footer will participate and the engine to power it “will be determined by the prospective owner,” though Blake feels the engine will likely be about 600 hp.
