Pair trawlers are completed by Macduff Shipyards
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Macduff Shipyards has handed over two new fishing vessels Faithful (FR 129) and the Crystal River (FR 178) to their respective owners Stewart Buchan and David Cardno of Fraserburgh.
These boats operate exclusively as a pair trawl team fishing out of their home port, and have the distinction of being the yards first new build pair trawl order in more than 30 years.
The previous vessels were the wooden hulled Solitaire and Sonia Jane built in the 1980s.
To deliver the vessels at the same time the production was split between the yards facilities with the Faithful being built in the Macduff main fabrication hall and the Crystal River being built in Buckie.
To assist with the build schedule, many of the steel units for the Crystal River were also built in Macduff before being shipped by sea to Buckie for assembly.
A Macduff Shipyards spokesman said: "As with all industries, the yard faced many struggles incurred by the coronavirus pandemic which delayed the building schedule for both vessels and subsequently made delivery at the same time challenging, however the yard managed to delivery both vessels within three months and would like to sincerely thank both Stewart and David for their patience.
"The Faithful and Crystal River have been built to an identical design and share the same hull form as the Good Hope FR 891, also built by the yard in 2019.
"The hulls measure 26.50 metres length overall with a registered length of 23.95m, 7.80m breadth and 4.20m moulded depth.
"This hull form was developed using CFD technology, assisted by the Wolfson Unit in Southampton, to interrogate and optimise their design to reduce resistance and fuel consumption whilst also allowing for the large volume fish holds which can carry 1150 fish boxes per vessel.
"As typical for the yards new builds Macduff Ship Design played a crucial role in developing the hull model, fairing its lines, analysing the stability, draughting a full set of structural plans and producing a computer kit of steel parts required to build the hull.
"The kit was then nested, and CNC machine profiled by Macduff Profilers, a division within the Macduff Group, with the Lloyds Grade A ship building plate parts being delivered to the fabrication halls for assembly."
A bespoke hydraulic deck machinery package was fabricated by the yard for the vessels.
