News
New Power for Single Screw Tug
Boat pride is a wonderful thing and Capt. Mike Daynes has it in spades for his 50-year old single screw tug Capital C. Launched from a shipyard in Jacksonville, Fla. in 1957 as the US Army's ST 1987 this slim beauty is one of over 70 built in the post WW II years with a registered length of 62-ft. shows a grace in its 12-ft. molded depth and rounded chine that is seldom seen in her twin screw descendants. Daynes has worked her in towing logs and log barges since buying her about eight years ago. With a renewed contract to tow a log barge from the Queen Charlotte Islands off the northern coast of British Columbia to the Fraser River some 500 miles south, he decided the time had come to repower his venerable craft. "I had put nearly 50,000 hours on the Fairbanks Morse F38 that was in her and I wasn't going to settle for anything less reliable," he says of his reasoning in choosing an 850 hp Cummins KTA38 to replace the opposed cylinder 600 hp (on a good day) Fairbanks. The new engine was a good fit, a little shorter, lower and lighter but with its V-12 configuration a little wider. Daynes was able to keep the same Twin Disc gear with its 5.17:1 ratio. With the old engine turning at only 1200 rpm it was necessary to reduce the pitch of the boat's 77.5-in. prop from 68 to 42 in. to allow for the higher 1800 rpm input to the existing gear. While Daynes has added a hydraulic bow thruster to the Capital C, he stresses that for general towing work the boat has more than enough maneuverability to meet his needs. "This is the finest boat that I have ever run," he said enthusiastically while the boat was still up in the shipyard. The boat went back in the water on October 26 and floated on the same waterline as before in spite of the change in main engines and the addition of an additional auxiliary. A number of other modifications were made during the six week lay-up. Most of the US Army tugs from that era were built with big stacks right aft of the wheelhouse. With the top of the fiddley open for the engine change, Daynes had the old stack replaced with a much lower one placed further aft with bare exhaust pipes extending upwards but no longer obstructing the view aft from the wheelhouse. Daynes was delighted with how she looked and anxious to do sea trials. With a 300 by 65ft. log barge waiting for the new pulling power Daynes wants to get back to work.
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Trish Wilkin of Commodore's Cranes uses a remote control to lift the KTA38 into the Capital C. (Photo courtesy of Mike Daynes)
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The Capital C on sea trials off Shelter Island in the Fraser River on November 1, 2007. (Photo: Alan Haig-Brown)
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Capt. Mike Daynes checks out the new raw water/fresh water heat exchanger on the Capital. (Photo: Alan Haig-Brown)