In October, Marquette Transportation Co., Paducah, Ky., took delivery of the new 2,000-hp Z-drive towboat St. Simon from Master Marine Inc., Bayou La Batre, Ala. The 78'x 34'x11' St. Simon was designed by Entech Designs, Kenner, La., for Marquette’s river division, based in Paducah.
The steel-hulled towboat is powered by a pair of Caterpillar C32 Tier 3 diesel engines from Thompson Power Systems. The new mains produce 1,000-hp at 1,800 rpm each and connect to ZF Marine ZF5111WM-FP Z-drives with 1,650 mm (65") 4-bladed propellers in nozzles. The propulsion package gives the boat a running speed of 10 knots with a loaded draft of 8'.
For ship’s service power the towboat is outfitted with a pair of Kennedy Engine delivered John Deere 4045AFM85 Tier 3 generator drive engines each driving an 80-kW Marathon Mariner generator.
Cooling for all engines and Z-drives was provided by Duraweld coolers from Eastpark Radiator. Doors and windows were provided by Dale’s Welding & Fabrication LLC. Rubber bumper systems were provided by Schuyler Companies. The electronics suite was supplied by New World Electronics while Rio Marine supplied the alarms and monitoring systems. To secure barge tows, there’s a pair of Patterson 40-ton deck winches supplied by Donavan Marine.
The St. Simon has tankage for 24,000 gals. of fuel; 6,550 gals. potable water; and 17,560 gals. ballast water.
Master Marine is continuing to build Z-drive towboats, with one more underway for Marquette with an increased crew capacity of nine in five staterooms with three bathrooms.
