Boyer Towing picks Cummins for tug repower

Written by Marine Log Staff
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Tug was repowered with three QSK19 Cummins engines. (Photo:Mike Fourtner/Cummins)

Ketchikan, Alaska, headquartered Boyer Towing Inc. has recently repowered its 80 foot by 30 foot tug Gretchen H.

Delivered by Rodriguez Shipbuilding, Inc., Coden, Ala., in 1997, the vessel was acquired by Boyer in 2005.

The center engine with power take-off. (Photo:Mike Fourtner/Cummins)

As with many Rodriguez-built tugs, the Gretchen H. has triple propellers and triple engines. When Boyer Towing decided to repower the vessel, its choice was to replace the earlier Lugger engines, rated at 700 hp each, with three new Cummins QSK19 Tier 3 compliant engines rated at 750 hp each at 1,800 RPM. The existing Twin Disc MG5202DC gears with their 6.1:1 ratios were a good fit for the new engines so they were retained.

Boyer carried out the repower at its own Seattle shipyard.

According to Cummins, the tug performed flawlessly on sea trials at the end of January and is ready to go back to work towing barges between Seattle, Wake Island, or Alaska.

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