The river towboat Kristy Dutsch is now working the inland waterways for Florida Marine Transporters (FMT) from its homeport in New Orleans.
The 76-foot by 35-foot steel-hulled vessel was designed by Sterling Marine and built by Steiner Shipyard at its Bayou La Batre, Al. facility. Kristy Dutsch is the fifth boat in a series of six identical boats built for FMT by Steiner, the last of which will be delivered later this year.
M/V Eric Brumfield, the first of the series, was delivered in late 2021.
“There’s a multitude of reasons why Steiner was selected for the job,” said Jeff Brumfield, Florida Marine Transporters’ director of engineering. “I couldn’t even start, but it’s not just about cost. We’ve worked with them before, they’re a great company and they continue to do a great job for us.”
With a 35-foot eye level, the boat is Coast Guard-certified Subchapter M and is rated as Coastwise, Unrestricted.
Kristy Dutsch features a deckhouse interior by Kern Martin and has a crew capacity of six with two single and two double crew berths, a full-electric, all-stainless galley, an exercise room, a fully furnished lounge, and a Mitsubishi ductless split air conditioning and heating system.
Fire safety is provided via a Novec system from Hiller Systems.
The boat is equipped with a pair of Caterpillar C32, Tier 3 diesel engines that produce 2,000 hp. The mains connect to twin 76-inch by 68-inch four-bladed Sound propellers through Twin Disc MG-540 marine gears, while the vessel’s service power comes from two John Deere-powered 99-kW gensets.
The engines are cooled by Fernstrum keel coolers and monitored by an alarm system from EMI Marine, which also provided the electric-over-hydraulic steering system. Controls are from Twin Disc.
When fully loaded with fuel and water – 30,000 gallons and 10,000 gallons, respectively – 800 gallons of lube oil and 800 gallons of gear oil, the boat draws eight feet.
The electronics suite features a Furuno color fathometer, a JRC GPS navigation system, a pair of Furuno FR8062 Marine radars, an ICOM IC-M-504 VHF radio, a JRC collision avoidance system, and an alarm system from EMI.
“Kristy Dutsch is every bit the boat that we expected,” said FMT’s Brumfield. “Like its identical sisters, the boat operates very well. It’s smooth and quiet and trouble free. In a word, they’re all outstanding.”