US-based Blessey Marine has completed the delivery of two of its 2000 HP Class towboats.
The 'Steve Scalise' was built at the Verret Shipyard in Plaquemine, Louisiana, to a design by the shipyard. The vessel measures 25.9 metres in length by 9.1 metres across her beam, with a moulded depth of 3.2 metres. A pair of Cummins K38-M main engines turn four-blade stainless propellers from Sound Propeller through Rentjes Model 562 gears.
The 'Jerry "Dog" McLain', from by the Raymond and Associates yard in Bayou LaBatre, Alabama, was also built to the shipyard's own design. The vessel is shorter than the Verret boat, at 23.2 metres, but she is wider at 10.7 metres and has a slightly deeper moulded hull, at 3.4 metres. The engine room has the same power set with two Cummins K38s, but these drive TwinDisc MG540 gears swinging Kahlenberg stainless steel four-blade propellers.
Both vessels have Patterson deck winches, Hiller fire suppression systems and a pair of Cummins 6BT5.9-powered 85kW Stanford generators. The 'Steve Scalise' Mclain' has accommodation for eight people while the 'Jerry "Dog" Mclain' has bunks for seven. Assigned to inland towing, both vessels are inspected under the UN-Inspected Towing Vessel Program (UTV) by the US Coast Guard.
