Gnots Orders Towboat

Currently under construction at the Harvey Canal yard of Eymard Marine Construction & Repair is the shell of a new towboat that will be towed upriver and completed by its owner, Gnots Reserve Inc., St. Rose, La.

“Eymard is doing all the steel work,” said Ryan Hayes, Gnots’ port engineer. “We’re going to do the build-out.” To get the partially built vessel to their landing at Mile 119 on the Lower Mississippi River, Gnots will plug the shaft tubes and use one of its boats to tow it upriver, he said. The target date for the move is the end of August. It will be the ninth boat in Gnots’ fleet, six others of which are also self-built, the most recent being the mv. Papa Wise, an 80-foot, 2,250 hp. towboat built in 2015.

The new boat, yet to be named, will measure 64 by 27 by 9.6 feet and have twin Cummins QSK19M diesel engines rated at 1,500 hp. total. The engines will be linked to Sound 68-inch propellers through Twin Disc 5222 gears with 6:1 reduction. A three-deck boat, there will be quarters for a crew of six. Two John Deere 65 kw. gen sets will provide ship’s power. Steering will be electric-over-hydraulic, Hydra Force.

Gnots, which stands for Greater New Orleans Transportation Service, expects to be finished with the new vessel by the end of the year, Hayes said, adding, “we’ll use it in the fleet and also for some tripping.” The company, founded in 1967, primarily moves grain barges to elevators upriver from New Orleans.

Caption for photo: The new boat will resemble the mv. Dane Wise, shown in this 2014 photo, only it will be a foot shorter and a foot narrower.