Purchase of two new Rapp Hydema trawl winches

Fierce Allegiance spring shipyard includes purchase of two new Rapp Hydema trawl winches; successful shipyard concludes with re-christening reception June 13

Concluding a very busy shipyard stay at Pacific Fishermen, vessel owner Rick Mezich, along with the Sorias (Captain Danny and his wife Amber) hosted a well-attended reception aboard the F/V Fierce Allegiance. Given substantial investment in vessel equipment and upgrades, the reception was a rechristening ceremony for hard-working crew and their guests, and main vendors alike. Of the latter, Rapp Hydema supplied and installed of a pair of trawl winches, plus an extensive set of hydraulic piping from engine room through the floor up to the winches.

Rapp's TWS-5040 split winches handle 3060 meters of 28 millimeter wire, and each winch achieves 35.5 tons of pull first layer. The winches are three-speed, with maximal line pull velocity of 210 meters per minute at speed step 3, and a top setting speed of 380 meters per minute. Following classic Rapp design developed for the Alaskan Pollock in particular, the winches feature free-wheeling and hydraulic braking along with Rapp's in-house produced gearbox with four motors (pictured above).

After years of using a single radial-piston motor to power their winches, Rapp engineers discovered that Alaskan trawl operations were simply too tough for conventional hydraulic motors - and far too expensive to allow for costly downtime and runs into Dutch. So the gearbox design allows for continuous use of the winch, even if one motor fails, along with providing multispeed options. Little wonder that Rapp has replaced over 1500 motors with these gearboxes since the first was installed in 1991, and not only for trawl winches.

Rapp also provided its well-known PTS-Pentagon system for the winch. The PTS Pentagon provides sophisticated auto trawl functions, including automated control of shooting, towing and haul-back on preset length limits; regulated shooting speed based on pay-out speed or wire tension; and a safety system integrated within a remote control unit to avoid inadvertent winch operation. The Pentagon includes dial-up touch pad control and highly varied visual information on the screen monitor.

Rapp was among the pioneers in this technology, which has origins back to 1973; since then, Rapp has continuously upgraded the system's capabilities over the course of providing units to hundreds, if not thousands, of customers.

Other than trawl winches and PTS Pentagon, Rapp has net reel, third-wire and Gilson winches aboard. Vessel Captain Danny Soria notes that Rapp's winches have been vital to successful fishing, "the Rapp winches are the most reliable on the market today. Especially with the new gearboxes, these winches have what it takes to beat the Bering Sea's worst", he added. Coming from the Captain of the vessel which originally hosted the pilot of the popular program Deadliest Catch (the original documentary was entitled Deadliest Job), these comments have special meaning for Rapp. Says Rapp Hydema U.S. President Johann Sigurjonsson: "The Fierce Allegiance is one of our longest-running and most cherished customers", and adds: "you could not find a more loyal customer over the years. We have received ongoing business from them, as witnessed by a complete outfitting of Rapp deck machinery aboard". Rapp had already supplied the successful split-winch design to many other customers. Other recent customers of the Rapp TWS-5040 winches include the F/V Ofeigur (Iceland) F/V Pesquera Aries, and F/V Pesquera El Golfo (both Chile).

The Fierce Allegiance reception featured all the sea products harvested by the vessel - Pollock fillet, snow and king crab - plus salmon and assorted beverages. A live band provided Irish folk melodies. Among attendees were members of the local workboat community, along with Rapp Hydema U.S. President Johann Sigurjonsson, attending with Rapp Hydema AS General Manager, Inge Henning Andersen, visiting from Norway. All present enjoyed the revelry aboard, which provided a timely reminder that - even in the toughest economic conditions - our local fishing industry has stood the test of time.