HARBOUR BOARD DREDGE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20690, 12 April 1929, Page 2

HARBOUR BOARD DREDGE.

THE OTAKOU LAUNCHED. The Otakou, the Otago Harbour Board's new dredge, was launched at Paisley on Wednesday. Cabled advice to this effect was received yesterday by Mr W. J. Bardsley, secretary of the board. The dredge has been specially built for work in the harbour. In February, 1927, the Harbour Board called for tenders <for a hopper dredge. Six tenders were received from the United Kingdom and the Continent, and on May 18 the tender of Messrs Fleming and Ferguson, in the sum of £123,724, was accepted for the dredge, delivered at Port Chalmers. The Otakou is 250 ft long between perpendiculars. with a length overall of 259 ft. Her moulded breadth is 40ft, with an extreme breadth over fenders and gear of 47ft 7iin. The moulded depth is 20ft, and the overhead height above the keel 90ft. The machinery and equipment were built under Llody’s special survey for its class of 100 Al hopper dredge for channel and foreign-going service. The machinery has been designed for a minimum sea power of eight knots when the dredge is fully loaded and under normal manning and fuel conditions. On her trials the Otakou will be required to attain a minimum sped of nine knots. The dredge will have screws. The engines will be of the direct acting vertical surface condensing type. The Otakou will have a minimum loading rate of 19,500 cubic feet of spoil an hour, and will carry 2000 tons in the hoppers. Her dredging depth will be 45ft. The capacity of the buckets will be 27 cubic feet, working on a ladder 120 ft long at the bow well. The buckets will have a fast speed of 16 buckets a minute, and 12 buckets a minute at slow speed. The Otakou will carry out her trials on the Clyde in varying depths, averaging 30ft below her water line. The dredge will have accommodation for the captain, two deck officers, three engineers, and a crew of 14 for the voyage to New Zealand. The extra accommodation will be dismantled after the dredge has been delivered at Port Chalmers. The chart room will be on deck, protected by steel bulkheads. Workshop and storeroom accommodation will be provided, and also every convenience for the officers and crew. The Harbour Board has made the third payment, 20 per cent, of the contract price to the builders. When the Otakou has been satisfactorily delivered to the board, a further 30 per cent, payment will be made, and at the expiry of 12 months, the guarantee period, the final payment of 5 per cent, will be made to the builders.