Kaybeanna

As featured in Professional Fisherman, November 2002.
Kaybeanna is the second of three sister-ships to be built by the shipbuilding division of Allan Barnett Fishing Co. in Bridport on Tasmania's north east coast. Delivered in July 2002 she joined Allan Barnett's fishing interests as a cray boat. However the Kaybeanna was designed to be able to serve a variety of roles.

The Tasmanian scallop fishery to the east of Flinders Island was closed in the late 1980's after it was realised how depleted the beds had become. During the intervening 15 years the fishery has been monitored and is now showing signs of a full recovery.

With the hope that the scallop fishery will be reopened in the not too distant future, Allan Barnett ensured that Kaybeanna was configured to allow her to join the scallop fleet when the fishery is re-opened. In addition to these two roles, Kaybeanna was prepared for use as a tuna longliner and may be employed in that fishery in the closed season for cray fishing.

In order to optimise these multi-purpose intentions, particular attention was paid to the hull design in order to achieve a low fuel consumption. Designer Alan Muir rounded off the typical hard chine in the aft quarter of the hull to improve waterflow around the chine and hence reduce resistance. The transom, which at rest is carried above the waterline, engages the stern wave when under way. The added buoyancy prevents stern squat and hence the running trim remains at the optimum for speed and economy.

Regular readers of 'Professional Fisherman' will have noticed that Kaybeanna is sister-ship to the Yellow Fin, featured on the front cover of the August issue. As can be seen in the accompanying pictures. Kaybeanna maintains the shipyard's reputation for delivering a boat with a superb paint finish. The Tasmanian representative of Wattyl marine coatings, Ian Evans has been instrumental in providing advice tailored to the shipyard's circumstances. A steel fishing boat hull must be correctly protected by the paint system and achieving that is a team effort.

In order to avoid the potential problems of separate coating systems for topsides and underwater hull, Wattyl advised the shipyard to prime the steel hull topsides and underwater surfaces with Sigma EP Universal Primer. This is a two component polyamide cured epoxy coating.

These two coatings are equally suitable for application on the aluminium superstructure and therefore the system greatly simplifies the shipyard's task in providing high quality primary protection for the whole boat.

Underwater, the hull coating is finished with Sigmaplane HA120, a self polishing anti-fouling developed especially for hulls which will operate at less than 12 knots. The final and decorative coating topsides, is Wattyl's Poly-U 500, a two part acrylic polyurethane finish.

The photographs of Yellow Fin and Kaybeanna are testimony to the skills and expertise of the shipyard's paint team.'