Graham Gulf Grows with Jets

Project manager Larry Smith is excited about the latest crew boat built at C&G Boat Works' Mobile shipyard for sister company Graham Gulf. Larry started working with owner Janson Graham's grandfather 32 years ago and takes a kind a family interest in each new boat, but this one, the Graham Honor, is the company's first jet. "It allows a flatter hull," explains Smith, "With only about 1.5 ft. of taper from the deadrise of the bow's entry to the nearly flat stern, we were able to reduce the molded depth aft from 12 to 11 ft." The overall molded depth for the 155 x 29-ft. hull is 13 ft. The 155-ft. LOA results from the addition of a 10-foot extension out over the transom to provide extra deck space and to protect the jets. This results in a big 98 x 25-ft. aft deck capable of 200 tons of cargo. The move to jets also allows some shifting in the engine spaces. With the limitation of down-angle on propeller shafts, the engines in a prop boat have to be set further forward. With the jets the engines can be set much closer to the transom. This then allows the auxiliaries to be set ahead of the engines. The main engines are four Cummins KTA38 M2 each producing 1,350 hp at 1,900 rpm for a total of 5,400 hp. These drive the Hamilton 721 jets to give the crew boat a design speed of 28 knots. A Cummins 6BTA engine powers a 1,000 gpm fire monitor as well as providing hydraulics for the 150 hp tunnel type bow thruster. Electrical requirements are met by a pair of Cummins Onan 75 kW gen sets.

"We had two reasons for going to the jets on this boat," explains Janson Graham, "We have had requests for customers of C&G Boat Works wanting us to build a light fast jet-type crew boat that carries less cargo but gets there faster. This boat will serve as a demonstration of our yard's capabilities. At the same time it will allow us to offer to our Graham Gulf charter customers, this type of fast jet boat to complement our existing fleet of prop-driven heavier cargo capable boats." Tankage includes 776 gallons of potable water, 32,128 gallons of fresh water, 20,000 gallons of fuel, 1,800 gallons of dispersant and a single 3,692 gallon plus two 2256 gallons tanks for recovered oil. Seating is provided for 80 passengers. The new boat achieved 30 knots light boat on sea trials and 22 knots with 200 tons of deck cargo. It is the thirteenth boat in the Graham Gulf crew boat fleet. A fourteenth boat is already in build.