A powerful secondhand tugboat has been fully restored and returned to service as the Capt. John J. Charpentier for Dawn Services LLC, Harvey, La.
The tug's story dates to the early 1980s when a group of keels was laid for new tugs designed to tow barges between Seattle and Alaska. Market challenges derailed the builds, and the unfinished hulls changed hands and shipyards several times before the tug that would become Foss Maritime Co.’s Corbin Foss was completed at Marine Power & Equipment Co., Seattle, in 2003.
Removed from operational duty and laid up in Pascagoula, Miss., in 2021, the tug was acquired by Dawn Services and fully restored for reentry into service under full ABS class. The vessel is now homeported in New Orleans.
The 178-gt oceangoing tug — renamed the Capt. John J. Charpentier, in honor of Dawn Services’ founder — packs a lot of power, which the company found attractive as it looks to expand its presence in the larger tug market, according to Kevin Hopel, business development manager at Dawn Services.
At 150'x40' with 8,200-hp, the tug is Dawn Services’ largest and most powerful tug, offering 108 tons of bollard pull. It is equipped with two ALCO 16-251F diesel engines that turn twin 144"x127" 4-bladed, fixed-pitch propellers in Kort nozzles through a pair of Haley GMC 4228 reduction gears. It also features a pair of 170-kW Cummins N-14-TA generators and a 500-hp bowthruster.
“When it comes to tugs that have 100 tons of bollard pull or more, there’s not a huge market,” Hopel told WorkBoat earlier this year. “We felt like we wanted to transition into the larger tug market. The last six tugs that we’ve added over the last five years have been 4,000 hp or more.”
As Dawn Services’ offerings have expanded, its fleet has grown too. The company has been deploying its larger tugs to tow ships and to support offshore decommissioning work — “pretty much anything and everything,” said Hopel. “We’re hoping that in the future, as the oil field picks up, the bigger boats will get even busier.”
Topside refurbishment on the Capt. John J. Charpentier was performed at a dock rented by Dawn Services in Port Fourchon, La., before the vessel was moved to Bollinger Fourchon for more extensive repair work.
“The boat, steel-wise, is in great shape. Other than handrails and some smaller items on the deck that are being cut off and replaced, there’s nothing major. All the tanks look good. The engine room is in really good shape,” Hopel said before the refurbishment work was performed. “The engines are probably going to be top-end rebuilds, turbo rebuilds, injectors, things like that. The boat runs.”
Most of the refurbishment was focused on mechanical components, said Hopel. The tug’s Intercon DD 225 tow winch, for example, had some rust and was totally broken down and rebuilt along with the winch engine. The vessel's tow pins, shafts, wheels, and bowthruster were also refurbished, and the tug received a fresh coat of paint. “The boat is in really great shape,” said Hopel.
Electronics include four Simrad Shipmate RS8310 VHF radios, a Sperry R-4 AIS system, Robertson AP 9 autopilot, a Leicka MX420 and Garmin 128 GPS, two Simrad RA 51 radars, a Furuno FCV667 depth recorder, and a Robertson RGC11 gyrocompass.
The tug has nine berths in seven staterooms, a galley, as well as central air conditioning and heating. Capacities include 224,000 gals. of fuel oil, 5,500 gals. lube oil, and 9,000 gals. potable water.
