The twin screw tailshafts of the Granny Hutch fitted with Thordon River Hard Bearings
Port Coquitlam, British Columbia- based Harken Towing, which has procedures along the Fraser River, is transforming its vessels’ tailshaft bearings to Thordon’s River Hard bearing system following its success aboard the 47.7 foot twin-screw pull Granny Hutch.
Since the very first installment in 2015, Harken Towing, which runs a fleet of 10 change yanks, 5 continual yanks and also 9 light weight aluminum water taxis, has actually mounted River Hard to an extra 3 yanks and also strategies to transform its continuing to be vessels at succeeding drydockings.
Sandy Bourquin, aquatic account exec at Palmer Johnson Power Systems, Thordon Bearings’ supplier in British Columbia, stated the installment has actually substantially minimized the business’s functional expense.
“Many tug owners operating in highly abrasive, silty waterways, such as the Fraser River, find that traditional rubber bearings need to be replaced every two years,” he states. “This means that vessels have to be routinely taken out of service and have their shafts withdrawn, which is a very costly exercise. RiverTough bearings are saving operators a lot of unnecessary expenditure as it is lasting over two times the life of rubber bearings!”
The 6-inch polymer bearings mounted on Granny Hutch 5 years earlier have actually not been changed and also continue to be in practically excellent problem.
Harken Towing designer Shawn Davies stated: “We checked wear and clearances during a recent drydocking and found the bearings to be in excellent condition. RiverTough has proven itself. The whole system and all the components are in perfect working condition.”
Since that initially installment, Harken Towing has actually transformed from rubber bearings to River Hard tailshaft bearings on its vessels Ken Mackenzie and also Harken 6
Scott Groves, Thordon Bearings’ local supervisor–Americas, stated: “While there are five companies operating Thordon’s RiverTough along the Fraser River, this is the first clearance data we have received for a vessel operating on this waterway. The feedback from Harken Towing provides clear evidence of RiverTough’s superior wear life in very abrasive water conditions. They routinely outlast rubber bearings by factor of two or more.”
Data from workboats running the Mississippi River system reveal normal River Hard wear prices of 0.075 mm to 0.100 mm (0.0029 inches to 0.0039 inches) in 6,000 to 7.000 hrs of yearly usage.
