Skippers David Gatt and Barry Reid of Scottish trawler Audacious are satisfied with the switch to a Scantrol SYM 7, away from the original winch control system on board.
‘It’s great to have more flexibility and control again, especially working different depths and bottom types,’ David Gatt said, adding that with turning has been improved and the winch operation is much smoother.
‘During turning the gear stays level and square when monitoring net sensors. We have better winch dynamics, we can see the winches operating more freely while fishing under various conditions and depths. The winches were stiff, and in our experience pressure settings need adjusting to suit the wire on the winch, weather conditions, depth of water, and adjusted for working single or twin-rig gear,’ he said.
‘Together with Nordkontakt AS and the Scantrol SYM7 R&D team, we have extended our range of upgrade kits to also include newer versions of hydraulic and electric Pentagon Autotrawls,’ said project manager Terje Ånderbakk was in charge of installation and function testing.
‘Audacious BF-83 is the first vessel to install Scantrol SYM7 as an upgrade for the Pentagon CBUS system. We are happy to announce that installation, commissioning, and sea-trials have been a great success. Installation took one day, and the vessel was ready for sea trial the following day.’
Scantrol will be present at the Scottish Skipper Expo in Aberdeen this week, along with Drew Elphinstone of new distributor DE Marine.