Asthore is the second largest GRP boat to be built in the UK and is based on a B46 hull with the fit-out and deck arrangement a near replica of the 9.9m ring netter Resolute, also built by Buccaneer Boats and launched in 2005.
Built by Buccaneer Boats in Cornwall for Westcountry firm Ocean Fish, the vessel has engines, sterngear, steering, bow and stern thruster and sea water pumps supplied by Devon based WaterMota.
Designed by Gary Mitchell specifically for ring netting, the Asthore has around 20 cubic meters of carrying capacity in three tanks. The design also allows for more fish to be stored in insulated tanks on deck.
“I cannot see a bigger GRP hull being manufactured in the near future, at least in the UK as it takes so much capital to make a mould,” said Gary.
Asthore has a hull volume and deck area which is the greatest in its class as a 14 meter GRP boat. Her 17ft beam extends forward and aft and she has a completely clear and spacious working deck. The bulbous bow aids fuel efficiency and also helps to minimise plunging in a head sea making her a dry boat.
She has been fitted with a Doosan L126TIH 11 litre 6 cylinder in line diesel engine rated 360BHP (265KW) @ 2000RPM complete with heat exchanger cooling with sea and freshwater pumps fitted with a D-I DMT180 reversing gearbox with 5.15:1 reduction ratio, a second 110 amp alternator. Driving from the forward end the hydraulics through a D-I DPO clutched power take-off. The main engine drives 2 X JMP 2.5” flexible impeller Bilge/deck wash pumps, the D-I hydraulic for the steering system and for the on board hydraulics. A Doosan AD136 6 cylinder 8.1 litre auxiliary diesel rated at 105 BHP @ 1500 RPM drives the Mecc Alte 85 kva generating set. She has a D-I DPS-650T 10.7 steering system with twin rams, all supplied by WaterMota Ltd.
Too large to be built as a single unit at the Buccaneer Boats yard at North Roskear, Asthore’s hull was transported to Ponsharden Marine at Falmouth where the wheelhouse and forepeak were fitted and from where she was launched.
Ring netting has its roots in Cornish history. Depending upon the size of vessel, the net provides a working depth of between 16m and 30m, although modern technology allows bigger nets to be used by relatively smaller boats.
Ring netting for the Cornish sardine has Marine Stewardship Council’s accreditation and has support in the South West, although currently there are less than a dozen ring netters based in the region. Asthore is now working out of Newlyn skippered by Peter Bullock who began ring netting around seven years ago.
