The latest new fishing vessel to emerge from the Mooney Boats yard in Killybegs is a a whitefish trawler for the One Way Fishing Company in Shetland.
Ocean Challenge LK-253 has been built for Leslie Hughson and his family. Three years ago previous vessel Ocean Way was lost north-east of Shetland, and up to the end of February this year they had been fishing with Fairway.
The 23.99 metre registered length trawler has an 8.70 metre beam and a 5.60 metre draught. It sails with a crew of six.
According to the yard, Ocean Challenge was a rewarding yet challenging build for Mooney Boats, and at 28.50 LOA this is the largest vessel completed by the shipyard to date.
The hull was constructed in Poland and brought to Killybegs for fitting out, which began in the first quarter of this year. At the time nobody could have foreseen a pandemic taking place, so staff at the yard worked out ways to adapt, as the owners were unable to travel to Donegal to be present as their new trawler was taking shape.
The design team at Mooney Boats prepared sophisticated 3D design drawings of various layouts, which were sent to the owners, giving them opportunities to walk around proposed designs using a laptop or a tablet. This worked so well that the yard was also given the task of designing the catch handling layout on board Ocean Challenge – a first for Mooney Boats – and this was all designed using 3D software, with the digital designs completed and rendered into 3D for the owners in Shetland to check and approve.
Ocean Challenge is laid out with four two-berth and three single cabins, and accommodation including a spacious galley and mess area fitted out in Mooney Boats style with LED strip lighting throughout. Each cabin has its own flatscreen TV and there’s a 55-inch screen. There are plenty of USB charging ports for phones and tablets. A glass partition depicting the vessel’s side profile separates the mess area from the galley. There is underfloor heating throughout the two accommodation deck.
