When Gustavo Galeano first started up the engine as his new boat was completed in the spring of 2015, he was greeted by a familiar sound.
The solid throbbing of Don Franco’s 600hp Cummins KTA19 main engine reminded him of the Cummins engine in his father’s boat. One of the understandings that Gustavo gained from his father was the importance of a solid and reliable engine.
‘I come from a fisherman’s family,’ Gustavo said. ‘My father had already experience using Cummins engines for many years and had been always very satisfied.’
Don Franco is a 20.80 by 6.60 metre trawler built at the Contessi Shipyard at Mar del Plata in Argentina. The 19-litre, in-line, 6-cylinder Cummins KTA19 main engine has earned a near legendary position among single-engine fish boats from Seattle-based Bering Sea longliners to Thai purse seiners and countless other vessels around the world.
For independent operators such as Gustavo, fuel costs can eat up a lot of the returns on the catch. At the same time, having sufficient power to tow a large trawl at significant depths can contribute to good catches. The balance between fuel economy and power is important to Gustavo, who is satisfied with his main engine, as well as the Cummins 6CTA and 4BT auxiliaries.
‘They are very reliable, have good performance and the power they develop is really high compared to the fuel consumption,” he said.
As do fishermen the world over, Gustavo must cope with issues that are not of his making
‘The boat works very well and we never had a problem,’ he commented. ‘Actually, the challenges are related to the Argentinian economy. Nowadays it’s very difficult to take a boat out to fish.’
