Largest Inshore Vessel Built in N.L. Launches from Harbour Grace
After almost three years of labour, Matthew Petten is celebrating the launch of his new 90-foot fishing vessel, Petten’s Legacy.
Talks surrounding what would become Petten’s Legacy began in 2016 when Dwight and Matthew Petten approached TriNav Marine Design (TMD) about building a new boat to replace their current vessel, the Joyful Sound.
“We started that process in 2016, and then there was a bit of a downturn in crab and shrimp, and they put the project on hold,” said TriNav Director Rick Young.
“In 2021 they called me up to let me know that they wanted to get the project going again. We immediately met to discuss the project in detail to determine all the design parameters such as dimensions, general arrangement and outfit.”
At 90 feet long and 32 feet wide, Petten’s Legacy is the largest vessel built in Newfoundland and Labrador for the inshore sector, dwarfing the 65-foot vessels in the fleet.
“It’s something me and my father wanted together. DFO (The Department of Fisheries and Oceans) changed regulations to allow us to go to a 90-footer, so we wanted to step up from what we had recently and max out to where we could go,” said Matthew Petten.
As the design and construction for the newest member of the Petten family’s fleet was underway, more hurdles were thrown at the family. Matthew’s father, Dwight, passed away at 56 following a short battle with cancer. Not long after, the Harbour Grace shipyard, Harbour Grace Ocean Enterprises, where Petten’s Legacy was being constructed, entered creditor protection.
“There were some challenges at the yard, and Matthew had to step in to take over the project and manage it and see it to the end,” said Young.
And see it to the end, he did. By the beginning of 2024, the 400-tonne Petten’s Legacy was ready to launch. Given its immense size, Petten’s new boat was too large for the travel lift located in Harbour Grace. As such, specialists from the United States equipped with excavators, front-end loaders, cranes and airbags to slowly slide the ship into the water were called to help with the process.
Six days after starting the launch, after fighting heavy winds and the sheer size of the ship, Petten’s Legacy finally made it past the shoreline. While the behemoth of a boat is still undergoing some finishing touches, Petten’s Legacy possesses an impressive number of modern-day features that put it at the cutting edge of the N.L. inshore fleet.
“She’s a multi-purpose vessel with a state-of-the-art engine room with all the modern equipment needed for such a vessel, outfitted with a TIER III 995-horsepower MTU engine, hydraulic engine, three generators and RSW equipment. So, she’s well-equipped in the engine room,” said Young. “The fish hold is designed with two large RSW tanks that can carry 100,000 pounds of crab. She’s fitted with an ice slurry system to carry groundfish in tubs.”
Beyond the engine room and fish hold, Petten’s Legacy comes equipped with a bulbous bow to reduce pitch and wave-making resistance, a speed nozzle, high-efficiency articulating rudder and hinge-stabilizing fins for roll reduction. The vessel also features a large comfortable galley and mess, a deck washroom, crew washroom, two cabins for eight crewmembers and a separate captain’s cabin off the wheelhouse. The wheelhouse is designed with a crab hauling station to starboard with large windows, an aft centerline hydraulic control station, two helm seats for the forward helm station and a crew area to port.
The upper shelterdeck is designed with an open centre run and fitted with dragging winches and a heavy-duty crane. The stern of the boat features a hydraulic wave gate, twin net drums and a cantilever-style A-frame which helps improve the flexibility of handling fishing gear on deck.
“The A-Frame is something Matthew and his father really wanted,” said Young. “They’d seen it on larger trawlers, they said, “well, if they can do it on larger vessels, why can’t we have it on ours?”
With Petten’s Legacy nearing full completion in the runup to the 2024 fishing season, Young and the crew at TriNav are taking in a moment of pride after the nearly three-year build time comes to a close.
“I do feel a good amount of pride for the work that we’ve done between me and my team of naval architects and engineers that we have at TriNav and Marine Services International (MSI),” said Young. “It’s the biggest design project we’ve taken on, and Matthew Petten and the family seem very happy with the end product, so that makes me very happy as well.”
For Petten, seeing years of hard work floating in the harbour brings the young fisherman a sense of relief and pride.
“I feel like a different person now. It feels like it’s actually mine now, and I’m in control because the boat is actually in the water. We’re tied up dockside now, and it sort of just feels like you’re at home and going through your daily routine,” said Petten. “I would like to give a shoutout to all of the crew that worked on the boat and the workers here at the shipyard. The workmanship is top-notch, no corners cut. They’ve been an excellent bunch of guys.”
Photos by Mark Blundon