Rozema delivers 65' oil skimming boat to Canadian oil-spill response company

Rozema Boat Works, Mount Vernon, Wash., delivered the last of four aluminum 65' oil skimming boats to Clean Seas in the fall of 2012. Operating in California’s Santa Barbara Channel, the boats have worked through at least two oil spills.

“They performed well and recovered a lot of oil,” said Rozema’s Dirk Rozema. “They’ve loaded the boats with oil.”

So it’s not surprising that when Western Canada Marine Response Corp. (WCMRC) in Burnaby, British Columbia, needed a large oil-spill response boat it went down and took a ride on a Clean Seas boat. From there, WCMRC signed a contract with Rozema and on Sept. 1 launched the G.M. Penman in British Columbia’s Burrard Inlet.

The G.M. Penman was designed by Rozema Boat Works and is essentially the same as the Clean Seas boats, said Rozema. “It’s a high speed, larger vessel so it can go out in deeper waters and stay out longer.” It’s the first boat in WCMRC’s fleet of 32 oil-spill response boats that can operate continuously for multiple days in open water. For the next year, the G.M. Penman will operate out of Vancouver Harbor. For oil spill recovery work there’s 1,500' of collapsible ocean boom from Kepner Plastics Fabricators and two Lamor three-brush skimmers. The Kepner boom is stored on a reel on the after deck. As it is let out to contain the spill, the boom expands to 42" in diameter.

When the Lamor brush system is employed, doors open on the sides of the boat with sweep booms attached to them. They can work an area 65' to 70' wide with oil and water coming through the doors. The oil sticks to the brushes and clean water flows out. The captured oil is stored in a centerline tank with a 250-bbl. capacity. Flanking that are fuel tanks with a combined capacity of 2,800 gals.

When there is an oil spill, the G.M. Penman should be able to get there in a hurry running at 26 knots. The power to do that comes from a pair of 1,600-hp Caterpillar C32 diesels matched up with Twin Disc 6620 marine gears with 2.73:1 ratios. Also in the engine room is a 40-kW Northern Lights generator. For maneuvering in oil slicks, a 16" Naiad bowthruster will come in handy.

There are a few differences between the California boats and the Canadian oil skimmer. Among them are the G.M. Penman’s four staterooms instead of three. One stateroom has two bunks, the others are single bunks. Also, the electronics package has been upgraded, and there’s a gyro-stabilized Flir infrared camera. Rozema is currently building a 55' tour boat for the city of Seattle that will operate on Washington’s Diablo Lake. “It’s the first inland tour boat we’ve built,” he said.