MFV Heather Jane - New Stern Gear Supplied and Fitted

Mooney Boats Ltd has just completed a major refurbishment on the MFV Heather Jane stern gear. The vessel was put up on the syncrolift by Mooney Boats Ltd on the 12th January 2011 for her annual wash and painting and also had to go through here Lloyds 5 year survey.

When the vessel was on the syncrolift it was discovered that there was substantial damage to the vessels propulsion system were the seals were leaking badly and also the propeller hub and blades along with the tail shaft were badly damaged. The yard began work immediately and removed the rudder and all the stern gear. Once all the stern gear was removed it was immediately packed and shipped back to Heimdal in Norway for assessment. Originally it was envisaged that the stern gear could be repaired but it was discovered that this was not going to be the case and the decision was made quickly that a new tail shaft, propeller hub & blades along with new seals and bearing were going to be required. Hemidal began production on this immediately but it was still going to take approx 8 weeks to deliver the new gear.

While the vessel was on the syncrolift waiting on here new stern gear the vessel owners decided it was a good time to overhaul the main engine while they had downtime on there hands anyway. Finning Caterpillar completely overhauled the main engine while the vessel was on the syncrolfit.

Mooney Boats Ltd also carried out other repair jobs which were required on the vessel for here survey which included, checking all shipside valves, ultra sonic hull inspection, reconditioning of deck crane, supplying and fitting a complete new set of Mc Duff anodes and also the vessel was completely repainted.

After the new stern gear was delivered from Heimdal Norway week on the 28th March 2011 the Hub was built in Mooney Boats Ltd workshop and then taken over to the vessel and fitted. The vessel was put back in the water on Tuesday 5th April and successful sea trails were carried out on the vessel on the 6th April 2011 under the watch full eye of the Marine Survey office

The complete job which Mooney Boats Ltd carried out on the “MFV Heather Jane” took just under 12 weeks from when work was started on the vessel. The main delay was the delivery of the new sterngear which had to be manufactured from new. Mooney Boats Ltd” would like to thank Hugh Mc Bride and his crew for giving the yard the opportunity to carry out all the work and wish them continued success with there vessel the “MFV Heather Jane ”