Spindrift III

The Spindrift III was built for its original owner, Herbie Jensen of Cordova, in 1974 in Seattle. She has a Modutech hull of a style that is still being built and that has proven to be excellent for the Copper River Flats.

Originally powered by a gasoline engine driving a jet, she has been repowered several times. At present, she has two Volvo AQAD41 diesel engines (of 200 horsepower each) pushing twin Volvo Duoprop drives. The diesels and their drives provide sufficient power to enable packing fish and slush ice in the Spindrift's large hold. And they use fuel very efficiently.

The Spindrift easily makes 20+ knots under ordinary conditions, and is a good sea boat. The cabin has a large single bunk, small table, stove, sink, and pilot seat. She is sufficiently roomy for one, but crowded with two or more aboard. Herbie designed the layout for maximum work and deck space within Spindrift's 26' length. That didn't leave room for frills in the cabin.

I rebuilt the hold completely several years ago, so that I could safely slush-ice my fish. Slush-ice is superior to both layer-icing and refrigeration because it does not squeeze the fish, cannot have warm spots, and chills them almost instantly. Slush-icing is not done in very many bowpickers because they do not have sufficient power to pack fish, water, and ice, and still get up on step. Coming in at the 7 knots of hull speed would turn a 2-1/2 hour commute to town into a 7 hour grind.

The electronics that enable me to navigate the Copper River Flats safely day or night, rain or fog, include: Furuno GPS, Furuno color sounder, LORAN, Furuno VHF, CB, depthfinder. I also carry standard safety equipment including a Kaino Rescue Ring and a self-deploying EPIRB.

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