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Restored Smack Back with Twin Props
01 Jan 2007
The Pioneer Sailing Trust was established in 1999 with the purpose of restoring back to sailing condition the last remaining first class Essex skillinger smack, named Pioneer. The 70’ long smack, originally built in 1864, was an abandoned wreck lying in the mud at West Mersea UK when the Trust began a careful four year restoration project which led to the vessel being successfully re-launched at Brightlingsea.
The smacks were originally workboats, dredging oysters or scallops from the coasts of the UK and northern Europe, but Pioneer has a very different purpose in its restored state. It will be used to train people who might best benefit, but who may not normally have access to such opportunities, in sailing, teamwork and leadership. Pioneer Sailing Trust will work with life development trusts, training agencies, councils, social services, schools and other organisations committed to social welfare.
Rupert Marks, one of the founders of the Trust said, ‘It was important to us that Pioneer’s restoration be carried out with the greatest respect to the original design, using the highest quality materials and suppliers, while making it a modern vessel in terms of performance and functionality.’
The restored vessel’s twin propeller design, made possible by hydraulic transmission system specialists ARS Anglian Diesels using hydraulic motors, modular load sensing hydraulic valves and hydraulic proportional remote controls supplied by Parker Hannifin, is enabling a combination of outstanding manoeuvrability and impressive cruising speeds.
Whereas Pioneer was powered by the wind in its original incarnation, the restored vessel is powered by a single diesel engine with a hydraulic transmission system driving the twin propellers.
The system incorporates two pump powered Parker F12-80 hydraulic motors fitted to the top of sonic legs, creating the effect of a hydraulic outboard motor system. The F12 motors are extremely lightweight and compact. Despite this lightweight design, their heavy duty roller bearings permit substantial external shaft loads and combine with the motors’ limited number of parts to result in an extremely robust design. Powering the Parker motors can require less fuel than conventional products because of their high overall efficiency and the use of only one engine to drive two propellers.
The fixed displacement F12-60 pump is used in conjunction with a small 22 litre oil reservoir and Parker’s BLA6 250 boost unit, a non-mechanical device which enables the engine to use its full RPM without allowing the pump to cavitate.
Pioneer’s two hydraulic motors are controlled with Parker’s PCL402 twin function friction braked control levers, used in conjunction with a Parker L90LS modular hydraulic valve to control the power efficiently and proportionately from the pump to the two motors.
The twin propeller system enables the power to be directed to one single propeller or both, in either direction of rotation, for easy manoeuvrability.
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