Recognizing the effects that climate change on fishery, we felt it was important to change our boat to make it use as little fossil fuel as possible.
Working with T Buck Suzuki Environmental Organization‘s fuel efficiency guide, we incorporated as many of the ideas from their guide as we could in our new (to us) vessel, the Michelle Rose:
- We added a bulbous bow to increase the waterline length and we have the most hydrodynamic bow possible.
- We extended the length in the stern by adding a tail fin that extends the length of the vessel aft (longer boats are more fuel efficient).
- The tail fin adds lift to the aft end of the boat increasing fuel savings.
- We haul the boat in our local Cowichan Bay shipyard for bottom painting and general maintenance every year to keep the hull as smooth and as hydrodynamic as possible.
- We tested and rebuilt fuel pump so it would be burning diesel fully and not sending some of it unburned up the exhaust.
- We partnered with T. Buck Suzuki Foundation we have installed a Flo-Scan fuel-monitoring system to help us understand how much fuel we are burning and what changes in operating and loading the boat have on how much fuel we burn.
- We installed a small diesel engine that will run our freezer system at night, so we can shut off the main engine (saving more fuel and my hearing).
- The CSF itself is a non-technical way of reducing our carbon footprint: selling fish locally instead of exporting it half way around the world.
