Paul Buck

The 32,572-ton deadweight product carrier Paul Buck made a 32-day stopover at the Portland Shipyard in June for a drydocking, mechanical overhaul, and the addition of a raised, centerline walkway extending 400' from the house to the foredeck. This addition meets the 1998 SOLAS requirement for all oil tankers to have "safe access to the bow" by 2001.

In the engine room, Cascade General machinists completed an extensive overhaul of the IHI Sulzer 5RTA76 low-speed diesel engine. All five pistons, plus one spare, were removed and trucked to a specialist shop in Long Beach CA. for refurbishing. The 11,000 Kw unit was re-built with four new cross-head bearings in a total of fifteen days. The turbo charger was removed for refurbishing by ABB in Seattle, and one of the three Caterpillar 3516 genset was also rebuilt.