1976 Custom 54 Steel Fishing Vessel

This 54-foot steel fishing platform was built to work in Alaska waters and holds the build quality to prove it. The hull is quarter-inch steel plate, the house three-sixteenths inch, with integral keel and one-and-a-half by three-inch frames throughout. A Detroit Diesel 8V71 rated at 275 horsepower drives the boat through a Twin Disc reduction gear and three-inch stainless tail shaft, with a ZF Micro Commander providing remote control from wheelhouse and deck. A John Deere auxiliary engine handles generation and deck hydraulics, backed by a smaller Isuzu unit for redundancy. The tank package—6,900 gallons of fuel capacity plus 1,600 gallons fresh water—supports extended operations, while keel cooling throughout keeps the main engines reliable in sustained work.

The layout follows working-boat logic: galley aft to port with mess forward, head and berth to starboard, crew bunks in the focs'le, and a wheelhouse with day berth and overhead electronics. Below decks, the engine room sits centerline with auxiliaries port and starboard, feeding into shaft alley that runs to the fish holds. The forward hold packs 60,000 pounds of salmon, the aft hold 10,000 pounds; both are insulated and refrigerated. Hydraulic systems drive the anchor winch, topping lifts, boom lifts, power block, and JK longline hauler. The electrical plant runs 12/24-volt DC and 110/208-volt AC with properly switched panels and shore power capability.

Electronics span Furuno radar and plotter with TimeZero navigation software, dual Icom VHF radios, an SEA SSB transceiver, Comnav autopilot, and Starlink communications. Deck gear includes a steel mast and boom, a Marco power block with swivel and gripper, a Marco deck winch, and a full aluminum bait shed. The boat is rigged for multi-fishery work: longline hauler and bait shed forward, and a 20-foot aluminum skiff with Cummins engine towed alongside for seine operations. Fire safety includes a fixed Halon system in the engine room, multiple ABC extinguishers, a Guardian SOLAS liferaft, EPIRB, and survival gear throughout.

Recent work includes 2025 repacking and paint, propeller tuning, and a 2024 reduction gear rebuild with new cooler. The rubber boot on the Pitts clutch was replaced in 2024, hydraulic cooling was added in 2020, and LED lighting upgrades followed. The boat runs on reported annual fuel costs under $36,000 and carries a complete set of longline and seine nets, davits, and skiff—all ready for immediate deployment.