This project was one of the most mechanically complex I worked on at Delaware Bay Shipbuilding. The goal was to design and integrate a full deck conveyor system aboard a commercial oyster fishing vessel.
My contributions spanned over half the components of this system, two examples include:
The first part of this project involved reverse-engineering dumper doors that needed an update for this larger vessel. Taking inspiration on how the original doors worked I redesigned the dumper doors in AutoCAD.
I then designed the central pulley system from scratch, sizing and specifying it to handle the load requirements while keeping the hatch below accessible for routine servicing. That pulley assembly ended up being structurally significant enough that other components were later anchored to it for support.
The video here shows the conveyor system in operation aboard the finished vessel.
The dredge is pulled up from the sea bed with a load of oysters.
Then dumped into the hopper by pulling it over the "dumper doors" at which point the load is slowly pulled up the side conveyors.
Mud and small debris is filtered out through the tumblers.
And finally a chute pulls the remaining catch to the central main conveyor where fresh oysters are hand picked and all bycatch is funneled overboard.