Prolific LK 986 Boat Review
2nd October 2023
The latest addition to Shetland’s whitefish fleet, the 24.9m stern trawler Prolific LK 986, arrived alongside at Lerwick just before midnight on 6 July, after a 3,500-mile, 17-day delivery trip from Croatia.
The new vessel joins her identical sistership Copious LK 985, which arrived in Shetland on 31 January this year. Built at the Tehnomont Shipyard for 60 North Fishing, they replace the previous vessels of the same names.
Prolific berthed alongside her sistership Copious at Lerwick.
Both of the vessels were delivered around nine months behind schedule – the result of the knock-on effects of factors including Covid and the Ukraine war. “We sold the previous boats, the first one in April last year and the second one at the end of June – so it’s been a long time coming,” skipper Mark Anderson said.
With the vessels breaking new ground in terms of their specification and fit-out, a number of teething problems emerged after the Prolific was delivered, and several more weeks’ work was required to resolve the most pressing of the outstanding issues.
Fraser Smith, Wayne Strachan, Nicol Anderson, skipper Mark Anderson and Magnus Williamson on their arrival in Lerwick just before midnight on 6 July.
Prolific then landed her maiden trip to the Shetland electronic auction on 21 August.
The sisterships are owned by 60 North Fishing (Shetland) Ltd, which is headed by Mark Anderson with partners Andrew White, Ryan Arthur and fish-selling agent LHD.
The new Prolific, which has a round bilge hull form, has main dimensions of 24.9m LOA, 9m beam and moulded depth 4.1m, and is 300GT. This makes the new vessel a considerable step up on her 19m LOA and 166GT predecessor, which was built by Parkol Marine Engineering in 2008.
A crowd of friends and family were at the quayside to welcome the new vessel home.
The former Prolific was sold to Angus McLeod, and now fishes as Graceful UL 209 out of the North East ports.
Prolific will be skippered by Mark Anderson, with Wayne Strachan as second skipper. The vessel has accomodation for 12 crew, but will normally fish with eight.
Virgin Money provided the finance for the project, and the new vessel is insured by British Marine Insurance.
This is just a snippet of Fishing News’ full boat review of Prolific LK 986. You can read the rest of this article in full in the 28 September issue of Fishing News, click here to purchase this issue from just £2.50 or subscribe to Fishing News from just £1.00 an issue here.
