Page 250 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

STARLIGHT MARINE REPOWERS
Back in 2012, Starlight Marine’s three Z-boats were each run by a pair of 3516B engines that weren’t even Tier 0.2 CARB required that they be repowered or upgraded to Tier 2 compliance by 2015. Starlight chose to upgrade with an EUG retrofit kit since it was half the price and half the trouble. The Carl Moyer program approved the six-engine deal with 60 percent funding, and in September 2012 the work commenced. The tugs were brought into Bay Ship & Yacht’s dry dock in Alameda where Peterson techs did the work. By the end of December, all six were completed and ready for testing.
“It was like doing a major, major overhaul,” explains Randy Richter, Peterson marine product support rep from 2008–17. “We changed everything out on those engines except the block and the crankshaft. CARB only requires the emissions upgrade, but there were other parts on those engines with a lot of hours on them, so it didn’t make sense to put old components on an engine with brand-new parts. That would be like taking a shower with your socks on.” Instead, Caterpillar recommended doing the whole package—the emissions upgrade and the engine overhaul—so everything would work together. Then Cat would back it up with a warranty.
Starlight management was extremely happy with the outcome. “The captains took those vessels out on their
first jobs and were ecstatic,” says Richter. Since then, those same Z-boats have logged enough hours to warrant a top-end overhaul. But that initial emissions upgrade job was the turning point in the Starlight-Harley-Peterson relationship. They have been working with Peterson—in California, Oregon, and Washington—ever since for repairs and new marine engine sales. Starlight has also approached Peterson for future complete repowers of the Z-tugs to meet the ever-changing emissions rules.3
2 Peterson customer Starlight Marine, based in Alameda, CA, is a subsidiary of Harley Marine, headquartered in Seattle. However, Harley Marine builds their tugboats in Portland (Peterson territory).
3 By 2020, Starlight’s Z1 and Z2 were gone, Z3 was repowered with a brand-new Tier 3 engine, and Z4 & Z5 were being considered for new Tier 3 upgrades.
248 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG