The tugboat Ger-Ant ( www.ger-ant.nl ) was chosen as Tugboat of the Year 2018 at the Sleepbootdagen in Zwartsluis. She was built in 1934 as the Grace de Dieu at Shipyard De Hoop of Tijssen Bros. in Leiden for skipper Kobus de Bont from Maasbracht. Since 2005, Jan and Mirjam Verhoef are the owners. In the engine room stands an Industrie 2D6 from 1959 of 110 hp. ‘Of the 2D6 only eleven were built between 1956 and 1963 and I know five that are still in use,’ tells skipper Jan Verhoef. The 2D6 was used as main engine, like on small inland tankers as the Shell 47 en Shell 48, but also as auxiliary engine on large seagoing ships. The 2D6 on the Ger-Ant comes out of the sand ship Vios. ‘It has a cylinder size of 35 liters. Nevertheless, the fuel consumption isn’t more than that of a Golf diesel. Four to five liters per hour. This engine runs at 500 revs max. Compared to car engines, that’s very slow. Stationary, cars already run at 700 to 800 revs. That means that when you sail at 300 to 400 revs, there’s ample time to fully burn the fuel. As you can see, there’s absolutely no smoke from the funnel of the Industrie.’ The impression of the interviewer that Industrie engines aren’t that rare at all, is nuanced by skipper Verhoef. ‘At tugboat events you see a lot of Industrie engines, but those are mostly the smaller models. The larger models have all been scrapped. Not because they didn’t work anymore, but often for economic reasons. the smaller models are being cherished at the moment.’ Skipper Verhoef takes us sailing on the Lek near Culemborg and makes a couple of pretty pirouettes on the Redichemse Waard. Jochem van Riet of North Sea Service ( northseaservice.nl ) lent his motor yacht as a filming platform. Arno Koningstein of the launch boat company Cruise With Us ( www.cruisewithus.nl ) praises the Industrie 2D6.
00:00 Intro
01:08 Preparing the engine
03:42 About the engine 1
04:39 Starting the engine
05:23 Rocking rocker arms
06:28 Sailing away
07:04 About the engine 2
08:48 Revving up
09:26 Pirouette 1
10:14 About Industrie engines
11:16 Pirouette 2
12:46 Buying the Ger-Ant
14:23 History of the Ger-Ant
15:15 Stopping the engine