Bourg Dry Dock, Houma, La., recently delivered two 95’x34’x10’6″ inland towboats and a barge to its parent company, LeBeouf Bros. Towing, also of Houma.

The Karl Senner and the Dickie Gonsoulin are built of ABS grade-A steel and were designed by Houma-based Entech & Associates. Both towboats have a maximum draft of 9′.

Both towboats were christened at a ceremony on Sept. 14 in Houma. The Karl Senner is named after the late Karl Senner of Karl Senner LLC, which supplied the Reintjes gears on both boats. The Dickie Gonsoulin is named after Jon Gonsoulin’s father.

The Dickie Gonsoulin uses twin Caterpillar 3512C Tier 3 diesels, producing 1,400 hp at 1,600 rpm each. The Cats connect to two Hung Shen 84″x64.82″, 5-bladed stainless-steel propellers through Reintjes WAF665 marine gears with 5.959:1 reduction ratios. The propulsion package pushes the new towboat through the water at 6 knots.

“Frank Basile [Entech & Associates] is a great architect and a good friend,” said Jon Gonsoulin, one of the towing company’s and shipyard’s owners. “I just explained to Frank what I wanted and what I wanted the boats to be able to do, and he gave me a great boat design.”

Main propulsion for the Karl Senner comes from a pair of Mitsubishi S12R-Y2-MPTX engines, producing 1,300 hp at 1,600 rpm each. The diesels connect to two 80″x65″ Kahlenberg 5-bladed, stainless-steel wheels through Reintjes WAF665, vertical offset marine gear with 5.950:1 reduction ratios. It, too, has a running speed of 6 knots.

The two 95-footers are the second and third to be built to this design for LeBeouf Towing. The first was the Teddy Meyer, and there are two more underway at Bourg Dry Dock.