An order has been confirmed for a pair of fully controllable doors from Thyborøn for fishing company Gjögur, which operates pelagic vessel Hákon ThH-250. Gjögur’s new Hákon is under construction at Karstensens Skibsværft in Skagen and is due to be delivered in mid-2024.

This is a pair of 12 square metre, 4700kg Type 42 doors. It’s the first fully controllable pair of doors to be supplied to an Icelandic fishing vessel by Thyborøn, which has since 2017 been supplying doors with foils that can be adjusted using a hydraulic jack while the doors are in the gallows between tows.

The arrival of Type 32, and more recently the Type 42 Bluestream doors, has introduced upgraded technology, including lithium batteries, servomotor control and a pair of transducers installed on the catching vessel’s hull. All this makes it possible to control the trawl doors from the wheelhouse during fishing operations.

All of the hardware fitted to the trawl doors, as well as the software for the wheelhouse, has been developed by Thyborøn, with the exception of the batteries. These are lithium batteries with an endurance of up to 40 hours, even with the doors in constant use, before needing to be recharged. Charging for two hours is enough to bring the batteries up to an 80% charge, and the full 100% charge takes roughly three hours.

Thyborøn doors are robust and made to last, and the control system as a whole can be re-used when the doors come to be replaced. Today there are 12 fishing vessels using Thyborøn’s Type 32 doors and three fishing with Type 42 Bluestream doors, plus four more pairs are in production.

Hampiðjan Ísland is the Icelandic agent for Thyborøn, and handled the sale of this pair of doors to Gjögur.