Anthony Forsyth, a second-generation cray fisherman based out of Geraldton, WA, repowered his boat with a 1000 hp Scania V8 16.4-litre marine engine three years ago, and has benefitted from noticeably improved torque and reduced fuel burn.

He grew up in Shark Bay and worked as a deck hand in Geraldton for 11 years before becoming the skipper of his own 45-foot boat 25 years ago. That was followed by a bigger boat before, purchasing his current 60-foot vessel, Chamarel, named after a waterfall in Mauritius, in 2016.

The Chamarel was fitted with another brand of engine with 1000 hp, but as Anthony quickly discovered, the engine was past its best and it was eventually replaced by a new V8 Scania that has proven to be far more reliable and more economical to own and has far more torque and a much more frugal thirst for diesel.

“I have no complaints at all with the way the V8 Scania DI16 76M has been running,” Anthony says.

“The torque is brilliant and the fuel consumption's way, way down on the previous engine. Plus, importantly, Robert Taylor from Talyor Mechanical & Marine looks after the engine. He’s excellent. I really can’t fault the Scania experience,” he says.

“In fact, I think I have sold a fair few engines for Rob, and Jeremy Tennant at Scania, since I installed the Scania V8,” he says. “Word of mouth is important in the cray fishing industry and many other fishermen have been keen to find out how the Scania engine has been going. Some have bought their own Scanias after seeing how mine has been performing.

“One of my real good mates is putting one in right now,” he says.

Anthony’s business is centred around this one boat, crewed by two or three plus the Skipper, and which can haul around 1200 kg of catch. He’s on the water between 84-100 days a year, fishing a year-long license, but only putting to sea when the market price is attractive.

“When you decide to go out, the most important thing is that the boat motor starts, because you don’t want to lose the opportunity. Scania suggests servicing at 500 hours but I prefer to service at 350 hours, because I like Rob to keep his eye on things, and to avoid unplanned stoppages. We can put in really long days, so sometimes we’d be servicing every couple of months in the peak season.”

Anthony was initiated into cray fishing by his stepfather who was a fisherman and says he quickly fell in love with the sea at a young age. He says every day is different on the water and it’s never boring. Coming to Scania seemed like a natural progression after realising that the aged engine in the Chamarel needed to be replaced.

“My father-in-law had cray boats back in the 1990s and he knows Scania’s Power Solutions Manager, André Arm, really well. He had Scanias in his boats back then, and after talking to Rob at TMM, who I have known for around 10 years, and doing the research, it seemed like a good choice. We needed to change what we were doing and we haven’t looked back,” Anthony says.

TMM’s Robert Taylor says that Anthony’s experience with Scania has been in line with his other marine customers, and that Scania has been growing steadily in the Geraldton region.

“We have around 38 V8 Scanias and a similar number of 13-litre six-cylinder Scania engines that we look after in the region,” Rob says. “There has been a four-fold increase in numbers in recent years as word gets around that the Scania engines can do the job, are reliable, and that we, as authorised dealers, are able to maintain them and deliver the uptime that these operators need.

“We’re very happy that Anthony is happy with the performance and reliability of his 1000 hp V8,” Rob says.