Hampidjan has brought its trawl door production home in the wake of the country’s financial crash that saw the Icelandic króna drop in value against other currencies.
This means that local steelwork is once again competitive and the quality of work produced by Icelandic metalworkers compares favourably against those of neighbouring countries.
The first pair of Icelandic made doors was a Viking Xstream pair for Vestmannaey VE-444, and Hampidjan approached Kópavogur company Hamar hf to handle the production once the basis for producing in Iceland again had been decided.
The preparation for the project was overseen by sales manager Gestur Rúnarsson, and trawl door designer Pétur Jensen. So now production has been brought back to Iceland and this gives Hampidjan the opportunity for a more straightforward production process and more precise quality control now that every stage of production can be watched.
Hampidjan’s Viking Xstream doors have attracted a faithful following of skippers from all over Iceland and the company has received the following feedback from a couple of those skippers:
Ottó N. Thorláksson RE-203
Skipper Jóhannes Ellert Eiríksson of Ottó N. Thorláksson received his first pair of Xstream doors at the end of 2007 and has been using them since. He says that he has been satisfied with these doors, which square more efficiently than previous models.
He says that an extra half knot of towing speed can be achieved; they are very stable and perform well going off the steep banks and into deeper water. “We’re about ready for a new pair of doors and I’d like a pair of Xstream doors that are as good as these,” he said.
Hringur SH-153
Skipper Ingimar Hinrik Reynisson of Grundarfjördur trawler Hringur discussed the performance of his 4.4m2 Xstream doors in comparison to the Poly-Ice doors that have always been his favourite. He said that his present doors are as efficient as the 5.52 Viking doors they replaced. “I’ve been using Xstream doors for about a year and they’ve performed well all round. They have only needed to go for repair once, which isn’t a lot considering the hard grounds we’re fishing on around Látrabjarg. We’re on shallow ground a lot from 55 to 75m, where the doors square well on hard ground. It’s rare that they lose balance and they send the fish right back to the codend.
“I’m pretty conservative on trawl doors and I like to be able to shackle them on and start fishing without having to spend time fine-tuning them. We’ll be coming up for renewing our doors soon and it’s interesting to hear about what Hampidjan are doing with Poly-Ice Xstream doors,” he concluded.
