New pilot boat put in service
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

It may look like the same red-painted hull, but that pilot boat you may have seen taking Aransas-Corpus Christi to and from the big ships they guide in and out of the port isn't the same old boat.

The new pilot boat has been in service for several weeks, and is scheduled to be officially dedicated at the Port of Corpus Christi tomorrow, Friday, May 18.

It's only the second boat the Aransas-Corpus Christi Pilots have ever had, but pilots say it's several notches above the old boat, which is 20 years old.

The new boat is two feet longer (53 feet instead of 51 feet) and carries updated electronics, including a global positioning satellite (GPS) system. It also has nearly double the horsepower of the existing vessel, with two 750-horsepower Caterpillar diesel engines, and it's faster, with a top speed of 24-25 nautical miles an hour.

The new boat cost "upwards of $1 million," Brian Cody, of the pilots' association, said.

It was built on a custom design by Gladding- Hearn of Somerset, Mass., who Cody called "one of the biggest and best pilot boat builders."

The old boat won't just sit at the pier and rot, however. Cody said it's being kept as a backup - something the association hasn't had before - and possibly as a vessel to make runs to offshore rigs.