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Post by gordon on Oct 15, 2008 18:27:37 GMT -8
Good pics
The QoNW is only 4 years younger that the Vs that are being sold off because of their age, 50 million is a lot of money to spend on a ship this age. what would it cost to replace her?
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Post by Balfour on Oct 15, 2008 18:59:43 GMT -8
Good pics The QoNW is only 4 years younger that the Vs that are being sold off because of their age, 50 million is a lot of money to spend on a ship this age. what would it cost to replace her? Obviously more than $50 million. I think if the refit had cost more than a new boat, BC Ferries would have purchased a newbuild instead.
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Post by Hardy on Oct 15, 2008 20:44:10 GMT -8
Why would you think they would rename her?? There's no point. The Coastal Never Ending Refit That would befitting to such a long refitting! Edit...quick...someone come up with an appropriate d-word to finish that name so we can call her the Coastal NERD ;D Once the ship is launched (or re-launched when coming into BCFS possession), it is pretty well assured that it will have the same name. An exception to this might be if they took half of the Saanich and mated it with half of the Vancouver to combine two 40+ year old rust buckets into one -- the re-incarnation might be renamed. Back to the 'NERD' Never Ending Refit Drama (queen) ??
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Post by Hardy on Oct 15, 2008 20:59:16 GMT -8
The QoNW is only 4 years younger that the Vs that are being sold off because of their age, 50 million is a lot of money to spend on a ship this age. what would it cost to replace her? QoNW was also the last of the B/V's to be lifted, upgraded, re-engined, etc, specifically for Rte-30. She's got the newest power plant of the remaining B/V's. I guess, all in all, she was in the best shape of the 40 year old girls, and that, coupled with the high replacement costs, warranted the money that they are pounding into her. The never-ending refit, however, not related to the cost, seems to be working against her.
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Post by Cable Cassidy on Oct 15, 2008 21:27:34 GMT -8
I saw the QoNW the other day in North Vancouver. I don't know if it was repainted or what but it does look sharp.
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Post by Northern Exploration on Oct 16, 2008 5:29:08 GMT -8
Yes but Queen of Neverending Refit Drama will cause much confusion. How are we to remember if that applies to the NorAd or the NewWest? Queen of Drama - I love it.
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Quatchi
Voyager
Engineering Officer - CCG
Posts: 930
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Post by Quatchi on Oct 16, 2008 17:39:29 GMT -8
When you think about it 50 million isn't that much if you span it over BCF's projected 15 year life extension. Its only about 3.3 million a year and in this day and age that isn't to much money. Of course you've got to remember that BCf will probably have her longer than that too, so that will make it cost less.
As to why she was chosen over the other girls hardy pretty much sums it up right as far as I can se, but she also has the most overheight capacity f all the V's as well as she had a lot of steel replaced in her hull when she was lifted in 91 almost 10 years after the other girls. She also has variable pitch props, witch are a bonus.
I think BCF chose the right vessel to give this TLC to. Too bad its taking so long.
Cheers,
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Post by Ferryman on Oct 16, 2008 19:56:52 GMT -8
Other than the engines being alot newer than the other V's, I actually think the New West really isn't that much different. I'm not so sure about the hull plating replacement, but I know they actually added sponsons to support the higher center of gravity. They did this with the lifted V's, the New West was only done not even 10 years later. In terms of conditions on the outer decks before she went into the big refit, was pretty comparable to the Queen of Vancouver. The V-Class also have variable pitch props, as does the New West. She was even given an extra Bow thruster, as did the V-Class.
Here's some stats from her Mid Life Refit in 1990:
-Her deadweight increased 57% from 1001 tonnes to 1765 tonnes -4 Wartsilla VASA model 9R32 diesel/natural gas engines were installed. Each rated at 3375kW (4590 hp EACH) at 750 RPM -Her fuel tank increased 55% from 161 tonnes, to 297 tonnes.
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Post by Scott (Former Account) on Oct 16, 2008 20:20:58 GMT -8
You're right, Chris.
In terms of the actual mechanical layout of the New West, she has more in common with the Spirits...
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Post by Ferryman on Nov 3, 2008 20:33:10 GMT -8
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Post by Mike C on Nov 4, 2008 11:11:34 GMT -8
LOL - I was just out there on Saturday, and I was going to post my pictures, but I guess there's no point now...
I personally think they could have done a better job with the slugs on the stack...
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2008 20:27:05 GMT -8
The emergency chutes look like the ones one the Pacific Cats. But she sure does look nice with all that new paint on. ;D
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Post by Ferryman on Dec 8, 2008 22:08:54 GMT -8
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Post by gordon on Dec 9, 2008 7:15:55 GMT -8
If she leaves WMG this week , How long before she is back i service?
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Post by landlubber on Dec 9, 2008 7:52:35 GMT -8
And on what run is she likely to be on?
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Koastal Karl
Voyager
Been on every BC Ferry now!!!!!
Posts: 7,747
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Post by Koastal Karl on Dec 9, 2008 8:01:52 GMT -8
Route 1 begining the end of January is what I have heard.
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Post by gordon on Dec 9, 2008 8:04:31 GMT -8
I would suspect she will be #2 out of Tsawwssen hwich would make her the logicak fill in vessel for route#30
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Post by Mike C on Dec 9, 2008 13:15:05 GMT -8
I would suspect she will be #2 out of Tsawwssen hwich would make her the logicak fill in vessel for route#30 Yeah - we've posted it a thousand times and been suspecting it since near the beginning of her MLU over a year ago....
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Post by gordon on Dec 9, 2008 13:30:28 GMT -8
Don't most MLUs take maybe take 3or 4 momths. This has taken close to 8. Did they encounter some asbestos during the refit or just a bunch of complications?
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Nick
Voyager
Chief Engineer - Queen of Richmond
Posts: 2,078
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Post by Nick on Dec 9, 2008 13:52:31 GMT -8
Well, this MLU has taken over a year. The QoNW was removed from service at the end of November in 2007. From what we know, it has taken so long due to a variety of factors. They did encounter more asbestos than anticipated (see back in this thread for details about that) and WMG, as well as most other industries in BC, have had to deal with major labour shortages.
Gordon, please go back and read earlier posts before you post these questions. You will be able to ask more specific and direct questions, and will probably get better answers if you are more informed to begin with.
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Post by DENelson83 on Dec 9, 2008 13:54:03 GMT -8
Not "mid-life upgrade", but "end of life upgrade". Before she's retired, we'll need one more Super C.
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Post by Dane on Dec 9, 2008 14:27:16 GMT -8
The contract held for the vessel to be returned was 30 Sep 08.
Training period on the five previous MLU's was four weeks.
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Post by Hardy on Dec 9, 2008 20:58:25 GMT -8
I think just like any renovation on an older house, once you start tearing things out, you find all sorts of stuff that you never anticipated or planned for. I am sure that when they got into renovating/refurbishing her, that they found more than they had planned for.
The "coastalization" process undoubtedly also encountered a few setbacks. Lack of skilled labour in the industy slowed things down, to be sure.
As for the 'raging' debate whether the refit was worth it or not, there is no doubt that the QoNW needed some of the TLC she received during her 3/4-LU, and that even at the exorbenant $50+ million, it was still cheaper than procuring a new vessel of similar capacity. I don't think that anyone ever thought that the upgrade would take as long as it has, but once you are ankle-deep into it, it is too late to abort what you have done.
Good money spent? Bad money? Dunno, have to see if she comes back with any serious bugs out of her refit or if she starts being a shakey-queen or what. Time will tell, but I think that they might have learned their lessons about crappy refits and unexpected problems (but they never cease to amaze me, nonetheless).
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Post by ferryfanyvr on Dec 14, 2008 9:36:44 GMT -8
I went over to North Van Wednesday night armed with my binoculars. Took a walk along the pier adjacent to the New West to see what I could make out inside.
The sundeck level has gone from having 1 enclosed passenger area to 3. The solarium has been enclosed but I couldn't tell what was inside. You can't see right through to the other side of it like you can on the previous V's. There's some kind of a wall with what looks like large porthole-style windows in it. Just aft of that under the funnel where some of the crew areas were is another seating lounge...this is the same area they installed the computer work stations on the Saanich.
I'm thinking there isn't a buffet even though a Tsawwassen based chief steward informed me that there would be. At the back of the aft sundeck lounge I could see a pop machine, ice cream machine, and those large stand-up coolers with glass doors. Makes me think this may just be a large snack bar instead. Plus at the front of that lounge it looked like more regular lounge seating, not tables and chairs.
As for the main passenger deck....I could clearly see the new drop ceiling in the forward lounge, but could not tell what amenities are located in the midship lounge. It could possibly be the gift shop with the glass walls still covered with brown paper. The view of the aft lounge was being blocked by the new lifesaving equipment on the outer deck so I couldn't see into it. And the cafeteria looks like it's set up like the Saanich and Esquimalt were with one passenger queuing area along each outside wall.
So who's going to be able to post the first pictures of the interior? I'm actually more excited about seeing the New West re-enter service than I was for the CC to start. It's always fascinating to see what changes can be made to an older ship.
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Post by Dane on Dec 14, 2008 22:20:07 GMT -8
It's interesting you mentioned the gift shop glass was covered with brown paper, just five days ago I was doing the same thing and there was nothing covering the glass and the interior was totally empty! Looked, at least using binoculars from a distance, that nothing meaningful had been installed in there yet. Who knows though, it's tough to get great detail even with the extended sight. The rest of your comments are totally in line with that I have seen, there might be a SeaWest lounge type area on Deck 6 - but that's a really uneducated guess based on a seemingly random wall, and certainly no obvious sign of a buffet. Too bad, we finally could have had standard service on the route again.
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