Day Trip Report

[northwesterner]

Last Wednesday on my day off I went up to the San Juans for a little ferry ride.

I boarded the 1205 departure from Anacortes to Lopez Island on the Yakima. I think this is the first time I've been on her since she had the new interior put in. It looks fantastic. However, I still think the new pilothouse windows installed on Yakima and Kaleetan, while functional, really look like a hatchet job compared to the elegance of the original windows still present on Elwha and Hyak.

We made an on time arrival at Lopez, where I disembarked and waited twenty minutes for the inter-island Quinault. She showed up, also on time, and offloaded a fair amount of cars before I was able to board. While memebers of this list whine about the paint jobs on lots of the boats, I think Quinault looks really bad. I don't care so much about rust streaks down the sides (which she has plenty of) but the rusty benches on the outside decks that have more rust than paint are not inviting to sit on. The interior, of course, was clean and well maintained.

We made an on time arrival at Friday Harbor, coming into the Harbor just as Chelan was leaving on her trip back from Sidney.

I wandered around Friday Harbor, and then made my way back down to the dock for the 4PM departure to Anacortes on the Hyak. I was disappointed that this trip was going to be stopping at Lopez (instead of Shaw/Orcas), which meant that I traveled the same routing both directions - but, hey, what can you do. Hyak actually looks pretty good inside. The old upholstry and chairs are a flashback for me. I felt like I was coming home from a weekend hike on the Olympic Penninsula 15 years ago. Interestingly enough, on this trip the galley was closed. And not just closed - the whole section was padlocked. I've never seen that part of the upper deck padlocked off... I thought there were rollergrates or some other way to separate off the serving area from the passengers when the galley was closed.

Also, on the Hyak, in the forward lounges on both ends there is the center section with the movable chairs. They were arranged in three rows of chairs on both ends, with lots of room in between. Didn't there used to be more chairs than this? Have they all broken over the years and this is all thats left? Couldn't they have claimed some from Kaleetan and Yakima when they were refurbbed to restock the Hyak?

Anyways, the trip was lots of fun, and I was glad I had the opportunity to get up and see the Islands and some ferries.

[Barnacle]

northwesterner said:

Last Wednesday on my day off I went up to the San Juans for a little ferry ride.

Nuts! I was on my day off!

I boarded the 1205 departure from Anacortes to Lopez Island on the Yakima. I think this is the first time I've been on her since she had the new interior put in. It looks fantastic. However, I still think the new pilothouse windows installed on Yakima and Kaleetan, while functional, really look like a hatchet job compared to the elegance of the original windows still present on Elwha and Hyak.

It was a function-over form argument, I'm afraid. I prefer the aesthetics of the original windows too, but I sure miss that wide window when I'm working on the mighty Hyak. That having been said, I have to stand sideways or backward when I'm docking it anyway because of the placement of the helm and telegraph (I'm 6'2"+--it's really hell on the shorter officers) and I'm usually only using the window that's one off the center anyway.

We made an on time arrival at Lopez, where I disembarked and waited twenty minutes for the inter-island Quinault. She showed up, also on time, and offloaded a fair amount of cars before I was able to board. While memebers of this list whine about the paint jobs on lots of the boats, I think Quinault looks really bad. I don't care so much about rust streaks down the sides (which she has plenty of) but the rusty benches on the outside decks that have more rust than paint are not inviting to sit on. The interior, of course, was clean and well maintained.

We made an on time arrival at Friday Harbor, coming into the Harbor just as Chelan was leaving on her trip back from Sidney.

I wandered around Friday Harbor, and then made my way back down to the dock for the 4PM departure to Anacortes on the Hyak. I was disappointed that this trip was going to be stopping at Lopez (instead of Shaw/Orcas), which meant that I traveled the same routing both directions - but, hey, what can you do. Hyak actually looks pretty good inside. The old upholstry and chairs are a flashback for me. I felt like I was coming home from a weekend hike on the Olympic Penninsula 15 years ago.

A lot of the original vinyl has been replaced, but it was done in the original colors to save having to redo the entire interior. It took me a while to notice this. ;D

Interestingly enough, on this trip the galley was closed. And not just closed - the whole section was padlocked. I've never seen that part of the upper deck padlocked off... I thought there were rollergrates or some other way to separate off the serving area from the passengers when the galley was closed.

Not on the Hyak... only the Kaleetan and Yakima. The Hyak's galley is unmodified since when the serving line was installed in the early-mid 70's.

Also, on the Hyak, in the forward lounges on both ends there is the center section with the movable chairs. They were arranged in three rows of chairs on both ends, with lots of room in between. Didn't there used to be more chairs than this? Have they all broken over the years and this is all thats left? Couldn't they have claimed some from Kaleetan and Yakima when they were refurbed to restock the Hyak?

You know, I was noticing just the other day that we seem to be missing one heck of a lot of chairs, especially on the #2 end. This confirms it isn't just me... I'll make a couple of phone calls and see if I can't get a few more chairs. Mind you, those might be the last of the originals from all four boats. The backs tend to blow out over time.