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Post by Ian on Jul 6, 2008 12:18:32 GMT -8
What they have done to he New West is ridiculous. That ship is too old to have that much money. Having a forth Coastal would have made more sense but another novel idea would be to create a sub class, build two coastals sans deck 5. Does anyone want to try and photoshop that, however you would have to put the bridges on deck 6.
The only thing that I can say is good about the New West is that it is single ended.
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Post by Political Incorrectness on Jul 6, 2008 13:17:08 GMT -8
I would have just dumped that dough into Flensburger for a fourth ship. That way, the Cs become the new rustbuckets.
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Post by DENelson83 on Jul 6, 2008 13:56:28 GMT -8
Hey, Karl, the next time you're in your plane, can you get shots of the CI and a Spook together at Tsawwassen?
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Post by Northern Exploration on Jul 6, 2008 19:08:26 GMT -8
If BC Ferries had contracted for a 4th Vessel at the same time as the original three and had put in the contract a fixed price they would be laughing. Unfortunately now, I can recall someone saying, likely Markus, that steel had gone up dramatically between the time that BC Ferries signed their contract and the time the construction started. I only can imagine what it would be now.
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Kam
Voyager
Posts: 926
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Post by Kam on Jul 6, 2008 22:46:44 GMT -8
The Queen of Alberni's cousin, Coastal Experience: Not a bad looking ship at all!
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Post by Ian on Jul 6, 2008 22:53:01 GMT -8
Nice, It sort of reminds me of the nanaimo or burnaby
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Post by Political Incorrectness on Jul 6, 2008 22:57:34 GMT -8
Probably might be better to do a V class version of it to have the extra passenger room up top as well.
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D'Elete BC in NJ
Voyager
Dispensing gallons of useless information daily...
Posts: 1,671
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Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Jul 7, 2008 3:11:43 GMT -8
If BC Ferries had contracted for a 4th Vessel at the same time as the original three and had put in the contract a fixed price they would be laughing. Unfortunately now, I can recall someone saying, likely Markus, that steel had gone up dramatically between the time that BC Ferries signed their contract and the time the construction started. I only can imagine what it would be now. Dramatically might be an understatement... insanely would fit the bill better in my books
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Post by Curtis on Jul 7, 2008 16:20:29 GMT -8
The Idea of the Coastal Experience is a very nice but it might need a bit of tweeking. Like Dan suggested "V" Class Style upper passenger areas. It would act like Deck 5 on the CR, CI, and CC. Cafeteria, Gift Shop, and other services would be on the CE's Deck 5.
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Post by Political Incorrectness on Jul 7, 2008 17:02:42 GMT -8
Now, what if you got rid of the upper car deck and say it was a vessel for Tsawwassen to SGI with the same V class passenger deck?
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Post by Hardy on Jul 7, 2008 23:57:23 GMT -8
I would have just dumped that dough into Flensburger for a fourth ship. That way, the Cs become the new rustbuckets. Unfortunately, I think that the C's will start to be under-maintained as it is, without the addition of any more ships. I would have hoped that BCFS would have learned from what happened with the V's in the last 10 years or so and get back on the "preventative maintenance" program with it's other middle-aged ships (IE: the C's and soon the Spooks) so we don't have a repeat of the other disaster -- however...
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Post by Hardy on Jul 8, 2008 0:00:15 GMT -8
If BC Ferries had contracted for a 4th Vessel at the same time as the original three and had put in the contract a fixed price they would be laughing. Unfortunately now, I can recall someone saying, likely Markus, that steel had gone up dramatically between the time that BC Ferries signed their contract and the time the construction started. I only can imagine what it would be now. I wholeheartedly agree with the logic and wisdom that you applied to this, and you are 100% correct. I think that if Markus would be able to "spitball" a $$$-figure (or get some one to play that mischievous game of "What-If?" that the current numbers would be in excess of 150% of what the build price was for the vessels, if not more (factoring in the cost of DELIVERY with the new higher fuel costs). I wouldn't be at all surprised if with the way things have gone since the fixed-price contracts were signed, if the vessels would be costing 225-275% of what the original contracted price was!!!
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Post by Hardy on Jul 8, 2008 0:05:43 GMT -8
Now, what if you got rid of the upper car deck and say it was a vessel for Tsawwassen to SGI with the same V class passenger deck? In a word, OVERKILL. As popular as Rte-9/9A is said to be, a vessel of that proportion would be harsh overkill on this route. A summertime arrangement of Rte-9 + -9A is more than sufficient (assuming that it starts on time, delayed/extended refits notwithstanding). By the time that you figure in both -9 & -9A as well as the Throughfare options routed via SWB there is plenty of capacity on that route. A tweak here or there on unusually busy days (like special events, holidays, paving projects, what-have-you) could always be dealt with via a "Route-1A/-1B" option where the required sailing either out of TSA or SWB could be loaded to hit ONE OR TWO of the SGI's to provide "SCHEDULED ON-DEMAND" capacity increases. These of course, would be planned ahead, not MD, of say at least a week or two (if not more!).
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Post by Political Incorrectness on Jul 8, 2008 10:25:02 GMT -8
That is the problem, it would be better to provide direct from Tsawwassen hopefully with a vessel of a faster service speed and extra capacity to relieve some strain off throughfare. That adds quite a bit of extra time to one's day just to get to the Gulf Islands which I believe is a bit ridiculous since you have the sailings waits from Tsawwassen and on top of that transfering at Swartz Bay. People do not want to spend hours just to get a ferry and make a connection that might not be there if the boats are running late.
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Quatchi
Voyager
Engineering Officer - CCG
Posts: 930
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Post by Quatchi on Jul 8, 2008 11:08:38 GMT -8
The Queen of Alberni's cousin, Coastal Experience: Not a bad looking ship at all! d*** she looks sexy like that. I actually think it looks much better than the real ship. I like the concept, and sure some day it might happen. But for now lets see if we can give her a nice pool on deck. Cheers,
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Post by Hardy on Jul 8, 2008 23:24:47 GMT -8
That is the problem, it would be better to provide direct from Tsawwassen hopefully with a vessel of a faster service speed and extra capacity to relieve some strain off throughfare. That adds quite a bit of extra time to one's day just to get to the Gulf Islands which I believe is a bit ridiculous since you have the sailings waits from Tsawwassen and on top of that transfering at Swartz Bay. People do not want to spend hours just to get a ferry and make a connection that might not be there if the boats are running late. Depends a lot on which island you are heading to/from and at what time of day. If I am going to Pender lets say, I THROUGHFARE via SWB every time, as it is quicker than taking the Nanny on a milk run. Timewise too, if I can keep "moving" by taking a THROUGHFARE route rather than sitting and waiting 2 hours for a "direct" milk run boat with more stops left, it makes more sense. All in all, it comes up to location and timing as to whether a throughfare is a better option or not. This, however, is quite off topic here now, as it should be in the other thread, so I will cease all responses to it here lest I get in mod-trouble.
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Post by Hardy on Jul 19, 2008 5:40:00 GMT -8
FINALLY!!! I managed to hit a trip aboard the CI (my first Coastal!!) the other day.
I was onboard as a footie connecting between jobs, and I had the opportunity to wander around and do some sightseeing for my own self.
This included wandering around the car decks, poking my head into a few crew-only alcoves. My purpose for this -- checking quality of welds, quality of finish in "non-public" areas etc. It also gave me the opportunity to talk to a few other moving company drivers in their trucks, as well as "randomly assaulting" several BCF employees and engaging them in conversations about "Hey, where are the torpedo tubes on this thing?" and "So, whatchya think of this Kraut-Can?"
Responses ranged from some old salts "It's a boat" to "Nice to work on a new one that isn't a heap of crap" to "I love working on this thing!"
I also wandered all of the upper decks, including talking my way into a closed Deck-5 (shared an elevator with the "nice to work on a non-crap-heap" comment person after being spotted poking my head into a crew-only space on Deck-2 and explaining what the hell I was doing....)
Over-all, I am impressed with what I found.
HOWEVER, I, as I was travelling with my laptop, found that there were not enough electrical outlets scattered around.
In particular, in contrasting with the Alberni, I would have liked there to be some accessible electrical connections near the cafeteria seating area -- onboard the Alberni, I sat in the table/seating area with my laptop plugged in watching a movie -- a lot more comfy than the Computer Work Stations.
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Post by Ferryman on Jul 21, 2008 18:02:03 GMT -8
Today she's running 1 hour and 25 minutes late. According to the Departures/Arrivals page, there was Mechanical difficulties just before the 3:15pm sailing out of Duke Point. Also there is apparently a bit of damage on one side of her, that I'm still trying to find more details on......I have a feeling she hit one of the wingwalls too hard at one of the terminals not too long ago. I'll update ASAP when I find out what has gone on...
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Post by Alberni on Jul 21, 2008 22:06:56 GMT -8
She's tried to make up time by doing the crossings in 1hour 45 mins since her mechanical difficulties.
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ProudCanuck
Chief Steward
Champ Car - Gone, but not forgotten!
Posts: 242
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Post by ProudCanuck on Jul 22, 2008 9:15:45 GMT -8
She's tried to make up time by doing the crossings in 1hour 45 mins since her mechanical difficulties. If the CI sailings were 1hr 45min all the time I would use it more than Horseshoe Bay route.
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Post by Curtis on Aug 1, 2008 23:29:43 GMT -8
I have Two New Videos. Both a Tour of the Coastal Inspiration... Part 1 -- Part 2
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Post by cohocatcher on Aug 15, 2008 13:36:19 GMT -8
The Inspiration has (had?) a car fire aboard and has returned to port.
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Post by Political Incorrectness on Aug 15, 2008 13:46:43 GMT -8
Something definitely is going on, the CI is sitting at Tsawwassen.
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Post by Nickfro on Aug 15, 2008 13:49:14 GMT -8
And looking at the Duke Point webcam, people appear to be scrambling to get refunds at the ticket wickets, then venture over to Departure Bay (I'm assuming) instead. It's obvious that cars are leaving the terminal.
There's a search & rescue boat (Penac) idling at the edge of Berth 3 as well right now, while the Alberni is arriving at Berth 4.
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Post by stvfishy on Aug 15, 2008 14:00:10 GMT -8
www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=726db4e8-a00d-4bf0-a99d-1e0e96bd0c5cCar fire forces B.C. ferry to turn around Passengers told to walk off The Coastal Inspiration in Tsawwassen Vancouver Sun Published: Friday, August 15, 2008 A car fire aboard the 12:45 p.m. BC ferry sailing from Tsawwassen to Duke Point has forced the ferry to return to dock. The Coastal Inspiration is now in port and according to eyewitness reports all passengers have been told to walk off. Passenger Jim Muir said 20 minutes into the trip from Tsawwassen to Duke Point, the crew announced the ferry would be returning to dock due to a vehicle fire. All passengers were asked to remain in the cafeteria and lounge area. "There was smoke on the main deck - quite a lot of smoke," he said. He said he saw two firetrucks and an ambulance waiting at the ferry terminal as passengers disembarked. Delta firefighters contained the fire. No one was hurt. The fire comes on a weekend that already could be the perfect storm for traffic on BC Ferries, with travellers expected to face one of the busiest weekends of the year. While ferry travel is always busy on a summer weekend -- the August long weekend is the busiest of them all -- BC Ferry officials had already predicted a traffic surge tonight and Sunday night. "Lots of families will take their holidays the first two weeks of August or the last two weeks of August, so we've dubbed this 'the mid-August changeover weekend,' " BC Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall said. This weekend's load will likely be seven to 10 per cent higher than other summer weekends. Add in a forecast that calls for heat and sunshine and you've already got a recipe for long lineups.
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