|
Post by rusty on Jun 29, 2014 20:52:04 GMT -8
A most obvious screw-up. Kind of like WSDOT's self inflicted wound with the Kwa-di Tabil list.
Anyway, Flugel Horn's picture of the Tokitae with the sun reflected off it makes one ugly boat.
As usuaul, throw money at it, then let the crews figure out what to do.
|
|
lifc
Voyager
Posts: 471
|
Post by lifc on Jun 29, 2014 22:11:28 GMT -8
I think it's a much finer looking boat than the KDT's which look something from a Richard Scary children's book.
|
|
|
Post by EGfleet on Jun 30, 2014 7:31:26 GMT -8
Tokitae is headed to Mukilteo for her first day of service. She should be replacing the Cathlamet in just a little while. We'll see how those ramps work out.
|
|
|
Post by Low Light Mike on Jun 30, 2014 8:19:51 GMT -8
Tokitae is headed to Mukilteo for her first day of service. She should be replacing the Cathlamet in just a little while. We'll see how those ramps work out. South Whidbey Island should see an increase in muffler and tail-pipe repair shops. Make some money while demand is high...
|
|
FNS
Voyager
The Empire Builder train of yesteryear in HO scale
Posts: 4,948
|
Post by FNS on Jun 30, 2014 8:30:46 GMT -8
Tokitae is headed to Mukilteo for her first day of service. She should be replacing the Cathlamet in just a little while. We'll see how those ramps work out. ... And, the ship trackers confirms this:
|
|
|
Post by SS San Mateo on Jun 30, 2014 11:06:43 GMT -8
She is now in service:
|
|
tom98250
Deckhand
Life doesn't get better than this...
Posts: 85
|
Post by tom98250 on Jun 30, 2014 11:16:54 GMT -8
Tokitae's about midway across to Mukilteo; Cathlamet heading north...
|
|
|
Post by maximase86 on Jun 30, 2014 11:47:10 GMT -8
Just looked at vesselwatch...Tokitae's 12:30 sailing out of Mukilteo was 9 minutes late. Be interesting to see how things go.
S
|
|
|
Post by Cascadian Transport on Jun 30, 2014 17:35:06 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by BreannaF on Jun 30, 2014 19:58:10 GMT -8
I took a round trip to Whidbey Island after work this afternoon -- gotta ride the new ferry on its first day of service. I'm just downloading the photos now, but a few first impressions. First, the ferries were well behind today. I took the Kittitas over and the Tokitae back. When I got back to Mukilteo, the Tokitae then left at 7:19, which I think made it 49 minutes late for the day rather than 11 minutes early. On every trip back and forth, the Kittitas was pulling up behind the Tokitae and stopping to wait for it to leave so it could approach the dock. I'm sure that it was just the first day and things will get better as the crew gets used to the new boat. Anyway, I made a point of walking up the auto ramp when I walked on, to check out the angles. In comparison to the Kittitas ramp, the Tokitae ramp is somewhat steeper. (See below.) It is bordering on too steep to comfortably walk up, and there is most certainly a sharp bend up there. Oh my. Other than that, the ferry is very nice and new. Those seats are really comfortable. There is lots of room outside at the front and back. There were many passengers disappointed by the signs and chains blocking their way to the sun deck. And the 4-year-old girl (with her mother's help) counted 136 cars come out of it when I was standing at the dock in Clinton watching it unload. More later when I look at all the pix....
|
|
|
Post by Political Incorrectness on Jun 30, 2014 21:23:25 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by rusty on Jun 30, 2014 21:43:29 GMT -8
Obviously from the pictures, the ramps to the upper wings don't transition correctly to the upper decks. The cars you are going to normally put up there are going to bottom out. WSDOT reluctantly added sufffeient guard rails to the KdT's, then dragged there feet in gettig that obnoxious light ship iist corrected. They need to melt some steel, and they will eventually do that. I think the mind set of the bureaucrat is that it's new and therefore must be perfect.
About the ugly boat, I was going to say the 144's are as ugly as New York's old Kennedy Class, though I might say uglier. Time will tell, but in the long run they should be work horses. Better than the stuffy box Issaquah Class boats.
|
|
|
Post by BreannaF on Jun 30, 2014 23:42:29 GMT -8
A byproduct of the Kittitas following the Tokitae around all day was the opportunity to get them both in the same picture. Here, the Tokitae was moving but has not really cleared the dock. Taken from the beach side of Lighthouse Park:
|
|
|
Post by BreannaF on Jun 30, 2014 23:48:52 GMT -8
OK, here are a few photos from my first ride on the Tokitae today. The ferry had been in revenue service for about 6 hours when I first boarded. Yeah, it's photo heavy..... My first close-up sight of her, leaving Clinton (Taken from the Kittitas): This is the end of the ship as we know it...... My oh my, those stacks sure are square Going inside in the next post.......
|
|
|
Post by BreannaF on Jul 1, 2014 0:03:32 GMT -8
On the inside of Tokitae: Tables on a sunny day..... A lot of people got to this place at one of the staircases and looked disappointed: At least there's a lot of room at the front of the deck: I don't remember the signs on the other ferries being so darned small.... But if we are going to make up for the small nameplate signs, there's another sign on the exterior doors... A few more coming up.....
|
|
|
Post by BreannaF on Jul 1, 2014 0:09:52 GMT -8
One more post. A new looking cafeteria. The galley was closed the first day, but it looked like workers were getting things stocked and ready. I like these new seats. There were pretty comfy. Of course, we don't get to snoop around upstairs. But the catwalks and areas above the sun deck looked pretty interesting.... And finally, we need to conclude with the Tokitae going off into the sunset: OK, I'll admit it. This ferry could grow on me.
|
|
|
Post by EGfleet on Jul 1, 2014 5:08:29 GMT -8
The 5:10 am sailing from Clinton and the 5:35am sailing from Mukilteo are cancelled due to necessary repairs on the Tokitae. Vessel crews are testing repairs and we hope to return to service soon. The Kittitas will sail as scheduled. Updates will occur as more information becomes available.
Necessary repairs have been completed on the Tokitae. She will go back in service for the 6:00am sailing departing Clinton.
Okay, it got its first breakdown over and done with quickly. Let that be it for the rest of summer. Seriously, I think all new boats have minor problems when they first go into service. The Hyak was out of service fora week or more when it first came online in '67, which resulted in the Kalakala's final sailing on August 7th of that year. People always have the expectation that brand new boats should work flawless, but that's just not the case when you're still in the process of breaking it in...we'll see how long before the media starts howling about "State's newest ferry already breaks down." Update: That didn't take long: www.seattlepi.com/news/article/New-Washington-state-ferry-Tokitae-needs-repairs-5592422.phpLonger story at the Everett Herald about the ramps...this issue is not going to go away. www.heraldnet.com/article/20140701/NEWS01/140709957/Two-state-lawmakers-raise-concerns-over-new-ferrys-designAccording to a commenter on the Herald story, a Dodge van from Island Transit bottomed out on the ramp yesterday.
|
|
Koastal Karl
Voyager
Been on every BC Ferry now!!!!!
Posts: 7,747
|
Post by Koastal Karl on Jul 1, 2014 8:38:15 GMT -8
how come this new boat is not listed on the Terminal Conditions??? It just shows the one boat for all sailings, lol!
|
|
|
Post by maximase86 on Jul 1, 2014 10:46:07 GMT -8
Is blocking off the sun deck a way of getting around not having to have extra hands on the boat?
S
|
|
|
Post by compdude787 on Jul 1, 2014 12:58:32 GMT -8
Is blocking off the sun deck a way of getting around not having to have extra hands on the boat? S Yes that is correct. I hope that WSF doesn't keep it this way for long; otherwise they shouldn't have had a sun deck in the first place. On another note, the transition from the steep incline on the ramp to the flat gallery deck is quite sharp. I'm really surprised that this was allowed to slip by without getting fixed. Also, why does the ferry have orange netting on the ends of the car deck? It looks really weird and reminds me of that temporary orange netting or whatever used on construction sites. I don't know what color the netting is on other ferries (it's never something that's caught my attention), but it doesn't stand out so much.
|
|
|
Post by Barnacle on Jul 1, 2014 15:51:01 GMT -8
Is blocking off the sun deck a way of getting around not having to have extra hands on the boat? S Yes that is correct. I hope that WSF doesn't keep it this way for long; otherwise they shouldn't have had a sun deck in the first place. On another note, the transition from the steep incline on the ramp to the flat gallery deck is quite sharp. I'm really surprised that this was allowed to slip by without getting fixed. Also, why does the ferry have orange netting on the ends of the car deck? It looks really weird and reminds me of that temporary orange netting or whatever used on construction sites. I don't know what color the netting is on other ferries (it's never something that's caught my attention), but it doesn't stand out so much. The orange netting may be a different material than the previous nets; I haven't seen them in person yet. The nets on the other boats are... yellow, I think. I haven't seen a new set of those in a while, either.
|
|
|
Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 1, 2014 22:55:55 GMT -8
This linked article has a few photos of vehicles on the Scrapeitae's ramp HERE
|
|
|
Post by chokai on Jul 1, 2014 23:27:43 GMT -8
She rarely ran at over a high 15 or so knots today despite being 20 to 40 minutes behind. Lets hope the slowness today was due to them babying her fix a bit, apparently the problem was in a reduction gear, though the article I saw says production gear I'm assuming that was bad editing. Kit and Cat can barely hold the schedule running flat out at 16 to 17 knots and that's only 124 cars moving across the dock onto a boat crews know how to load.
|
|
|
Post by Cascadian Transport on Jul 2, 2014 14:53:48 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by chokai on Jul 2, 2014 17:33:39 GMT -8
Tokitae (which was 20+ minutes behind) and Kittitas just skipped a sailing and reversed as the #1/#2 boats. Still routinely running a knot or two slower than Kittitas. I have to wonder at this point if the extra 1000HP and longer hull is enough given that she's carting around an extra thousand tons over an Issaquah. Or I wonder if she's being babied to because she routinely ran at 18 or 18+ according to VTS during her trial period. How much can a couple of hundred tons of cars slow a boat down? ;-)
|
|