Silja

[Doug]

Hey Cascade, you ever been on any of the Baltic Sea ferries...such as the Silja Europa? She is a pretty nice looking ship, check this out: . You know anything about her and how much she was to build?

[Balfour]

Is that a ferry ot a cruise ship?

[Political Incorrectness]

it is a cruiseship ferry. That is what I found out when looking on the inside of it.

[Curtis]

Must unload from the back like the Coho

[Doug]

It's a Baltic Sea ferry, and has an even newer bow loading door than the Rupert or North, let alone the Coho. There are two doors that open right in the bow of the ship. There are also a set of stern doors. I'm guessing the Baltic Sea voyage is about the same time crossing as the Inside Passage. Here is a picture of the vessel with the doors open: .

[Curtis]

Probably made just for large cruise ships ferries

[Doug]

The ferry operates in the same region that the Estonia sank. She too was a vessel operated by Silja Line at one time. As a matter of fact, the Europa was apparently the first ship to arrive at the scene of the Estonia's wreck.

[Balfour]

That's a huge ship! I like the virtual tour that they have on the website.

[YZFNick]

The Finlandia and Silvia Regina were in the Ships of British Columbia book under the sidebar "The Larget Ferry Boats." Phillip Spaulding, who designed most of the BC Ferries and a bunch of Washington boats described them in the book: "The are absolutely the ugliest ships the world has ever seen - absolutely grotesque."

I looked for some pics on Simplon Postcards, but the ships shown don't look anything at all like the ones in the book. They must've been refitted.

[Balfour]

I agree, the V class are very well designed. If they weren't they'd probably not be in service.

[YZFNick]

For us on the west coast, our view on ferry design can be somewhat restricted. Almost all of the major vessels in BC and Washington State were designed by the same person. A majority of our minor vessels are of the same open-decked, double ended design. Our ships on the west coast that more closely resemble European ferries would be the Queen of the North, Prince Rupert and the Alaskan Ferries. These boats even more closely resemble cruise ships from their day. That said, many ferries in Europe resemble cruise ships built in Europe.

[YZFNick]

yeah, that is kind of strange. Maybe the companies in Europe thought they could do better in house.

[NMcKay]

i just thought id let you know. that because of the expressed use of the K class in BC, that BCF will probably replace all of these ships with Century class when they get replaced. it would be very similar to what the Skeena Looks like right now, cept with out all her problems. just like on the fast cats, you look at them, and they all change, I cant remember the full story, but there is a drain on the first boat, that didn't work so well, and then on the second boat they improved it, and on the third boat they improved it even better. so i think that the shipbuilding industry in BC just has to learn, and they have to learn to compete with the lower cost China and Singapore yards.

[NMcKay]

yeah. im sure 31.2 M Shafts are a perfect design (NOT)

[YZFNick]

Everyone on Quadra was certain we would get the Skeena to replace the PRQ. It sounds like we were better off without her. If I recall, she never came up to Quathiaski Cove to do trials and dock tests like the Cap did when she was new.