QPR to Drydock

[NMcKay]

I was looking at all the complaints and stuff, and i realized some things,

1. the Trip Takes 7 Hours @ Approx 18 Knots
2. The trip could be Reduced with a shortened Stop at Mcgoclian Bay
3. a modified Pacificat could do the route in 4 hours if they could get her to a reasonable speed of 28 Knot. and if they were to have 2 of them, then they could have a bumped up service, with 2 cats, a capacity for 2,000 people per round trip each, and a car capacity of approximately 500

this definitely could have been a serious competitor, and with some working out, i estimate that the fare could be approx 75$ Per Person (Down from 85) and 150$ per under height car (Down from 195). what are your thoughts on this?

[Ferryman]

The Cat's shallow hulls can take on an absolute maximum 3.5m waves. Those ships guzzled fuel so bad, that they had to be refueled a few times a day, just going back and forth on the Strait. The last time I had checked, it takes the Queen of Prince Rupert 18 hours to go from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert, at 18knots.

I can't ever imagine one of these taking on water over the bow, like the QPR does.



It's just the same old song, well overplayed just too many times.....

[Low Light Mike]

harbourlynxkid said:

1. the Trip Takes 7 Hours @ Approx 18 Knots
2. The trip could be Reduced with a shortened Stop at Mcgoclian Bay
3. a modified Pacificat could do the route in 4 hours if they could get her to a reasonable speed of 28 Knot. and if they were to have 2 of them, then they could have a bumped up service, with 2 cats, a capacity for 2,000 people per round trip each, and a car capacity of approximately 500

Some clarification to your post, please.

Item #1 says the trip is 7 hours. I presume you're talking about Prince Rupert to Skidigate.

Item #2 says that this trip could be reduced by shortening a stop. I can only presume that you're talking about McLoughlin Bay, which is just south of Bella Bella, on the Port Hardy route, not on the Skidigate route.

? So which route are you talking about?

[Curtis]

Well it's probably the Skidigate-Prince Rupert Route. Since you can't do the Inside Passage in 4 Hours.

[NMcKay]

i was doing most of this from the BCF Website, and i guess i have to re train my thoughts, because i found out the PR to PH route takes 2 days not 7 hours like i previously thought, but i still think 2 Fast Cats could make the route more enjoyable

[Scott]

I could hardly stand the fast cats on a 90 minute trip, let alone a 7 hour trip. You would have to modify them to uselessness to make them comfortable for anything longer than 2 hours.

[Northern Exploration]

I loved taking the inside passage trip and did a number of round trips during the "shoulder season" in May or October. Always wanted to do the positioning cruise from Tswassen to Port Hardy and had thought of doing it this last fall but obviously that couldn't take place. I loved the QoftN.

Had some really wild rides during stormy October especially crossing the two patches of open water. The daylight trips took 18 hours from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert with no stops on the way because the Chilliwack was still on its summer route. We left at 7am and docked in Prince Rupert at 11pm. Slept on the ferry overnight in one of the cabins and then did the return trip. The ferry often slowed considerably a times so passengers could watch pods of whales and Porpoises. We even slowed considerably to watch one of the Spirit Bears (albino or blond) fishing for spawning salmon in a creek on Princess Royal Island.

The wakes that the Cats make would be too extreme I think in the narrow sections of the inside passage. Even during October and early May there was considerable pleasure craft among the usual commercial shipping and I would think a vessel traveling at higher speeds would be an issue especially during lower visibility which is very common.

During the off season when more stops are made the longer trip would need some sort of overnight or sleeping arrangements on the Cats and I am not sure where that would be accomodated. In the winter the trip leaves late in the evening and travels all night arriving in Prince Rupert the next day.

I have "flown the Cat" from Maine to Yarmouth Nova Scotia. A lot of people actually get a form of sea sickness from the unique motion the ship makes. It is certainly smoother being on a Cat but still has an affect on people. Cats also have very limited outside space due to the higher speeds they travel at. This would be really noticeable on longer routes in the particularly scenic inside passage.

I will be very interested in seeing what they do to the new vessel Sonia and whether it will be as nice as the QoftN. I think the vessels the shipyard produces will be amazing and will book the first trip in 2008 0r 2009 when they are produced.

[landlocked]

This is a first as far as I am aware. The important thing for her is the issue of pollution. A number of years ago, I believe it was either the Columbia or the Malaspina caught a line in their shaft seal. When they found themselves in Federal Court in Canada on charges of pollution, they argued 'force majeure'. While the court agreed the initial accident was out of their control, they were found to be negligent by not repairing it immediately, particularly when they had determined that the leaking of oil from the seal was in fact going overboard.

I would expect BCFS dealing with the issue almost immediately is in an effort not to find themselves in the same situation.

[Low Light Mike]

Welcome, PNW-Traveller, and thanks for sharing your stories of the inside-passage travels.

I only ever did 1 one-way summer trip on QotN, and 1 southbound positioning cruise on QotN.

I too await the new ships, and am hoping to do a Queen Charlotte's trip in a few year on the new ships.

[hergfest]

The Rupert is already back in service.

[WettCoast]

I was told the the QotN was once serviced in the Ketchikan dry dock but I have seen nothing to confirm this as true. For this occasion, the Ketchikan facility was reasonably close by, and more importantly, available.

[bcfcbccsscollector]

admin said:

I could hardly stand the fast cats on a 90 minute trip, let alone a 7 hour trip. You would have to modify them to uselessness to make them comfortable for anything longer than 2 hours.

I rode the fastcat once. It was kinda cool when she hit "Full throttle", but it was quite the anticlimax when it took forever to maneuver into the dock at Departure Bay. Sure, it was a faster crossing, but the time saved was eaten up by trying to dock her. What a waste. And at that, the seating was horrible, which led to the many comments of the "Floating casino".

Before I forget, "Flugel" aka Mike, Love the avatar! Did you know that "Squad 51" is actually in the Smithsonian? No ****!!!!! "Go ahead 51".............

[Low Light Mike]

re Emergency....I just might buy the DVD's some day.
================================

re QPR, it's good to see her back at work again.