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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Apr 2, 2021 21:01:18 GMT -8
The photo I took today of the Matanuska the funnel is yellow. Is it normally like this? I thought it was blue.
Does this image work?
I through the MV Malaspina was the only vessel with a yellow funnel. I am glad that they decided to another vessel with the yellow funnel. |
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Neil
Voyager 
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Post by Neil on Apr 2, 2021 21:15:31 GMT -8
The photo I took today of the Matanuska the funnel is yellow. Is it normally like this? I thought it was blue.
Does this image work?
I through the MV Malaspina was the only vessel with a yellow funnel. I am glad that they decided to another vessel with the yellow funnel. Yup... that's an apt comment on Alaska State Ferries these days. They've got enough money for a couple of buckets of yellow paint. |
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Post by Blue Bus Fan on Apr 2, 2021 22:49:02 GMT -8
The photo I took today of the Matanuska the funnel is yellow. Is it normally like this? I thought it was blue.
Does this image work?
She got her yellow funnel during the re-powering process in Portland. |
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Post by SS San Mateo on Dec 6, 2021 22:04:31 GMT -8
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Post by ancflyer on Jan 2, 2022 5:09:40 GMT -8
The photo I took today of the Matanuska the funnel is yellow. Is it normally like this? I thought it was blue.
Does this image work?
She got her yellow funnel during the re-powering process in Portland. Nope, link takes you to Photobucket Homepage. |
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Post by Ollie on May 15, 2022 11:15:05 GMT -8
How much longer is Matanuska supposed to live?
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Post by articulated on May 15, 2022 15:39:01 GMT -8
How much longer is Matanuska supposed to live? Until she has a replacement? Which to my knowledge, there's no "major"-class vessel in the works other than Tustumena's replacement. I'd be curious though... Matanuska's sibling vessels have either been retired ( Malaspina) or have its replacement scheduled ( Tustumena), with no concrete or announced plans to deal with a Matanuska replacement. Meanwhile, over the past three seasons now, two COVID and one post-COVID, AMHS seems content to run the mainline route with 1.5 vessels (Matanuska and Kennicott), with Columbia having sat for the past three years. If this service pattern is to continue for the forseeable future, with no need to have two full-time mainline vessels, would it be more possible to have Columbia act as the sole dedicated mainline vessel, and therefore become a replacement to Matanuska? |
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Neil
Voyager
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Post by Neil on May 15, 2022 17:45:03 GMT -8
How much longer is Matanuska supposed to live? Until she has a replacement? Which to my knowledge, there's no "major"-class vessel in the works other than Tustumena's replacement. I'd be curious though... Matanuska's sibling vessels have either been retired ( Malaspina) or have its replacement scheduled ( Tustumena), with no concrete or announced plans to deal with a Matanuska replacement. Meanwhile, over the past three seasons now, two COVID and one post-COVID, AMHS seems content to run the mainline route with 1.5 vessels (Matanuska and Kennicott), with Columbia having sat for the past three years. If this service pattern is to continue for the forseeable future, with no need to have two full-time mainline vessels, would it be more possible to have Columbia act as the sole dedicated mainline vessel, and therefore become a replacement to Matanuska?I thought that the federal money for infrastructure might lead to at least a partial reinstatement of ferry service? Or was that just for building new vessels? |
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Post by Name Omitted on May 16, 2022 9:31:20 GMT -8
Until she has a replacement? Which to my knowledge, there's no "major"-class vessel in the works other than Tustumena's replacement. I'd be curious though... Matanuska's sibling vessels have either been retired ( Malaspina) or have its replacement scheduled ( Tustumena), with no concrete or announced plans to deal with a Matanuska replacement. Meanwhile, over the past three seasons now, two COVID and one post-COVID, AMHS seems content to run the mainline route with 1.5 vessels (Matanuska and Kennicott), with Columbia having sat for the past three years. If this service pattern is to continue for the forseeable future, with no need to have two full-time mainline vessels, would it be more possible to have Columbia act as the sole dedicated mainline vessel, and therefore become a replacement to Matanuska?I thought that the federal money for infrastructure might lead to at least a partial reinstatement of ferry service? Or was that just for building new vessels? The Mat went through a major overhaul/mid-life upgrade complete with new engines that have an expected 20-year service life. Assuming the metal does not rot out from under her, she's going to be in the system awhile. The Mat and Mal are (were) a good size for us, large enough for 90% of what we do, small enough to be able to work year-round. The Long-Range transportation plans have been shown to be unreliable, they are political documents rather than planning documents. Most recent iterations agree that a replacement mainliner will be needed. Look to having it replace Columbia, but be about as large as the Mat. Columba has older equipment on board, and she is just too big to serve a smaller system. My predication, which is only a prediction, is that we get an all electric connecter between Haines and Skagway which will free up one of the ACF vessels (and meet one of the criteria for the infrastructure bill), and one mainliner that will be a partner to the Mal for awhile, and may replace Columbia. If we can pull it off, another ACF with crew quarters. |
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Post by ancflyer on Oct 1, 2022 9:59:12 GMT -8
Mat went into winter maintenance. Kennicott is taking the SE runs.
Sooner or later MHS is gonna have to get off the pot and replace Matanuska.
Meanwhile Columbia languishes in KTN.
Seriously the most underfunded and mismanaged system I've ever seen.
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Post by Name Omitted on Oct 5, 2022 8:39:53 GMT -8
Mat went into winter maintenance. Kennicott is taking the SE runs. Sooner or later MHS is gonna have to get off the pot and replace Matanuska. Meanwhile Columbia languishes in KTN. Seriously the most underfunded and mismanaged system I've ever seen. We just rebuilt the Mat. I suspect she will outlive Columbia.With the new infrastructure bill signed into law last summer, I expect Alaska to get 3 new ferries (including an all-electric ferry that connects Haines and Skagway). We love building things; we just don't maintain them. 1) Tusty replacement 2) New mainliner, sized closer to the three sisters than Columbia or Kennicott. Given the flavor of the infrastructure bill, look to this vessel to be a hybrid vessel with pod propulsion. We'll see how well pods survive in Southeast Alaska. Given the lack of log-booms going up and down the coast, there is a lot less prop damage than there was in the '70s and '80s, but I have to admit to a desire for a more conservative propulsion design (although I would be all for running tank experiments with an x-bow). 3) an all-electric vessel with capacities similar to Lituya for use between Haines and Skagway . The bill pretty much requires us to build an electric or LP powered vessel, and USCG regulations make it difficult to build a LP powered vessel with a clear open car deck. The tank needs to vent above the passenger accommodations which means either a vertical tank which would go through the car deck, or a horizontal tank above the car deck which is a very top-heavy proposition. At least it was when they did the scoping work for the Tustimena replacement. That leaves electric, and I can't think of anywhere else in the system that has a short enough range aside from perhaps Prince William Sound, and freeing up one of the ACF vessels would be a better option up there. /Edit to add- this is my reading tea leaves. I've long since given up on pretending I know what this administration will actually DO. |
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Post by articulated on Nov 21, 2022 19:03:15 GMT -8
I made a 5-week road trip to and through Alaska back in the summer, which of course included some ferry action. Here is the mighty Matanuska serving on the main line route, about to arrive into Ketchikan on a southbound trip in the late morning of July 25th. Second photo is of Matanuska passing its cousin Columbia in one of Vigor's drydocks. Unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to enjoy a voyage onboard Matanuska; my original trip itinerary would have seen me up in Alaska from June-July, and a southbound sailing from Skagway to Juneau with a midnight departure, and with a 7-hour voyage a cabin would've made for a good night's sleep. When my trip got pushed back to July-August, it became a 4am departure from Skagway, so I decided to spend the extra half-day in Skagway and take the mid-afternoon LeConte sailing instead.  AMHS Matanuska by Andrew Crawford, on Flickr  DSC_3122 by Andrew Crawford, on Flickr |
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Post by SS San Mateo on Jan 23, 2023 21:51:04 GMT -8
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,314
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Post by Neil on Jan 26, 2023 17:52:47 GMT -8
All the news about AMHS these days is grim. Boats rusting away or mechanically failing, communities losing service... It just makes it even more remarkable that the state embarked on such an energetic spell of ferry building in the 1960s. We're talking about a state that today has less people than the city of Winnipeg. To build the T ustumena, Taku, Malaspina, Matanuska, Le Conte, Aurora and Bartlett, you have to wonder, were they expecting state oil revenue to finance the system forever? The state has no income or sales tax. Back in the '60s, a robust ferry system was obviously regarded as an essential part of infrastructure. These days, the attitude seems to be, let them take a plane, and let everything come in by barge. What a change in attitude, or maybe just a change in the depth of pockets. |
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Post by trainguru on Mar 18, 2024 10:40:43 GMT -8
Is anyone familiar with what is happening to Matanuska? I've examined Alaska state reports concerning the system, but nothing's too clear. Is AMHS going to repair her, or is she just going to sit in lay-up until her replacement comes?
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Post by Name Omitted on Mar 26, 2024 15:57:55 GMT -8
Is anyone familiar with what is happening to Matanuska? I've examined Alaska state reports concerning the system, but nothing's too clear. Is AMHS going to repair her, or is she just going to sit in lay-up until her replacement comes? She's going to sit in layup until the governor can say "gee, sorry. Did I let another ship rot to death, completely bypassing Alaska's legally mandated disposal process? Gee... my bad." |
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Post by SS San Mateo on Sept 1, 2024 11:21:17 GMT -8
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Neil
Voyager
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Post by Neil on Sept 1, 2024 20:41:08 GMT -8
Fearless prediction... She's a rustbucket, far beyond the capacity of a state that refuses to tax its citizens, to save. Bottom line: Alaska does not have the resources to maintain a ferry system set in place in the 1960s. |
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Post by Starsteward on Sept 2, 2024 10:05:01 GMT -8
Fearless prediction... She's a rustbucket, far beyond the capacity of a state that refuses to tax its citizens, to save. Bottom line: Alaska does not have the resources to maintain a ferry system set in place in the 1960s. How stupid and sad! |
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Post by trainguru on Oct 29, 2024 18:09:23 GMT -8
Anybody inside the AMHS or Alaska DOT&PF know if the report on the Matanuska has been given-over by the surveyors? Further, anybody know the overall condition of the o'l ship (survey or recent up-close interaction with the Mat)?
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