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Post by Mike C on Nov 10, 2012 11:59:32 GMT -8
I will be visiting the WSF this coming December for a weekend and have been following this extraordinary story, with these crazy vessel placements. I am looking forward to seeing what happens upon my arrival.
I am also interested to hear about the fall-out from this. We have had many many many engines pack it in here in BC, but I don't think we've ever had something like this happen during maintenance, so this is a unique situation for sure.
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SolDuc
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Post by SolDuc on Nov 10, 2012 12:15:17 GMT -8
Three-boat service out of Bremerton... That oughtta be interesting! Let's hope they cull the Rhody out of retirement. Ol' girl still has some life left in 'er! Agreed for the Rhody. But if they ever decide to do that (which I doubt) that would mean that one of these vessels would have to tie up at Eagle Harbor/Seattle. If that there is no space at Eagle Harbor would a vessel be able to tie up at Seattle (say, in slip 2) for the night or does that pose a problem? Didn't WSF tie up some supers at Seattle back when they were new boats? If not, where did they spend the night?
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Post by chokai on Nov 10, 2012 15:36:03 GMT -8
The only person who said anything about Rhody was a state legislator... so take it with a grain of salt.
I consider it darn near impossible that Rhody will come out of retirement as much as I would like to ride on her again... It's much more likely that they'll put Hiyu at Point Defiance and send Chetzemoka elsewhere or use Hiyu to supplement capacity on some other run however meager it might be. Though she is highly restricted as to where she can operate.
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Post by Steve Rosenow on Nov 11, 2012 0:52:42 GMT -8
The only person who said anything about Rhody was a state legislator... so take it with a grain of salt. I consider it darn near impossible that Rhody will come out of retirement as much as I would like to ride on her again... It's much more likely that they'll put Hiyu at Point Defiance and send Chetzemoka elsewhere or use Hiyu to supplement capacity on some other run however meager it might be. Though she is highly restricted as to where she can operate. Not totally true. Even State Ferries director David Moseley strongly hinted at yankin' the Rhody out of retirement.
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Post by suburbanite on Nov 11, 2012 5:45:20 GMT -8
It wasn't an engine. It was an electric motor. The Bitter End has the best technical information and connects two dots that may explain the cause. The Moravian posted See the full post and response at bitterendblog.com/?p=17223Masking tape and visqueen are cheep. These DC propulsion motors are virtually priceless given the Jumbos importance to the WSF system. It will be interesting to see who ends up paying for this mess.
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FNS
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Post by FNS on Nov 11, 2012 10:26:27 GMT -8
Back from Santa Barbara after seeing the Monkees in concert. I really enjoyed reading the Big W's motor issues written by my forum mates here on this thread in my hotel room there. Did "see" ghosts of our departed Steel-Electrics and V-Class ferries passing through the area off the shores of California.
Anyway, I think the RHODODENDRON will make an encore appearance on the Tahlequah run. The CHETZEMOKA may likely be based in Kingston where there's a third slip.
The CHETZY would do good on the Kingston run as an extra to any downgrading there. The Saloon Deck pickle forks aboard the KDT's are gated to receive foot passenger planks. The ladies in the shop at the VMC Eagle Harbor will need to sew up safety nets to deploy during the lowering and raising of the planks, just like you see aboard a Jumbo. If Columbia Beach is downgraded, she's a little more than ten miles away to come and assist.
If you remember the three-vessel service on the Columbia Beach run before 1982, the schedule would be thrown out and the ferries would be running wildcat mode (unload, load, and GO!). Sometimes a ferry would stand out waiting to land and would come in to the dock passing within 100 feet of the ferry departing. Sometimes, ferries would use the north slip at Columbia Beach.
I think WSF will find some good use for the CHETZEMOKA as a filler on some of its routes. She has a 15-knot speed and would do good on a route like Kingston.
The engine room accident aboard the WALLA WALLA is bringing out some interesting scenarios in the Evergreen Fleet.
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Post by Steve Rosenow on Nov 11, 2012 10:38:53 GMT -8
It wasn't an engine. It was an electric motor. The Bitter End has the best technical information and connects two dots that may explain the cause. The Moravian posted See the full post and response at bitterendblog.com/?p=17223Masking tape and visqueen are cheep. These DC propulsion motors are virtually priceless given the Jumbos importance to the WSF system. It will be interesting to see who ends up paying for this mess. That article right there is one reason why I NEVER watch KING5.
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SolDuc
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Post by SolDuc on Nov 11, 2012 11:36:23 GMT -8
She has a 15-knot speed and would do good on a route like Kingston. Agreed! I don't see WSF keeping the schedule with the 13-knot Klahowya at Ed-Ki even though she will spend considerably less time unloading/loading at the terminals than the Jumbos. Even with that, she would probably be constantly late! Another option might be pushing the Walla Walla with tugs from one terminal to the other like BCF did in the Smokwa era ;D as EGFleet would say: no matter at what speed, 188 cars away from the dock is still 188 cars away from the dock.
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Post by chokai on Nov 11, 2012 11:58:32 GMT -8
Not totally true. Even State Ferries director David Moseley strongly hinted at yankin' the Rhody out of retirement. I have not seen a written article indicating such, Rhody was mentioned in one article by the Kitsap Sun with a quote from Seaquist who is frankly a bit of a blowhard. Though if you have heard differently through the grapevine most of us wouldn't know such information. :-)
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Post by Steve Rosenow on Nov 11, 2012 12:09:44 GMT -8
Check other threads. It is true, David Moseley himself even hinted at culling the Rhody's layup.
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Post by Steve Rosenow on Nov 11, 2012 12:13:42 GMT -8
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Post by chokai on Nov 11, 2012 12:49:30 GMT -8
Hehe. Missed that sentence in the article. :-)
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Post by rusty on Nov 13, 2012 16:49:41 GMT -8
They sure toasted that motor. Could they run with just one motor in an end?
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Post by Barnacle on Nov 13, 2012 16:54:46 GMT -8
The CHETZY would do good on the Kingston run as an extra to any downgrading there. The Saloon Deck pickle forks aboard the KDT's are gated to receive foot passenger planks. The ladies in the shop at the VMC Eagle Harbor will need to sew up safety nets to deploy during the lowering and raising of the planks... Bit sexist, isn't that? ;D
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SolDuc
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Post by SolDuc on Nov 17, 2012 18:02:15 GMT -8
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Post by rusty on Nov 17, 2012 18:52:32 GMT -8
From Moseley's 11/16 Weekly Update: "we are proceeding to refurbish a spare drive motor. If the spare drive motor is successfully refurbished, this means that the Walla Walla may return to service as early as spring 2013."
Well, that's sure good news, though you'd think they would of had a usable spare.
I hope they don't ship that motor to the east coast for a rebuild, because if they do I'll re-ask my question: Can they run with one drive motor in each end? If so, it could work at Mukilteo-Clinton.
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SolDuc
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Post by SolDuc on Nov 17, 2012 19:42:02 GMT -8
From Moseley's 11/16 Weekly Update: "we are proceeding to refurbish a spare drive motor. If the spare drive motor is successfully refurbished, this means that the Walla Walla may return to service as early as spring 2013." Well, that's sure good news, though you'd think they would of had a usable spare. I hope they don't ship that motor to the east coast for a rebuild, because if they do I'll re-ask my question: Can they run with one drive motor in each end? If so, it could work at Mukilteo-Clinton. Good News! I don't know the answer but I think that if the answer was yes, it still could not work at M-C because of draft issues at Mukilteo. Since the terminal had to be dredged for the Issaquahs, I think that there will be too high grounding possibilities for her to work there (a Jumbo has a 2' deeper draft that an I-class).
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Post by chokai on Nov 18, 2012 0:04:48 GMT -8
Does anyone know if a good (publicly available) diagram or plans of the Jumbo's propulsion system exists? I'd love to see it to provide some context when reading about this..... I hope they don't ship that motor to the east coast for a rebuild, because if they do I'll re-ask my question: Can they run with one drive motor in each end? If so, it could work at Mukilteo-Clinton. While they don't have to fully load the boat and could just leave when it was time I've always thought that a bigger boat wouldn't work all that well at Mukilteo-Clinton without changing the schedule because it'd take to long to load during peak periods. I remember them doing a a few minutes of work to squeeze a few more cars back in the 80's and 90's all the time before the boats got the 2nd decks but after they got the 2nd decks and they had to load 30 more cars total that stopped. Since then I've always figured someone decided it wasn't worth the fuss to spend time squeezing cars in on a short crossing, it was more important/efficient to hold schedule. A few times during peak traffic this past summer I saw them leave cars on the dock even with plenty of room for 3 or 4 at the back of the boat.
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Post by Barnacle on Nov 18, 2012 5:43:46 GMT -8
While they don't have to fully load the boat and could just leave when it was time I've always thought that a bigger boat wouldn't work all that well at Mukilteo-Clinton without changing the schedule because it'd take to long to load during peak periods. I would think the bigger problem would be the offload, myself... dumping all that traffic onto the street (where it promptly plugs at the first light) would be a bigger problem than rolling the cars from the holding lot to the boat. At least, that's the problem we encounter at Friday Harbor, where (a) it's a single-lane, one-way street at the top of the dock, and (b) some idiot backs out of their parking space downtown right after the boat gets in, jamming the process, to say nothing of (c) seven cars that keep trying to circle the block in front of the dock, looking for either (c1) their friends to pick them up or (c2) a parking space that ain't there. ;D It's actually possible to two-lane load at FH, by the way.
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Post by rusty on Nov 18, 2012 9:36:46 GMT -8
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2012 16:03:21 GMT -8
The Walla Walla is going in to drydock from December 17 to March 11. Will she be getting a new drive motor in the drydocking?
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SolDuc
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Post by SolDuc on Nov 20, 2012 16:21:51 GMT -8
The Walla Walla is going in to drydock from December 17 to March 11. Will she be getting a new drive motor in the drydocking? Just a quick question, Awesome cheese: do you check the maintenance schedule every single day?
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Post by Steve Rosenow on Nov 20, 2012 17:52:47 GMT -8
I wouldn't put much faith in that maintenance schedule, personally. I've seen it be way off.
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Post by Barnacle on Nov 21, 2012 6:56:49 GMT -8
I wouldn't put much faith in that maintenance schedule, personally. I've seen it be way off. Especially once "scramble mode" is initiated, which is where we're at right now.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2012 17:41:45 GMT -8
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