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Post by futureferrydriver on Jun 26, 2017 10:37:30 GMT -8
marinetraffic and vesselfinder both show the Inspiration hanging around halfway between the island and the mainland just north of route 2. Looks like it must be out doing sea trials or something, she seems to be doing lots of changing direction and speeds. Hopefully getting ready to return to service soon. It seems like Langdale is in desperate need of their second boat, especially with the long weekend coming up
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Post by mybidness459 on Jun 26, 2017 16:16:25 GMT -8
I kind of was thinking of that which made me wonder. But as far as I understand from watching a episode of Mighty Ships with a Royal Caribbean cruise ship the crew were aboard during dry dock.
But she is in Departure Bay now and will soon be in service.
On a side note:. I am going on my yearly camping trip up Island tomorrow, rest assured I will be taking my compulsory rides on the Powell River Queen as soon as I get a chance.
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Post by ferryfanyvr on Jul 23, 2017 20:06:49 GMT -8
I travelled on the Inspiration today at 1515 from Duke Point to Tsawwassen and was surprised to see deck 5 completely open, including the Coast Café Express. The Seawest Lounge was also open. A crew member told me deck 5 would be open Fridays and Sundays through the summer. Nice to see all the facilities on board finally getting used, even if it's only 2 days a week. Deck 5 certainly felt very new and pristine. I poked my head into the Seawest and estimated there to be about a dozen or so passengers in there at the time, which was just after departure.
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Post by Scott on Jul 24, 2017 18:27:34 GMT -8
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Post by Low Light Mike on Aug 4, 2017 18:24:57 GMT -8
C'Inspiration at 5:35am on July 29, 2017, rounding Entrance Island. - seen from Orlebar Point on Gabriola Island. DSC05032 by Mike Bonkowski, on Flickr
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Post by mybidness459 on Aug 9, 2017 13:10:41 GMT -8
Okay, I was doing a vessel check to see what the plan is for the movement and placement of ships over the upcoming fall refit period, and yo and behold the Coastal Inspiration is FINALLY going to another route even if temporary. On November 17, the Coastal Inspiration will be operating on rt 1 as #2 ship at Swartz Bay along with the Spirit of Vancouver Island. BC Ferries is using the Celebration as #1 Ship out of Tsawwassen on rt 1 during this time. Coastal Renaissance presumably in refit. Now The Queen of New West will be replacing the Queen of Alberni on the Duke Point run,(Alberni refit) and the Queen of Coquitlam replacing the Coastal Inspiration out of Duke Point. The Queen of Cowichan and Oak Bay are doing their normal thing on rt 2. Source, Reservation page BC Ferries, For November 17, 2017. www.bcferries.com/bcferries/faces/reservation/booking.jsp?pcode=GUEST
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Post by arrrrmatey on Aug 10, 2017 11:02:20 GMT -8
Strange that they would put the Coquitlam on route 30 instead of being the #2 out of SWB. I've been under the impression that the C class ships can do Active Pass if they use mode 2 (or whichever mode is both props running). Considering that the Inspiration will only be performing 2 round trips (even on the fridays that I looked at on the bookings page) the Coquitlam being delayed a bit or using a bit of extra fuel on route 1 seems far more preferable than crippling route 30's overheight capacity.
One might think that they could have also scheduled the winter refits such that only one of the Ren or Alberni would be away at one time.... this was probably very difficult for them to plan this year.
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Post by Scott on Aug 30, 2017 22:46:05 GMT -8
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Post by Low Light Mike on Sept 2, 2017 19:34:11 GMT -8
C'Inspiration at dawn, seen in the Arkellian style of ship photography . by Mike Bonkowski, on Flickr BCFerries now uses hyperdrives to help keep ships on schedule. Here we are, about to come out of hyper-SalishSea-space. . by Mike Bonkowski, on Flickr - August 31, 2017 on the 5:15am sailing.
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Post by Charles on Oct 1, 2017 19:46:41 GMT -8
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Post by arrrrmatey on Nov 3, 2017 6:26:58 GMT -8
Coastal Inspiration first round trip cancelled today due to mechanical difficulties; service notice below. When I checked it an hour ago, it said "...delayed due to problem with #1 main engine." As of 0700, she was moving out of the way for the New West to come in for her 0745 sailing.
I've noticed over the last several days that she has been consistently late and according to AIS only sailing at 17-18 knots. A service notice yesterday said #3 turbocharger issues. When the coastals first came to BC I was reading about their mechanical systems and have been under the impression that they have 4 main generators and normal operation is to run on any 3 (since they are diesel-electric). Can anyone confirm that this is the case? Whenever I've seen them at one of the terminals, only 3 of 4 exhaust has heat/smoke coming out which suggests that this is true.
If the Inspiration has had problems with the #3 over the last week causing reduced speed, she must have already been having problems with or conducting maintenance on one of the others, and must now be down by 3 engines?
"Update as of 6:30 am:
Please be advised that the Coastal Inspiration has cancelled the following sailings due to a mechanical difficulty:
5:15 am departing Duke Point terminal 7:45 departing Tsawwassen terminal
The ship is experiencing a problem with the #1 generator.
We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience you may experience as a result of this cancellation.
We are working to resolve the issue and we will keep you informed as soon as more information becomes available."
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Post by Charles on Nov 19, 2017 20:19:46 GMT -8
I was just watching global news and they were talking about high winds and how the coastal inspiration was having problems with its turbocharger which helps with its steering... I don't know much about ferries or even engines but I'm pretty sure a turbocharger is not used for steering, it is a way of getting more power from an engine. Can someone clarify?
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Nick
Voyager
Chief Engineer - Queen of Richmond
Posts: 2,078
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Post by Nick on Nov 19, 2017 20:50:35 GMT -8
I was just watching global news and they were talking about high winds and how the coastal inspiration was having problems with its turbocharger which helps with its steering... I don't know much about ferries or even engines but I'm pretty sure a turbocharger is not used for steering, it is a way of getting more power from an engine. Can someone clarify? I cannot think of a single way that a turbocharger can have any effect whatsoever on steering. The news report is erroneous, I believe.
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Post by bigcountry on Nov 20, 2017 17:59:01 GMT -8
The Coastal Inspiration is currently heading north bound towards Nanaimo and the Current Conditions departure page shows her doing the last route 30 round trip anyone know exactly what’s going on?
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Post by ferryfanyvr on Nov 20, 2017 20:48:06 GMT -8
The Coastal Inspiration is currently heading north bound towards Nanaimo and the Current Conditions departure page shows her doing the last route 30 round trip anyone know exactly what’s going on? I went for a round trip on the Coquitlam today, 1245 from Tsawwassen and 1515 from Duke Point. On the return trip, the crew told me that the Inspiration is being brought back tonight because of the lack of overheight capacity on the Coquitlam. The Inspiration will remain at Duke Point until Thursday when it's needed back on route 1. On Thursday the Coquitlam will take over once again.
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Neil
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Posts: 7,171
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Post by Neil on Nov 20, 2017 22:23:52 GMT -8
The Coastal Inspiration is currently heading north bound towards Nanaimo and the Current Conditions departure page shows her doing the last route 30 round trip anyone know exactly what’s going on? I went for a round trip on the Coquitlam today, 1245 from Tsawwassen and 1515 from Duke Point. On the return trip, the crew told me that the Inspiration is being brought back tonight because of the lack of overheight capacity on the Coquitlam. The Inspiration will remain at Duke Point until Thursday when it's needed back on route 1. On Thursday the Coquitlam will take over once again. Truck capacity on route 30 is key in BC Ferries' tussle with Seaspan. The ' Coquitlam is no match for the Seaspan Swift or ' Reliant, in that regard.
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Post by northwesterner on Nov 20, 2017 23:45:21 GMT -8
I went for a round trip on the Coquitlam today, 1245 from Tsawwassen and 1515 from Duke Point. On the return trip, the crew told me that the Inspiration is being brought back tonight because of the lack of overheight capacity on the Coquitlam. The Inspiration will remain at Duke Point until Thursday when it's needed back on route 1. On Thursday the Coquitlam will take over once again. Truck capacity on route 30 is key in BC Ferries' tussle with Seaspan. The ' Coquitlam is no match for the Seaspan Swift or ' Reliant, in that regard. 1) BCF has known their winter refit schedule for months. BCF also has the data on overheight traffic for Route 30 year over year and had plenty of opportunity to schedule the refits such that an issue such as this wouldn't occur. 2) In past years, a C-Class vessel has substituted on Route 30 for refits, though its been a while. Has overheight traffic grown that much in the intervening couple of years? 3) Do we know what the actual difference in overheight capacity of between the two vessel types in question?
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Nick
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Chief Engineer - Queen of Richmond
Posts: 2,078
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Post by Nick on Nov 21, 2017 9:05:45 GMT -8
Truck capacity on route 30 is key in BC Ferries' tussle with Seaspan. The ' Coquitlam is no match for the Seaspan Swift or ' Reliant, in that regard. 1) BCF has known their winter refit schedule for months. BCF also has the data on overheight traffic for Route 30 year over year and had plenty of opportunity to schedule the refits such that an issue such as this wouldn't occur. 2) In past years, a C-Class vessel has substituted on Route 30 for refits, though its been a while. Has overheight traffic grown that much in the intervening couple of years? 3) Do we know what the actual difference in overheight capacity of between the two vessel types in question? This year is difficult for refit planning with the SoBC out for an extended period of time. That causes a shuffle throughout the major vessels. Coupled with BCF's preference to not run the C class through Active Pass it makes this year and next year's planning difficult. I don't know the actual difference but if I recall correctly the C class take 4 lanes of overheight through the centre tunnel. The Coastals can take 6 lanes of overheight and are about 20m longer. Pretty significant difference if you ask me.
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Post by futureferrydriver on Nov 21, 2017 9:17:49 GMT -8
Truck capacity on route 30 is key in BC Ferries' tussle with Seaspan. The ' Coquitlam is no match for the Seaspan Swift or ' Reliant, in that regard. 1) BCF has known their winter refit schedule for months. BCF also has the data on overheight traffic for Route 30 year over year and had plenty of opportunity to schedule the refits such that an issue such as this wouldn't occur. 2) In past years, a C-Class vessel has substituted on Route 30 for refits, though its been a while. Has overheight traffic grown that much in the intervening couple of years? 3) Do we know what the actual difference in overheight capacity of between the two vessel types in question? In response to 3) The overheight capacity might be similar on paper, but thats only because BC Ferries considers the 9ft gallery decks on the Cs to be overheight. I think when discussing overheight capacity on route 30 what we really mean is Commercial capacity. And commercial vehicles certainly won't fit onto the gallery decks of the Cs (due to weight, height and width restrictions). At least a third, if not more, of the main deck on the Cs can't be used for commercial vehicles due to the tunnels/gallery decks, whereas on the Coastals they can (baring any weight limits) fill the entire bottom deck with commercial vehicles. It doesn't surprise me one bit that the Coquitlam fell short of meeting the capacity needs of route 30. For reference, the BC Ferries website used to (this was back before BC Ferries assumed everyone drove a Hummer) show a car capacity of 350, including 12 semis for the Cowichan, and 410, including 36 semis for the Spirit twins. I realize the Coastals are a bit smaller than the Spirits but if a Spirit can take 36 semis then my best guess would be something around 30~ semis on a Coastal. Even if 30 is a generous guess the Coastals can probably hold twice as many semis as the Cs.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,171
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Post by Neil on Nov 21, 2017 11:08:29 GMT -8
1) BCF has known their winter refit schedule for months. BCF also has the data on overheight traffic for Route 30 year over year and had plenty of opportunity to schedule the refits such that an issue such as this wouldn't occur. 2) In past years, a C-Class vessel has substituted on Route 30 for refits, though its been a while. Has overheight traffic grown that much in the intervening couple of years? 3) Do we know what the actual difference in overheight capacity of between the two vessel types in question? This year is difficult for refit planning with the SoBC out for an extended period of time. That causes a shuffle throughout the major vessels. Coupled with BCF's preference to not run the C class through Active Pass it makes this year and next year's planning difficult. I don't know the actual difference but if I recall correctly the C class take 4 lanes of overheight through the centre tunnel. The Coastals can take 6 lanes of overheight and are about 20m longer. Pretty significant difference if you ask me. Only three lanes of overheights in the center tunnel of the Cs... and that's pretty tight.
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Post by mybidness459 on Nov 21, 2017 14:06:24 GMT -8
Solution keep the Coastal Inspiration on her regular run, Put Coquitlam on rt 1, and use BOUNDARY Pass instead of ACTIVE Pass. The Spare vessel is not in use 7days a week anyway on rt 1.
Coquitlam can not carry as many overhights as Spirit or Coastal but can carry more underhights. Coastal Celebration's main car deck should be devoted to overhights only, to make up for Coquitlam.
Currently the Queen of Oak Bay is having issues anyway...
Should have spent the extra moola to keep the Nanaimo around untill Both Spirits had Mid-lifes.....
Sounds like a lot of money wasted on fuel and Crew to move the 2 ships around
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Post by futureferrydriver on Nov 21, 2017 15:23:24 GMT -8
Solution keep the Coastal Inspiration on her regular run, Put Coquitlam on rt 1, and use BOUNDARY Pass instead of ACTIVE Pass. The Spare vessel is not in use 7days a week anyway on rt 1.
Coquitlam can not carry as many overhights as Spirit or Coastal but can carry more underhights. Coastal Celebration's main car deck should be devoted to overhights only, to make up for Coquitlam.
Currently the Queen of Oak Bay is having issues anyway...
Should have spent the extra moola to keep the Nanaimo around untill Both Spirits had Mid-lifes.....
Sounds like a lot of money wasted on fuel and Crew to move the 2 ships around
Aside from the Active Pass thing there might also be an issue with crewing the Coq for route 1. Generally the 'extra' boat during 3 boat service on route 1 is operated from Swartz, and I THINK (although I'm not totally sure) that they would need to bring in crews from Nanaimo to run the Coq out of SWB. I suppose they could run it out of Tsawwassen, but that would mess up all the schedules (and possibly cause other logistical issues that I'm unaware of).
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Post by mybidness459 on Nov 21, 2017 16:04:27 GMT -8
The real issue is the point that the Spirit of BC is in POLAND. More specifically the transit time to get the vessel to Poland and back which eats into the regular refit routine. The ship is out of service for a despicable long time. If the Spirit upgrades were done local, the Queen of Coquitlam would have her refit normally and the Renaissance would have too and would be back in service by now, alas BCF would not have this problem.
Now, like I posted on another tread, the Coastal Inspiration and Coastal Celebration needs refits, When the Inspiration goes for hers, guess what? The Renaissance is on Rt 1 and the Coquitlam will HAVE to be in service on rt 30 FULL TIME.
Or BC Ferries should remove the gallery decks completely from the Coquitlam.
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Post by arrrrmatey on Nov 21, 2017 18:07:01 GMT -8
Either that or spend the time/money to familiarize the SWB crews. That may be worthwhile if a C class could be used to sub for other refits on that route. The other problem though, is that the C class take closer to 40 minutes (compared to the 25-30 budgeted for the RT 1 vessels) to turn around, considering that ~2/3 of their capacity is on the main deck. This would be made worse if the overhead walkways don't line up for the C class at SWB or TSA. The #2 vessel schedule could be adjusted though. I know this has been asked many times (by me as well, I think, too) but what is the issue with the C's and Active Pass? Can they not just use mode 2 and go slow? For the relatively few number of trips that the #2 vessel would make it seems like this shouldn't be a big deal to lose a bit of time to either of those issues (or to using Boundary Pass). Considering that the alternative is to cripple Route 30's over-height capacity...
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Nov 21, 2017 20:54:07 GMT -8
I think you guys need to submit your advice to BC Ferries. Obviously they're missing something.
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