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Post by c15cat on Sept 12, 2009 20:38:42 GMT -8
Can't wait to see the revolt happen when the Chilliwack is put on the Little River route. I know many of the trucking companies will put off deliveries from the Island for the month and half or go the long way around. Douglas-Cat: Everytime that I've taken the Comox-Westview route, there has been a NorthWest Tankers truck on the sailing. I've always been curious about what they are shipping and why they don't use a barge instead. Seeing as you seem to know a thing or two about trucking business on the Sunshine Coast, I'm asking you: What is NorthWest sending to Powell River every day, and do they have barge options, instead of using BC Ferries. Thanks for the info. Northwest tank hauls various liquids for the mill it is either salt or a acid. From Vancouver island is some kind of mud they haul one of those pretty much daily or they were. The acids etc come up from Vancouver. BCF is far cheaper than a barge. Alot of Powell River's supplies come from the Island. The last time the Chilliwack was on the Little River/Powell River things got delayed and backed up. The truckers are used to the Chilliwack and the horrible orafices they have to enter and exit from. Its really fun watching the trucks that never been on a ferry before rip the trailer open like a tin can. The Chilliwack is a low floater even on route 7 trucks are denied passage if the tide is too low. The Wack is heavy on the fuel I was told how much it burned but I have forgotten the numbers. On route 7 the engines are running at max speed I don't think they are on the Comox run. The old Mirilees in the Burnaby run at less RPMs than the Bergens in the Chilliwack. A conventional propeller ship is more effecient. The Wack struggles to do 12.5 knots. All I heard was the Chilliwack was going to replace the Burnaby after its done relieving the I Sky. The Wack's car capacity is 50 cars plus 2-3 semis.
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Post by Curtis on Sept 12, 2009 22:25:43 GMT -8
It's quite annoying that the Chilliwack has trouble with the trucks. Especially when you consider it wasn't always like that. Before her 1996 Discovery Coast redesign, her bow door came all the way down allowing full clearance for overheights. The changes are seen clearly in these JST photos. Does anybody know exactly what the reason was for this change? All I can think of is that it was for docking reasons.
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Quatchi
Voyager
Engineering Officer - CCG
Posts: 930
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Post by Quatchi on Sept 12, 2009 22:31:41 GMT -8
It was for the smaller berths up north.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Nov 14, 2009 23:37:06 GMT -8
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Post by Low Light Mike on Nov 15, 2009 18:00:07 GMT -8
Here are some photos of the first season the Queen of Chilliwack was in service with BCF...she was used on rte 5..Swartz Bay-Southern Gulf Islands. I took them on Aug 1st, 1991. I'm glad I wrote the details on the backs of the pics..I knew it would come in handy some day!Queen of Chilliwack in dock at berth 4 (I think) 2 views of one of the end lounges entrance area to the snack bar: sundeck and finally, in dock at Otter Bay, Pender Island Edited to replace missing '[' in quote tag
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Post by Low Light Mike on Nov 18, 2009 20:00:37 GMT -8
Chilliwack's solarium: September 2009. Port side Starboard side At night
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Post by Low Light Mike on Nov 18, 2009 22:12:13 GMT -8
Queen of Chilliwack @ Horseshoe Bay Terminal (April 2006):
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Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Nov 18, 2009 22:15:03 GMT -8
Good photos of Noah's Ark, but it looks like someone was having data transfer issues with their camera. Kinda debatable if it was even worth while to upload images that are only half there.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Nov 18, 2009 22:45:11 GMT -8
Good photos of Noah's Ark, but it looks like someone was having data transfer issues with their camera. Kinda debatable if it was even worth while to upload images that are only half there. I have no idea what you are talking about. Quote a specific post, if you'd like to be clear.
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Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Nov 19, 2009 16:09:23 GMT -8
Good photos of Noah's Ark, but it looks like someone was having data transfer issues with their camera. Kinda debatable if it was even worth while to upload images that are only half there. I have no idea what you are talking about. Quote a specific post, if you'd like to be clear. Some of the images weren't downloading completely... it looked exactly like what happens when your camera loses data and half the picture is left blank grey. I thought it was someone who had posted corrupt images to their photobucket and posted them to the forum even though there was nothing to see... And, yes, the problem continued after I refreshed my browser page, etc. It was actually one of your solarium pictures, so I'm thinking the problem might have been with the tinyurl application you are so fond of using... Maybe they were short of bandwith last night.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Nov 19, 2009 22:28:09 GMT -8
Well, earlier this week I was awarded the privilege of visiting the Queen of Chilliwack While in Drydock in Esquimalt. So, Wednesday afternoon Donella and myself went over to the Esquimalt Graving Dock and were given a tour of the ship while she was high and dry.
The trip started with me catching the 1:00pm sailing to Swartz Bay, witch was boring. Then I picked up Donella at a Tim Horton's in Esquimalt. We then went over to EGD where the guard couldn't find my name and had a hard time letting me in. Eventually he let us in and we drove over to the BCF trailer.
After meeting Paul, he took use down into the dock, where we saw her in an awkward position, high and dry.Paul took us over to the EGD's plaques and we took a look at those. We then boarded the ship via an overhead walkway that lead from the yard surface right onto deck 4 above the main passenger deck. [size=3From there we walked through the ship and down to the car deck. Paul took us up another stair about half way up where there is a small hatch that allows access to the chain locker. [/size] Then we headed through the open bow doors and then down some scaffolding onto the drydock work surface. About half way down we started to realize how big her hull was.Once down there I turned around and realized just how much bigger she is when you can see all of her.While she is in drydock they pull out all the anchor chain to see what condition it is in and repaint the length links.And the anchors at the end of the chain. There was a portie-pottie on the work surface as well. we then started to work our way around the hull in a counter clockwise direction. The No. 1 end Starboard RAD. Donella got this one and it later turned out it looks like I am marking my territory. Feeling her up. I am the incredible hulk. New anodes to be installed. At some point this year they hit the wing wall quit hard at Saltery bay and smashed up the starboard stabilizing fin. So they were replacing it.They were also replacing the pressure seals between the RAD and the Propellers. Some of the Propellers had been removed. These are skewed blades, she has one set of these. And these are cupped blades, shes had 4 sets of these. Working our way around. Opening to a sea chest. After looking around below the hull we went looking around below decks in the machinery space, Paul showed us around. I didn't take many pictures as I had already seen most of this before.He then asked if we would like to meet the new chief engineer. So we walked into the control room and it turns out that it was harry from the Queen of Tsawwassen. So we ended up down there for almost an hour chatting and I showed them the videos of my model RADs and they were very impressed.
We then made our way all the way to the top to the top of the funnel. You have to go outside to get to it and climb up a bunch of ladders. it isn't as easy as the Spaulding ships.She has Airchime Horns The Nerds. We then made our way down and up to the parking lot. Donella took more pictures than me. Turned out to be a great trip, and they were doing quite a bit of work to her. They were superchlorinating the freshwater tanks, they completely sandblasted the hull and are refinishing it with epoxy paints and anti fowling paint, they are repainting the bilges, adding a new structure tot he bow and stern so she can dock in European berths and touching up her paint all over.
It was very nice too meet a bunch of the guys from Deas and the engineering crew. Thanks a lot guys for a memorable afternoon.Cheers,[/quote]
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Post by Low Light Mike on Nov 20, 2009 20:54:29 GMT -8
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Post by Low Light Mike on Dec 3, 2009 11:47:13 GMT -8
One of the early Norwegian captains of the Basto complained about the poor visibility from the bridge, and the shipyard foreman said, "Hey, no problem, we've got a spare wheelhouse section.. we'll just tack it onto the side..."
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Post by Low Light Mike on Dec 3, 2009 12:11:37 GMT -8
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Post by Low Light Mike on Dec 10, 2009 19:06:42 GMT -8
I heard from a BCF crew-person today (a person who normally works the summer Route 40) that the plan is for the Chilliwack to be used on Route-40 for "10 more years". Apparently she will have an extensive refit sometime soon.
I'm assuming that refit will be after the Summer-2010 season.
Lots of questions from that rumour (it's just rumour or ideas being floated), so we'll continue to wait and see what might happen for Chilly's future.
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Post by c15cat on Dec 10, 2009 21:31:07 GMT -8
I heard they want to spend couple million dollars on the Chilliwack and they have other plans for the Chilliwack.
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Post by Curtis on Dec 10, 2009 22:12:39 GMT -8
If this is true, I guess we won't be grooving on any Nor-Disco soon. I'm curious about what they could do to her? What would happen if she gets Coastalized I wonder? Would they gut her interior and rearrange it, or would the layout stay the same? The possibilities are endless if they put their mind to it.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,175
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Post by Neil on Dec 10, 2009 22:13:50 GMT -8
I heard from a BCF crew-person today (a person who normally works the summer Route 40) that the plan is for the Chilliwack to be used on Route-40 for "10 more years". Apparently she will have an extensive refit sometime soon. I'm assuming that refit will be after the Summer-2010 season. Lots of questions from that rumour (it's just rumour or ideas being floated), so we'll continue to wait and see what might happen for Chilly's future. Considering that a couple of AGMs ago David Hahn himself stated that this was one of three options for the Discovery Coast route, I think there's probably a good possibility that our coast will be, umm, blessed with the presence of the USS Shoebox for a good many years to come.
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Post by WettCoast on Dec 10, 2009 22:13:53 GMT -8
If you put any stock into this 'rumour' it adds to the speculation about BCFS's debt situation. They simply can not afford any new builds for some time to come. The Northern Discovery appears to be 'on hold' indefinitely. So much for a more suitable winter boat for the northern runs. A Tenaka replacement and the retirement of the B's and Powell River classes also appear to be a long way off. Is fleet renewal to be 'neglected' for some time to come?
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Post by c15cat on Dec 10, 2009 23:46:43 GMT -8
The Chilli is such a narrow ship I don't know what you could do with the interior.
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Mill Bay
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Long Suffering Bosun
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Post by Mill Bay on Dec 11, 2009 15:47:45 GMT -8
It was because of the refit for the route 40 service that her interior got so choked up. Mainly because the larger galley took up the space along one side that used to be an open passageway. What more could they really do? They can't really shrink the galley again, because then they'd have nothing to put on the menu for the route 40 tourists.
If they really wanted to improve the interior, they could get rid of the video arcade from where it is, because it is just a dark, dead end, death trap that you could never find you way out of in an emergency. If they really wanted to make it more effective for the route 40 crowd, open up some of the cabins for tourist use. (Guess that means making the crew hot-bunk it.) The solarium could use a bit of a redesign, too, otherwise it might just make more sense to start growing tomatoes in it, since it obviously is a green house. The solarium is just a ploy to make it look inviting to tourists.
It also blocks the view from the bridge when docking. It would be better if they built on a solarium similar to what the C-Class have, with the curved roof and open ends, or even make two of them on either side of the bridge, but make them short enough they don't block sight-lines off the bridge.
Obviously there is not much you can do with the ship. Space is limited. The superstructure can't be enlarged due to the machinery at either end, there's no space for overnight accomodations, and none could be added, either. It was never meant to be an overnight boat, all it was designed for was crossing back and forth on some narrow Fjord somewhere, but not really as a place for passengers to call home for a day, or more, and certainly not meant for anyone to get comfortable on.
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Post by lmtengs on Dec 11, 2009 16:52:11 GMT -8
Obviously there is not much you can do with the ship. Space is limited. The superstructure can't be enlarged due to the machinery at either end, there's no space for overnight accomodations, and none could be added, either. It was never meant to be an overnight boat, all it was designed for was crossing back and forth on some narrow Fjord somewhere, but not really as a place for passengers to call home for a day, or more, and certainly not meant for anyone to get comfortable on. Re-birth of Stretch and/or lift procedures with the ferries??
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Quatchi
Voyager
Engineering Officer - CCG
Posts: 930
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Post by Quatchi on Dec 11, 2009 17:56:54 GMT -8
It was because of the refit for the route 40 service that her interior got so choked up. Mainly because the larger galley took up the space along one side that used to be an open passageway. What more could they really do? They can't really shrink the galley again, because then they'd have nothing to put on the menu for the route 40 tourists.
Agreed
If they really wanted to improve the interior, they could get rid of the video arcade from where it is, because it is just a dark, dead end, death trap that you could never find you way out of in an emergency. If they really wanted to make it more effective for the route 40 crowd, open up some of the cabins for tourist use. (Guess that means making the crew hot-bunk it.) The solarium could use a bit of a redesign, too, otherwise it might just make more sense to start growing tomatoes in it, since it obviously is a green house. The solarium is just a ploy to make it look inviting to tourists.
The arcade was converted into a cooler last winter. The crew already have to share bunks, they don't even get their own bed let alone their own rooms. It is also very nice place to sleep at night, it stay just about right temperature during the night to stay in.
It also blocks the view from the bridge when docking. It would be better if they built on a solarium similar to what the C-Class have, with the curved roof and open ends, or even make two of them on either side of the bridge, but make them short enough they don't block sight-lines off the bridge.
The solarium is in the stern on route 40, so it doesn't affect docking. Also it doesn't make the docking procedure any worse on route 7, the bridge has to get distance commands from the car deck anyways, regardless of which end they are docking with.
Obviously there is not much you can do with the ship. Space is limited. The superstructure can't be enlarged due to the machinery at either end, there's no space for overnight accomodations, and none could be added, either. It was never meant to be an overnight boat, all it was designed for was crossing back and forth on some narrow Fjord somewhere, but not really as a place for passengers to call home for a day, or more, and certainly not meant for anyone to get comfortable on.
I think she has potential, and if they are going to keep her around for 10 more years she will get some TLC, hopefully.
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Mill Bay
Voyager
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Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Dec 11, 2009 22:30:16 GMT -8
Woah!... red text doesn't show up very well on the Black Ball skin.
I was just making observations, since I am actually one of the few in the camp that actually sort of (gasp!) likes the Queen of Chilliwack. (As long as I'm not on the cardeck while it's underway.) So, if she's gonna be around for 10 years, then that maybe means I'll have a good chance of doing route 40 one of these summers. The only thing I would really like to see removed, though, is the solarium, because I think it just junks up her nice symmetrical appearance.
I don't think lengthening or lifting would ever work, though, not with her hull form. Aside from the fact that the cost of that these days would essentially equal the value of a new ship anyway, all said, and done. Maybe if there was some possibility of inserting another deck of cabins into the superstructure without upsetting her balance. Maybe enclosing the open areas of the upper deck, to add more cabins is a more likely possibility.
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Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,175
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Post by Neil on Dec 11, 2009 22:44:10 GMT -8
The solarium could use a bit of a redesign, too, otherwise it might just make more sense to start growing tomatoes in it, since it obviously is a green house. The solarium is just a ploy to make it look inviting to tourists. The arcade was converted into a cooler last winter. The crew already have to share bunks, they don't even get their own bed let alone their own rooms. I remember the flyer we got, from one of those sundeck roofing companies, and one of the pictures illustrating their work was of the solarium on the ' Chilliwack. So the job was basically one step up from a do-it-yourself with materials from Home Depot. What is the layout of the crew deck above the passenger deck? Just looking at it, there seems to be a higher ratio of crew to passenger space than any other vessel in the fleet. An entire deck, as long as the one below, all for crew? I would think there would be ample room for sleeping quarters.
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