Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Guest wrote: December 21, 2025, 10:53 am The boom could be modified to fit I am sure. The issue is the AAA boats have smaller belts, so the unload rate would be slower than the Gott or 1000 footers.

That's interesting, I had not thought there was a difference in the size of the belts on the AAAs versus the thousand-footers.with the traditional self-unloading boom. I do know that the thousand-footers have an unloading rate of 10,000 tph (tons-per-hour), whereas the smaller ships have an unloading rate of 6,000 tph.

I assume that the electrical motors that drive the belts on the unloading booms were faster for a thousand-footer, then they are for the 767 foot vessels, but is that a correct assumption on my part?

The boom could be modified to fit I am sure. The issue is the AAA boats have smaller belts, so the unload rate would be slower than the Gott or 1000 footers.

There should be no problem for uss/glf to use the unloading boom off of the callaway for use on the Speer if they choose to do so as Interlake used the unloading boom off of the Middletown for the new build mark w barker.

Guest, per your description of what the Speer would need in its possible conversion to a new boom then is this the way they done it when the Gott had her boom conversion done in the Winter of 1995/96 at Sturgeon Bay? Great question too as far as if they can take the boom from the Callaway then and install it onto the Speer. It must need a little bit of upgrading since that boom was put onto the Callaway in the 1980s but, I wouldn’t think they would be too much of a challenge or any issues if that is what they decide to do with her this Winter then. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Giving some thought about the Speer and a conversion to a traditional self-unloader, would it be possible to take the boom from the Callaway and put it onboard the Speer? The Speer would need a support-structure and hoist for the luffing the boom, and a rotary actuator to be installed below the deck for slewing the boom.

I don’t foresee uss/glf spending the money to install a deck mounted unloading boom on the Speer. It will be very costly for them to repower her and at this stage of her career and the down turn of the economy it would not be cost effective for them to do that. This is only my opinion on the situation but who really knows what will be done to her.

I recall Andrew your question regarding the Speer receiving a long unloading boom has been asked before on this board. To my understanding of it is this and that is, the Gott received her long boom because she is owned by the GLF at the time of her getting the work done. The Speer if I am getting this right is actually owned by a bank or firm something like that anyway I think it is from Connecticut? I think that is part of the reason as to why the Gott has the long unloading boom and the Speer does not. I’m sure someone with more knowledge than I, will fill us in hopefully on why the Speer so far does not have the long unloading boom. I never thought I’d see the day though to where she would unload at Burns Harbor but she’s done that now quite a few times and it makes sense since they have the type of setup there to receive the Speer’s ore loads with her short shuttle boom unloading system. I hope my information has helped you out some.

Any chance the Speer gets the conventional self-unloading unit installed with all the other things happening to her this winter? I feel like that has to be in the conversation especially with more recent diversification of the GLF's destinations.

Will they be installing the same engines as the gott recieved then? I believe those were mak engines in the gott.

Thanks for the information on that Guest. I would assume then that the Speer is to be repowered this Winter at Sturgeon Bay then? Any information is greatly appreciated. Thanks so very much in advance.

The Edgar B. Speer's class and load-line certificates are due to expire at the end of January 2026, so it makes sense to do a survey and a re-powering at the same time this Winter.

With the news and talk of the Edgar B. Speer getting repowered this winter, will they go into layup early to start and get the project started soon? As in years past, whenever repowering projects on the 1,000 footers have taken place such as on the Gott and the Paul R. Tregurtha years ago, each one went into layup early then to get the project started early. So, I wonder then if the Speer will go to layup early and soon? Where is she having the work done at as far as the repowering goes? Will she be at Sturgeon Bay or at Erie this Winter? Usually Sturgeon Bay has done engine repowerings in the past on both the Gott & Paul R. Tregurtha. So, I would think and expect the Speer to be at Sturgeon Bay this winter? Thanks for any info on this subject.