Boatnerd Discussion Forum

As MilwBob said, "let the speculation begin". Prior to the coal ash conversion, LMC looked into repowering Badger as a diesel-electric with the gensets ahead of the coal plant and propulsion motors aft. This would leave the coal plant disconnected but intact for keel ballast and tours of the ...

Is it possible that the new Equinox boats have polymer lined holds like they put in Algosteel? Seems like that would make them more durable as a salt hauler than the old ASC boats.

Has anyone heard Grand River Navigation's take on this yet? The Port Director told them to remove and scrap her. After she leaves his port, he has no say in the matter as to what happens to her. They may just have to find a parking place for her. They may still have plans for her.
It doesn't look ...

The Great Lakes Railroad Carferries were most indeed icebreakers and were designed as such. The first icebreaker to ever exist being the St. Ignace of 1888 for Mackinac Transportation and then her successors St. Marie (I), St. Marie (II) and Chief Wawatam. The Mackinaw WAGB83 was actually patterned ...

Just out of curiosity, if anyone here knows, will the Norgoma run? I wonder if her main engine is intact or somehow broken and unserviceable. Even though she's been down a long time, sometimes you can get some of those old diesels running again with a little tinkering. It might be cheaper to ferry ...

I talked to a tug Captain this summer that claims he took a barge the size of Armco out the seaway and says it's possible she could go overseas. I'm guessing it's kind of like when under special circumstances the COE can put the triple A boats (Anderson, Callaway, Clarke) through the Mac lock.
Who ...

As was stated previously, the Grand Trunk never hauled automobiles (except for occasionally hauling an employee's or crew member's car) and didn't encourage passenger traffic. The bottom line is that the Grand Trunk hauled railcars and was cheap. Having previously built the Grand Rapids and Madison ...

If my memory serves me correct, the deadline for not using bunker "C" as a propulsion fuel is approaching. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it was extended from 2014 to 2020. If that's true then we'll probably see all the "Triple A"s be re-powered one by one until they're done by the deadline ...

According to Scotlund Stivers, who was the Atkinson's owner while she was at Detour, prior to the scrapping, there was a tailshaft seal leak. He stated that he paid someone to replace the seal with a new "okum rope" seal but instead they injected grease into the leak to stop it. Following the winter ...

Don't know what her actual speed was but the Chief Wawatam beat the new diesel- electric state ferry Vacationland in a race across the straits. They had all 3 engines going and hand picked their coal. The Chief had to back out and turn around while the Vacationland, being a true double-ender, just ...

Badger is clean, rides smooth, has good food service, and activities for while you are onboard. If a Casino is important to you then Badger is not for you. If speed is important to to you, might I suggest Lake Express.
Badger was built for Lake Michigan service. An ocean going ferry might not ride ...

The carferry is M.V. Viking at Peterson Builders and I think the boat rafted to the Blough is SS John J. Boland

When we had the SS city of Milwaukee tied up to the shore on 9th St. in Manistee, we had her tied off to 3 deadmen buried in the ground. 2 were old anchors which we happened to already have, but the 3rd was 2 pieces of I beam (aprox. 6 feet) welded together in a "T" with a chunk of heavy chain ...

The list says nothing about new or overhauled engines. It looks like a good checkup and maintenance after a hard winter. It does say Sea Trials though.
Here's the link to the actual list of work.

https://www.fbo.gov/utils/view?id=7c4c9 ... c537b087be

8 years and she finally got run as hard as she would go through the hardest winter in a long time. I would imagine she would need a little work.
Also to those who believe she was a failure because she needed help, I never heard of her getting stuck and the old Mac needed help in the roughest winters ...

The plug between the bow thruster room and ballast tank for whatever undetermined as of yet reason came up missing and flooded the bow thruster room at least 6 feet deep. They shifted ballast to the stern and pretty much drained the bow thruster room back into the tank and went to the Soo to get it ...

The Spartans hull is good, but the rest is pretty rough. If the economy hadn't tanked, she'd have more than likely been barged like the Midland was by now. She continues to supply vital parts for Badger and is referred to as the "Spartan Store" by LMC employees.

GSA retains half control for 5 years before clear title and it must remain a museum (if so disposed of) for 5 years. When the first group that took her turned her back to GSA and SPCM bought her, the 5 year clock started ticking again. Now it's almost up.

The Coast Guard looked at re-fitting and re-powering the Mackinaw prior to building the new one. The found it would cost as much as a new boat, use more manpower, and still be a single purpose vessel. It's more cost effective to build a second boat like Mack II which is what they decided to do until ...

From what I read about when the Coast guard layed her up for her museum ship mission, all of her water inlets, outlets, and any other orifices were plugged with concrete. Fitting her out wouldn't be impossible, but it would be a monumental task and more than it would be worth for the short amount of ...