Interesting boats

[Al]

Marin- Don't know when was the last time you drove the route given. The highway now is about the best road you will drive!! Outstanding construction, passing lanes for slow traffic right. at every opportunity even through the canyon. Timmy Horton and Boston Pitza locations are numrous with great menus. Take in Harrison Hot Springs Resort on the way and enjoy a wonderful German dinner at the Black Forest Resturant. Y

 

[Tad Roberts]

What's wrong with (ahem) aluminum?

Thanks for that description of the Port Edward location.

I spent a couple of weeks at the old Sunnyside Cannery at Port Edward sometime in the '60s. Very cool.

Nothing wrong with aluminum at all, did not mean to give that impression. Good and bad boats can be built of many materials, all have advantages and disadvantages. The major disadvantage to fiberglass in BC right now is that almost no one does it.

I lived at Oona River on Porcher Island for a couple of years in the early 1980's. I made several trips to Sunnyside salvaging building materials before the owner's tore it down completely. It was pretty exciting up on the roof of the main shed, cutting off nail heads and sending sheets of steel flying down.......

 

[Al]

Marin- Not knowing when the last time you drove the route to Prince Rupert let me advise you the highway route is just in the very best shape any highway can be maintained. The increase in width of the lanes along with a huge increase of slow traffic right lanes you will find impressive. With Tim Horton drive inns, Boston Pizza restaurants being in all the more populated towns the eating menu have vastly improved. Take a extra day and visit The Harrison Hot Springs resort and it's pools. Enjoy a delightful dinner at the Black Forest Inn, great German fare!!..

Now you have me anxious to take a drive down!!
Al

 

[QB]

....it's almost impossible to find a fiberglass guy here.....

But fortunately not impossible to find a wooden boat guy or two.

 

[West]

Here's a nice woody.

 

[Xsbank]

Tad, did you know or hear of Rosa Delita? I think she was a school teacher in OOna River?

That was a joke about the aluminum. I can see where the inspiration for my boat hull came from, looking at Friendly Cove.

 

[janice142]

Hi Janice... What speed do you cruise and what is your mpg. Must be very economical. I'd not realized size of your boat prior to the above post.

As an interest... in 1948 23' Chris Craft Express, with parents in 40's and three boys (2, 4, 10 yrs old), we cruised New England inland as well as up and down the coast for weeks on end during summers of 1950's. I well recall what fun a 23' boat can be when it's set-up correctly. Dad was a master at boat interior layout with all sorts of nifty designed items that were utilized in many ways to make that 23 footer comfortably accommodate all five of us.

As we boys grew... so did boat sizes. eventually it was a 37' raised deck, flying bridge, sport fish beauty that dad and I completely refinished over a period of several years. Turned her into an enclosed salon family boat! What fun!!

At five knots with the BOB Volvo, she burned just less than a quart per hour. So 20mph. There was literally not so much as a ripple when the boat moved through the water. I went blazing (okay, so it was just 5 knots!) by the FWC (Florida Water Cops) in a Slow/No Wake zone without blinking an eye.

There'd be movement of water aft but nothing. It was crazy wonderful.
That was a 15hp motor running at 1100rpm.

The new Kubota is 18hp and a friend has this same motor in his tractor. He says at 1750rpm the tractor burns 1 liter in two hours. I am curious as to what my results will be moving through the water and assume it will be less than him barreling through the woods on his property on four wheels.

We shall see. Even at 20mph I've a range of nearly 750 miles.

Seaweed is quite a little boat.

I knew a gal named Susan that lived on a 25' Chris Craft when I was a kidlet. She had a dog named Rags. Her daddy lived on a sports-fish and mom had a double cabin yacht-boat. When they moved, all three boats went in ducky-style, one after the other.

Dad fished and drank. Mom shopped and drank. Daughter and I played pirates and Indians.

The 40'er I grew up aboard (a sedan cruiser) started out a bow with a small windshield and a little overhang. The engine was boxed in and I rode my tricycle around the box. Later the cabin (saloon) overhead was extended (many times, over the years) and the boat of course evolved.

Don't tell you-know-who, but she ended up with a fly-bridge. If you own something nearly 50 years though it's natural to change things as needed/desired.

Seaweed is changing too -- it's why I could pick a boat that wasn't all I needed on purchase. I knew that with time I'd add the things to make her more.

So far, so good.

 

[Art]

At five knots with the BOB Volvo, she burned just less than a quart per hour. So 20mph. There was literally not so much as a ripple when the boat moved through the water. I went blazing (okay, so it was just 5 knots!) by the FWC (Florida Water Cops) in a Slow/No Wake zone without blinking an eye.

There'd be movement of water aft but nothing. It was crazy wonderful.
That was a 15hp motor running at 1100rpm.

The new Kubota is 18hp and a friend has this same motor in his tractor. He says at 1750rpm the tractor burns 1 liter in two hours. I am curious as to what my results will be moving through the water and assume it will be less than him barreling through the woods on his property on four wheels.

We shall see. Even at 20mph I've a range of nearly 750 miles.

Seaweed is quite a little boat.

I knew a gal named Susan that lived on a 25' Chris Craft when I was a kidlet. She had a dog named Rags. Her daddy lived on a sports-fish and mom had a double cabin yacht-boat. When they moved, all three boats went in ducky-style, one after the other.

Dad fished and drank. Mom shopped and drank. Daughter and I played pirates and Indians.

The 40'er I grew up aboard (a sedan cruiser) started out a bow with a small windshield and a little overhang. The engine was boxed in and I rode my tricycle around the box. Later the cabin (saloon) overhead was extended (many times, over the years) and the boat of course evolved.

Don't tell you-know-who, but she ended up with a fly-bridge. If you own something nearly 50 years though it's natural to change things as needed/desired.

Seaweed is changing too -- it's why I could pick a boat that wasn't all I needed on purchase. I knew that with time I'd add the things to make her more.

So far, so good.

Great story, Janice. Great marine mileage too! Keep on enjoying your boat and life!!

One of your marine friends, Art

 

[Marin]

Marin- Not knowing when the last time you drove the route to Prince Rupert ell it's a long way across the border.
Al

We usually find time to make that run every three or four years.

 

[West]

Fisherman's best friend. Steveston lifeboat.

 

[Tad Roberts]

Fisherman's best friend. Steveston lifeboat.

Unfortunately she sank in a storm last week. It was during a training cruise at night, but everybody got off as they were only a half-mile from the dock in Steveston.....

 

[West]

Unfortunately she sank in a storm last week. It was during a training cruise at night, but everybody got off as they were only a half-mile from the dock in Steveston.....

It's still alive ... needs new captain.

Damaged Steveston Lifeboat pulled from Fraser River - Professional Mariner - Web Bulletin 2014

 

[healhustler]

Even considering the damage estimate of 250K or more, it'd be hard to replace such a boat for that price, save possibly a donation from the military.

 

[Marin]

So is this a government motor lifeboat or a private one? Or is it a Coast Guard Auxilliary boat? Doesn't paint too good a picture for a lifesaving crew to hit a rock wall in their home waters....

 

[West]

Here's the skinny. Looks more like $100K now, with mostly electronics.
http://www.richmondreview.com/news/286153321.html?print=true

 

[Marin]

So it sounds like a totally volunteer, non-government organization that owns and operates the boat. Is that correct?

 

[West]

So it sounds like a totally volunteer, non-government organization that owns and operates the boat. Is that correct?

Correct
Canadian Lifeboat Institution – Our Mission

 

[Marin]

Thanks, West, for the information. Interesting that they pattern themselves after the RNLI, an organization I know a fair amount about having friends serving with it. The CLI even uses the RNLI's paint scheme on their boats.

But..... there is one huge difference, and I think it's a significant one. While there is no age limit to being a member of the RNLI, there is an age limit to who can serve on the boats themselves. If I remember correctly, the cutoff age is either 45 or 50.

The reason was effectively illustrated in the writeup of the Steveston boat's grounding. There is mention of the difficulty of gettting some of the crew off because of their age and associated mobility problems.

While it's all politically correct and stuff to talk about age not being a limitation, the fact is it very much can be. The RNLI goes out in hideous weather at great risk to their own crews to save lives off the coasts of England, Scotland, and Wales. To be on a boat in heaving waves and high winds demands a certain (quite high) level of mobility, strength, coordination, and quick reflexes. Hence the maximum age limit to being on a boat crew in the RNLI.

The CLI obviously has no such limit as evidenced by the crew of the Steveston boat. While I don't believe in an age limit for individuals operating their own boats, I don't feel that way about people operating boats that are intended to act as lifesaving vessels in all weather and sea conditions. To have a lifesaving crew impaired by mobility issues-- which was apparently the case here--- trying to do a job which by its very nature demands a high level of physical strength, coordination, and dexterity is, in my opinion, a really bad idea. Not only are they putting themselves at risk, they are putting the people they're trying to assist at an even greater risk than they're experiencing already.

Frankly, I think the Canadian government should throw the book at these folks as a result of this accident, as well-intentioned as CLI members undoubtably are, and force them to do what the RNLI does: ensure that their boat crews are physically up to par. That doesn't mean their less physically fit members can't assist the CLI's endeavors with whatever skills they may have. Like the older RNLI memers, they just can't go out on the boats.

Otherwise it's just a matter of time before a CLI boat crew member, or worse, a boater they're trying to assist, is seriously injured or killed because a CLI crew member wasn't physicallly up to the job.

Age sucks, but there's no getting around the fact that it happens. I think the CLI needs to take a realistic view of what they're doing and change their practices..

 

[West]

Totally agree. They should be up to Firemen standards.

 

[denloe1]

Their community. Their risks. Their trade offs. Their lives to live or not. Glad they are ok. Hope they get their boat fixed. They will figure out if they need a new skipper and if they need to update their rules.

 

[Xsbank]

It's the government fobbing off their responsibilities by closing Coast Guard stations. The volunteers are trying to fill a gap. If the entire boat was staffed by paraplegics it would be better than nothing.

Our Conservative government is big on lip-service for our military and quasi-military institutions, bangs a big drum over Arctic Sovereignty, then guts the programs.

We have about a dozen useful military ships and a couple of leaky submarines, slightly better than North Korea's rusty and leaky submarines, but that's it.

It looked to me like that cutter was made of wood?

 

[Nomad Willy]

XsBank;
But what do we get w all our aircraft carriers and bombers?
We are respected and loved throughout the world. Hmmmmmm
If our government gets any worse I'm coming/going back to Canada.

 

[THD]

Xsbank-a leaky submarine is a scary thought!

 

[Xsbank]

It is a scary thought, some of our guys have been hurt and killed driving those old POS submarines we bought from the Brits. They were smart enough to know when they were obsolete. Should have sold them to North Korea.

Our navy is rusting away. The government announced huge money for a round of shipbuilding, much to-do about which yards won the contracts, now they haven't released the money so most of the yards that won are either building little patrol boats or are idle, sitting on the new equipment needed to build the ships.

Why is it, that as soon as you add a bureaucracy to something, government couldn't run a hot-dog stand?

Our Arctic Sovereignty, protect the Northwest Passage claptrap is backed up by some Inuit hunters with Lee Enfield rifles. Nothing against the Inuit, but really?

Somebody famous said "...you can't make this stuff up!"

 

[Conrad]

It is a scary thought, some of our guys have been hurt and killed driving those old POS submarines we bought from the Brits. They were smart enough to know when they were obsolete. Should have sold them to North Korea.

Our navy is rusting away. The government announced huge money for a round of shipbuilding, much to-do about which yards won the contracts, now they haven't released the money so most of the yards that won are either building little patrol boats or are idle, sitting on the new equipment needed to build the ships.

Why is it, that as soon as you add a bureaucracy to something, government couldn't run a hot-dog stand?

Our Arctic Sovereignty, protect the Northwest Passage claptrap is backed up by some Inuit hunters with Lee Enfield rifles. Nothing against the Inuit, but really?

Somebody famous said "...you can't make this stuff up!"

 

[West]

Nice looking boat ... Alyeska

 

[Tad Roberts]

It is a scary thought, some of our guys have been hurt and killed driving those old POS submarines we bought from the Brits. They were smart enough to know when they were obsolete. Should have sold them to North Korea.

Our navy is rusting away. The government announced huge money for a round of shipbuilding, much to-do about which yards won the contracts, now they haven't released the money so most of the yards that won are either building little patrol boats or are idle, sitting on the new equipment needed to build the ships.

Why is it, that as soon as you add a bureaucracy to something, government couldn't run a hot-dog stand?

Our Arctic Sovereignty, protect the Northwest Passage claptrap is backed up by some Inuit hunters with Lee Enfield rifles. Nothing against the Inuit, but really?

Somebody famous said "...you can't make this stuff up!"

In general I understand what you're saying. The subs were supposed to take on a Navy role in the Arctic. That hasn't happened because we can't get them operational(for a number of reasons, I believe people are as much a problem as the equipment) to a level that can do that.

That Federal money is building some new ships, the two joint support ships are under way in Vancouver. In about a year (maybe) the new Navy Arctic Patrol ships will start at Irving Shipyard in Newfoundland. Lord knows when or if the new Frigate project will get started. One new icebreaker will be built in Vancouver after the Navy support ships.

In the meantime the CCG has been playing a major role in the Arctic. Go to their website and look over the fleet and how it's being utilized. There are a lot of resources operating in the Arctic without too much fanfare and very little support. I think they deserve considerable credit for doing a huge job with a limited budget.

 

[West]

The 1986 Sir Wilfred Laurier still has a bunch of years left.

 

[C lectric]

Now called the RCMSAR, Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue, used to be the CCG Auxiliary. The CLI is a similar group that has been around for a while also but tends to work the river, Fraser and area.

None of them get any support, other than some training maybe and I mean maybe, from the CCG, alias the Canadian Government.

These groups must now raise their own money, purchase the equipment from that money, and for the most part pay their own way. I can't swear to it but only a very few, if any, get paid. Upon returning home I will ask.

They are mostly volunteers who, through necessity, are retired because very few , still working people , can afford the time and loss of wages.
It's not surprising that too many of them are reaching an age that they should no longer be out there. On the other hand if they, the retirees, were not then there would be almost no one, or at least huge gaps in the coverage. They put themselves at risk and several have been seriously injured or killed in the process trying to fill that gap.

I know several people who are members of the the RCMSAR so although not highly knowledgeable , have a bit of info.

So I agree with Xsbank, our Federal government gives great lip service but little or nothing to back it up.

The CCG itself does a great job whith what it has but that keeps getting reduced every few years, whether budget cuts directly or from refusal to keep up with inflation , which low as it is, still adds up over the years to a reduction in service.

So this unfortunate event with the CLI boat is a problem, it would be worse without those volunteers.

The problem is not with the volunteers but at a much higher level for allowing this situation to develop.

Many of those retirees realize the problem to themselves and are withdrawing from active service as they get too old, to be replaced with younger retirees, maybe.

Rant enough.

 

[West]

As you say, something is better than nothing. Besides, today's 65 is yesterday's 45.