2010 Week 21 In Review

This week, OTM Inc finished changing out the injectors on the Maris Pearl and bled all the air out with a big pry bar under the injection pump. With the fuel rack at full, I manually pumped a bunch of fuel through the lines. Then we very cautiously took it out on a short trip around the bay. It fired on all eight cylinders without even a hiccup.

More work on Washington injectors

We’re also working this weeko n fitting all the parts on the Timber Heritage Association‘s Washington injectors.

Boats and Parts for Sale

The J.S Polhemus is for sale again, if anyone’s interested in a worthy project. It runs and floats – what more do you want?

If it’s extra engine parts you need, that’s okay – theCaptain Reino‘s DMG8 is being parted out. Contact us for more info if you’re interested.

2010 Week 3 in Review

More work on the Maris Pearl

I’m still working on the Maris Pearl‘s reversing mechanism, trying to track down parts for it. I’ve been working with suppliers and calling collectors and engine owners I know who have spares. The Westinghouse controls rarely need attention, so there’s not a lot of information available on these units. It’s taken some extra time to search it out.

Winter Work on the Thea Foss

The Thea Foss‘s twin Atlas-Imperials are getting some attention this winter. The boat’s engineer worked with Dan to remove all the valves, start valves, and injectors out of both engines, then I spent a lot of time this week disassembling and cleaning everything.

As you remember, this process involves disassembling them each, putting them in a solvent bath, flushing the water jackets, sand blasting and another solvent bath, flapper the guide, and wire-wheel the stems.

2010 M4 Party

The big annual art and music event that OTM helps sponsor now has a not-for-profit fiscal sponsor, so make your donations out to Shunpike, with M4 mentioned as the program.

This year’s show will be the 10th annual, on May 1st. The steering committee is planning furiously, and it’ll be even bigger and better than last year (always our goal).

Working on the bow thruster

We got the new parts and tools to fix my good customer’s bow thruster, but still got caught inadequately prepared. I had to run out in the middle of the job to get more parts.

I also had a problem with my dry suit: the neck seal was too tight. Apparently, this can cause Carotid Sinus Reflex, when your neck seal presses against the carotid artery and makes your brain think your blood pressure is too high and lower your pulse rate to compensate.

The symptoms can include nervousness and a shortness of breath, which at the time I attributed to being out of practice from not diving enough. While it is true I am a little out of practice, the nervousness and shortness of breath were actually due to the neck seal. I’ll replace this before next week, in time to dive next Saturday at the CWB.

Despite all this, we still got the bow thruster fixed right up.

Boats for sale

The Pacific Sunrise is for sale. It’s a sweet boat with an Atlas-Imperial 6HM1125 diesel, and is going for $75,000.

The Island Champion is also for sale. She’s a great boat with a Fairbanks-Morse 35F14 diesel.

Bonus! Mention this ad and get a free OTM Inc T-shirt with your purchase!

2009 Week 37 in review

Business as Usual

This week, we are back in the shop cleaning, reading the Local Agency Guidelines Manual for the Lightship #83 project, and working on the website some more.

We’re working hard to get pages about all the known remaining Washington Iron Works and Atlas-Imperial diesel engines up on the web. Don’t worry diesel fans – we’ll get to the Fairbanks-Morse and Enterprise sections next.

I didn’t make it to the Tugboat Races in Olympia this year, but I heard the Maris Pearl did very well – it looked like first to me, but we’ll have to review the photo. The Donald R was there in style – we love that Washington.

New tugboat book released

I also got news that Jessica DuLong (owner of the Gowanus Bay) has finished her book and it’s being released this week. She’s been writing it for years and I went out and ordered a copy of it from Elliott Bay Books as soon as I heard. It should be here in a few days – I’ll report back after I read it.

Heavy-duties for sale

To all you Tugboat Dreamers: don’t forget that the J S Polhemus, Oswell Foss and Quail are still for sale.

Keep up with what’s for sale and what’s been sold at OTM Inc’s For Sale Listings.

Heavy-duty sounds through the ages

Engine collector Jim Walsh sent us a nice quote about heavy-duties: “I don’t really work on the engine, I just start it up and listen to it like a phonograph.” We at OTM Inc agree: the heavy-duties sure do sound nice – though we may not be getting the authentic symphony.

Dan told me that Dave Updike, his boss in the 1970s and the Godfather of heavy-duties, said the diesels don’t sound like they did way back when. Modern diesel fuel has a higher cetane than the old stuff, and you can’t even get number two diesel anymore. According to Dave, the thicker fuel makes a deeper thump and a lower “chuf chuf chuf” from the stack.

If Dave said it then it must be true, but we think that the heavy-duties sound just great regardless of the fuel.

2009 Week 14 in Review

We started this week by cleaning the shop really well, since I was headed out of town. I also tied up loose ends on the Arthur Foss and gathered parts for the Maris Pearl.

Tug for sale

The tug Earnest is for sale here in Seattle. It’s a great tug, 91 feet long and built in 1942. It used to have a 600-HP Atlas-Imperial just like the one owned by the Florida Flywheelers. It’s been re-powered with a 1,125 Caterpillar D-399 engine, but it’s still a good boat. Contact me if you or a friend is interested.

Enterprise R-Models for sale

We’ve heard that there’s two 8,000 horsepower Enterprise Model-R diesels for sale in Maryland. They’re part of a genset and that was supposed to power an island, but apparently the deal fell through. We’ve heard that these two were the last off the Enterprise manufacturing line, so we hope someone grabs them. Contact OTM Inc if you’re interested.

Coincidence?

I just found out that an old neighbor of mine is a descendant of the guy who invented the Metal Marine Pilot, which was later turned into a Wood Freeman Autopilot. Huh.

Public Trust

We at OTM Inc have recently heard of a tugboat collection getting pushed around by the government.

Steve is a tugboat guy in Waterford, New York. He’s a little reckless, a little eccentric, and very passionate about what he does, which is to collect old tugboats. I can see you rolling your eyes out there, but if the tugboat collection is doing okay and not harming anyone, why bother him?

Well, the New York State Canal Corporation is apparently planning to remove Steve and his vessels from “their” waterways by systematically attacking him with court orders, restraining orders, fines, and the other non-violent weapons available to bureaucracies. The Canal Corporation is a state-owned operation designed to manage the public trust that owns the canal and river systems in New York. According to Steve, they recently changed the state law to say “no living on boats in the canals.” We at OTM Inc have not looked up the law, but find it unlikely that they made it that general; instead, we speculate that they changed the state law to read something like “no living on a barge called Pennsylvania No. 399 within 100 yards of Lock E-2.”

Anyway, Steve continued living on his boat, so the Canal Corporation had him arrested and issued a restraining order to keep him off the boats. Interestingly, the Canal Corporation then assumed care of the boats, until they can safely acquire title to them through the doctrine of adverse possession. I think we all can guess where they’ll end up after the Canal Corporation has title to them.

Steve is planning to strike back by accusing the Canal Corporation of “interfering with the safe operation of a vessel” and “forcefully taking control of a manned vessel.” Both of these are federal offenses and typically taken very seriously.

While researching this article, OTM Inc tried tirelessly to contact an official with the Canal Corporation, but received no response to any of the voicemails or messages left with the secretary. I can only assume that they are uninterested in making a statement at this time.

While I understand the need to put some vessels out of their misery, and that there are some situations in which a boat collector must be saved from himself, setting a bureaucratic precedent like this is disturbing. The idea that the same entity that obtains the restraining order can gain control of the vessel through taking care of it in the owner’s court-ordered absence is pretty scary, and a scenario I don’t want to see played out.

At the same time, there are some boat projects that really are hopeless and should be shut down before they end up costing a lot of taxpayer money to clean up. These projects are the one that linger for decades, with lots of time and energy and love and hope and money all wasted in the end because the project was hopeless from the start.

From my perspective, it comes down to how to define what projects are “hopeless.” Who gets to make the call on that? What’s their training? Who trained them? Are they licensed, and who licensed them?

Even more, are there any objective criteria or scale that this person or persons can use to judge boat projects as a potential success or failure at the beginning? Someday, I will assemble an interdisciplinary panel of experts in a variety of related fields, including psychologists, psychiatrists, economists, curators, drum circle hippies, demographers, maritime attorneys, navel architects, ship captains, surveyors, and boat repair specialists. This team will develop just such a scale to judge boat projects on, so that we can stop wasting years of hope and work only to lose it all to scrappers or government agencies. No old boat project should be judged without such a panel – one that includes both boat people and realists.

Until then, Old Tacoma Marine Inc will offer unbiased mediation services to assist parties with resolving such disputes.

Old Tacoma Marine Inc goes to Mexico

See you next week!

2009 Week 8 in Review

After dropping off the Catalyst On the way back from Friday Harbor, I took a sea plane back to Seattle. We stopped in Westsound to pick up more passengers, and I got to see the El Capitan:

Then, with finished up, OTM Inc took the opportunity to clean out the shop this week. We also caught up on some office business, and did a lot of work on Skillful:

Parts from the Ked

On my way to the Skillful after leaving my truck in the yard, I walked by Stabberts, which just broke up the Ked. I saw what’s left of it: just a pile of Fairbanks engine parts, removed in a hurry with a gas axe (cutting torch). They blasted away the bolt heads and even cut the rods in half to get the engine out, but there’re still some big pieces left:

The yard guys said that they thought it was just going to the recycle, but I knew from talking with my friend Nobby that they were headed for Brooklyn as as parts for the old oil tanker Mary Whelan. These folks have apparently been trying to get the Ked parts for a while. They have a blog entry from September (here that details how they found out about the Ked, and another one that leading up to getting the parts (here). It sounds like the Mary Whelan folks have been discovering for themselves what OTM Inc has been preaching – that old engines in old boats are a great way to hold interesting museum programming. I hope to get out to see the boat and the programs soon – and call me if you want help setting up a diesel engine restoration workshop.

Tugboat for sale

I heard about an old tug for sale up in Anacortes, Washington. It’s an 86-foot ex-army tug powered by a 650 horsepower Sulser main. The tug was “ST-893″ during its working days, and you can purchase it for $190,000. There’s a listing here.

Patrol boat for sale

I took a visit to the Oceanid, a steam patrol boat that the Northwest Schooner Society is trying to sell. It’s a rad steamboat for sale with its reciprocating steam engine still intact:

It’s really awesome, but it needs a lot of work. If you’re interested, contact me, and I’ll pass it along.

OTM Inc joins Biznik

I signed up at Biznik this week. Take a look at my profile and add me to your network.

2008 Week 40 in review

A reader question about Enterprises

Reader Saúl emailed me for some Enterprise information:

Would you know where I can find an image of the logo placed by Enterprise Engines & Foundry on the armor parts they created during WWII? I am trying to update this list.

I won’t be taking an Enterprise apart until January, so if any of you know the answer, jump right in! Comment here, email Saúl, or contact me. It’s a great project, so I hope that a fellow reader can help Saúl out.

A Big Thank-you to Brian for helping the Arthur Foss program

This week, a reader responded to the wish list I posted for the class I’ll be leading on the Arthur Foss. Brian brought us an 18-to-1 torque multiplier on a long-term loan, and will bring by some lubricating oil soon. This is a huge help to me and to Northwest Seaport – plus, Brian signed up to take the Diesel Engine Theory class.

We still need participants and funding for the class, so please be like Brian and get involved and help where you can!

An update on the Duwamish

I’ve mostly finished re-assembling the air compressor, and now I just have some valve work left. I hope to wrap up this project soon — and maybe post some pictures next week.

An update from the David B

I met with Jeffrey and Christine of the David B (the last boat with a Washington-Estep diesel). I gave them a framed color copy of the “engine card” that Washington Iron Works kept records on for their engine:

Every Washington engine produced has a card, so we can send you a copy of one that interests you for $25 each. We need the engine number or other identifying information and a few months to make the copy. Comment here or contact us to order your engine card today.

Back to Jeffrey and Christine and the David B. They, like many others, have lugging problems due to the wrong-sized propeller and parasitic load. They’re planning to flatten out their wheel this year, and also have me work on perfecting the power train to get the rated engine RPM and 600 degrees on the pyrometers. That is as fast as you can go (remember my discussion of optimizing running speed from a couple months ago?). I’ll also be helping them with some bearing issues this January.

Gaskets for Big Swan

We sent two annealed copper head gaskets and a complete set of rubber grommets to the Big Swan Drainage in Winchester, Illinois. Engineer Kenny manages the drainage company, which uses two giant engines to pump the water out of corn fields and up in to a river that is higher than the fields. The Atlas-Imperial drives a big pump that moves up to 60,000 gallons of water per minute. The other engine, a Cat, can move about 70,000 gallons.

The Atlas, one of my favorite engines in the world, runs great, but there are some water leaks coming from the heads. A water leak is not a terrible thing, but, if left to leak, more problems develop. Changing the grommets is not too tough a job, so it’s a good idea to take things apart to clean and reseal often. This helps prevent small problems from becoming big problems, and removes some of the mystery that can build up if the engine is just left alone. So, as all the old-timers often remind me, “take it apart and fix it!” It sounds like Kenny is planning to do just that.

Boat for sale: Cape Scott

We found another neat boat for sale on the Internet: the Cape Scott, a WWII Navy transport built by Fulton Shipyard in California, which is now a fish packer in Vancouver BC. It’s powered by an Enterprise DMG-6 (like the Briana Marin) and all the gear for fish packing:

I hope a business-minded person buys the boat, since a boat earning a living keeps an engine in good condition. While the operating budget may get cut down in response to economic pressures, engine maintenance rarely gets cut on a working boat, since the engine is the most important thing on it. If the Cape Scott becomes a pleasure boat, I worry that the engine won’t get as much attention as it would if it kept fishing (unless a heavy-duty enthusiast buys it).

The broker is asking $95,000 and has put some basic information on their website, but I have some questions that brokers usually don’t answer: how does it run? How is the hull? How much fish can it haul? What condition are the tanks in? How well does the RSW system operate? When was its last contract for fish packing? If anyone reading knows anything about the Cape Scott, comment here and let us know!

Heavy-duty “for sale” listings

Speaking of which, we’ve launched a new feature of the Old Tacoma Marine Inc website: a Boats for Sale listing. I have a lot of people interested in buying a boat powered by a heavy-duty diesel who call to ask which ones are for sale, so this will be a comprehensive list that will help us get the information out to help the boats change hands quicker. This will be a free service for now, because unwanted boats are bad for my business.

Up now are the Briana Marin (Enterprise DMG-6), the Cape Scott (Enterprise DMG-6), the Oswell Foss (Enterprise DMG-6), the Portola (Winton), the Quail (Atlas 6HM763), and the Ready (Atlas 6HM2124). If you know of other heavy-duty boats for sale, let me know and I’ll get it up.

Off-topic reminder

To all of Old Tacoma Marine Inc’s American readers, remember to vote this November 4th. This is a crucial time for America, and we need to choose the best team to lead our nation.

OTM Inc Weekly eBay Auction

This week’s prize from the OTM Inc shop is a set of two air-powered engine controls manufactured by Westinghouse:

2008 Week 34 in Review

Here’s this week’s cruising schedule aboard Catalyst, from Juneau to Petersburg:

Sunday, August 17 – Juneau to Limestone Inlet: kayak paddle in river, salmon in river and along shore (rainy)
Monday, August 18 – Limestone Inlet to Ford’s Terror: meet Ranger Tim, Kayak Ford’s Terror, brown bear in creek (foggy)
Tuesday, August 19 – Ford’s Terror to Wood Spit: hike Ford’s Terror highlands, Dawes Glacier, seals, whales (hazy sun)
Wednesday, August 20 Wood Spit to Donkey Bay: great whale show, paddle Donkey Bay, 1000′s of salmon in creek (sunny)
Thursday, August 21 – Donkey Bay to Brothers Islands: forest walk, kayak paddle w/ eagle, sea lions & whales, meet Westward & Fred
Friday, August 22 – Brothers Islands to Scenery Cove: see lighthouse, visit Norio, glacier walk, slide show (windy night and rough water)
Saturday, August 23 – Scenery Cove to Petersburg: last run, pack and prepare to return to what passes for civilization (but isn’t)

Here’s the crew:

And here’re the passengers:

This week, I saw Ranger Tim. I first met him in 2000 while on the Westward. We picked him up on the way to Fords Terror and chatted for a few hours. I love seeing all the Southeast Alaska people I worked with nine years ago, especially since they’ve now taken on a cartoonish personality in my mind.

I paddled up Fords Terror again (the glacier was great), picked up more crabs, and met up with whale researcher Fred Sharpe. I also took some video of the Catalyst, which I’ll post once I figure out how to get it out of my camera. For now, here’s a picture of Bairds Glacier:

Westward Rendezvous

We rafted up with the Westward on Thursday, on its return from a 20,483-mile journey around the Pacific:

We’ve been getting updates on their progress for the past year or two that they’ve been out, so it was great to see them all again. They anchored at the Brothers Islands to rendezvous with us for a potluck dinner. The Westward looks great after all those miles, and owner Hugh was still the life of the party. I’ll write a much more detailed account of the meet-up once I have a few minutes to myself, since it was a highlight of the trip. Stay tuned!

Business as usual
I removed the exhaust valve from cylinders one and two, just to continue cleaning them up. Of course they were bad, so I put in spares. I also noticed the oil psi going down over time, and it’s time for an oil change if we continue changing based on time and not on sample results. The oil smells a little diesel-y and with all the overloading fuel, it could be soaking down past the piston or an external leak, and making its way into the crankpit. I will change it in Petersburg for sure and take a sample for the lab.

A good home for the Ready?

Word is spreading about the neat old tug Ready, which is for sale only to a good owner. The boat needs to be hauled out for some hull repair, and the new owner needs the guts to maintain, insure and operate a tug with a direct reversing Atlas-Imperial diesel.

Problems on the Velero IV?

I’ve heard that the Velero is having some timing problems these days. She’s a fish packer and research boat that’s powered by the biggest Atlas diesel still running. Owner Irv does a great job not only keeping the boat looking good, but also finding jobs to keep her employed full time. As I always say, the best way to maintain and preserve an engine is to give it some real work to do.

The Velero‘s engine was extensively modified in the 1950s with a second camshaft, Bosch fuel pumps, and injectors to increase its horsepower and efficiency. The work was done by the same guy who added the Bosch fuel pump to the Portola down in Seal Beach. The new port-side camshaft has something like a dog clutch with a precise gap, so when going into reverse, the second camshaft’s timing changes. The bolts holding the spring-loaded detent for the “gaped dog clutch” and the timing sprocket both broke. Fatigue, maybe, but the system is a one-of-a-kind. Irv may not be able to do much more than replace them and watch them more closely. I really wish I could do more than troubleshoot over the phone right now, but hopefully I’ll be there during winter maintenance for a closer look.

Lost Heavy-duties

Dirk sent us some pictures from his own collection of the Broughton Straits, a 100-foot tug that he piloted to Port Townsend in 1978:

Dirk recalled that the Broughton Straits was powered by a six- or eight-cylinder Washington diesel that made about 300 horsepower, and he remembered that “it had a large turbo but I was told the turbo had be ‘deactivated’ and wasn’t spinning any more.” He also remembered that it had a Fairbanks-Morse gen set. He sent several pictures that he’d taken in 1978, including this one:

We’ve gone through the Washington Iron Works records that we have, and found the engine card. Engine 7624 was ordered on October 17th, 1947 by the Straits Towing & Salvage Co of Vancouver, BC through the Vancouver Machinery Depot.

According to the card, the engine was a model 6-160 (same as the Donald R) with six cylinders at 12 ¾” by 16″. These models got between 375 and 400 horsepower at 327 to 360 rpm. The Broughton Straits‘ record shows it rated at 375 horsepower, with direct reverse and no clutch.

The card also shows the tug’s original name as Stan Point, but as with many of the records, that name was crossed out and the new name written beside. The folks at Washington Iron Works made a lot of notes on this record card as they did maintenance and repairs through the years. We’ve uploaded a copy of it here, and the reverse side with some testing notations here. Dan also marked an “O” for “operational” on his master list of Washington engines, so he’s clearly familiar with the tug and I’ll ask him about it when I get back to Seattle.

Dirk heard that the Broughton Straits was later taken down to San Francisco a few years after he brought it to Port Townsend. He visited the Bay Area in 1994 and saw a mostly-sunken derelict that folks told him was the same tug. Another great old boat with a great old engine lost.

California readers, has anyone seen this derelict tug? We’ll send an Old Tacoma Marine Inc t-shirt to anyone who sends us good photos.

Dirk also sent us an interesting picture of an old Atlas-Imperial diesel:

This was taken in 1978 at the north end of Lake Union, probably in one of those lots off Northlake facing the I-5 bridge, just after it was “bulldozed off to the side of the property.” Dirk says he still has its control station.

OTM Inc Weekly eBay Auction

This week’s prize from the OTM Inc shop are six (6) DRG-AR Series Field Configurable Limit Alarm Modules:

2008 Week 30 in Review

Work on the Sobre las Olas

I spent all this week in Los Angeles, working on the Sobre las Olas (her name means “over the waves”), a beautiful fantail yacht:

All the pieces I shipped to California arrived, but I had a nasty surprise at the airport. Since when are you allowed only one check-in bag? At least all of the boxes were under 50 pounds, but the “extra” baggage charges nearly killed me.

Once on the boat, I removed the remaining relief valves and chased all the threads to be sure that all the parts will fit and are interchangeable (since it’s not a “spare part” unless it’ll fit anywhere you need it). I found that there is one set of relief valve and “tee” that are not interchangeable and must remain together, but other than that they all fit well.

In addition to the valves, I worked on the expansion tanks. The sight tubes were hard to see, so I swapped their locations. This would have been easy, except that several fittings on the tanks broke and I had to spend a lot of time trying to remove the broken fittings.

After the expansion tanks, I then installed the new water collection manifold, finished the cooling water plumbing, installed temperature gauges to each engine, and installed an air bleed line in the uphill side of the water collection manifolds.

I also did a lot of cleaning and painting. The Sobre is going to be featured in a boat show and I want the engine room and the two 6HM464 Atlas-Imperial diesels to look as nice as possible for invited guests:

The Portola for sale

I visited the Portola last week while in California. She’s also a classic fantail yacht (built in 1929), and is in perfect condition thanks to Rick, the owner’s son-in-law. He’s been working on it for about 25 years and knows it inside and out.

This week, she was hauled out at the Gambol Boatyard in Long Beach to replace some mildly compromised planks and perform the routine cleaning, painting, and re-zincing that all boats should have done yearly.

Charlie, the owner, has had the boat for most of his life and said he feels married to it, but he’s not using it much anymore. He feels that it’s time to find another good owner. Anyone looking for an elegant yacht should take a look at the Portola. It’s a comfortable, classy yacht, its original and historically significant Winton diesel runs great, and it has the parts and support to keep it running along time.

They’ve got a great website with lots more pictures here.

Bonus: mention this blog when purchasing the boat and receive a free Old Tacoma Marine Inc polo shirt to wear while yachting.

A visit to the Ready

I also took the opportunity to visit the Ready, a great tug in Long Beach powered with a 400 horsepower Atlas-Imperial diesel:

The new owner realized that the boat may be too much for him and may be looking for a buyer. If you’re interested in a project boat with an Atlas-Imperial, contact me.

OTM Inc Weekly eBay Auction

This week’s prize from the OTM Inc shop is a handmade piece of maritime sculpture:

2008 Week 28 in review

I’m still working on the air compressor for the fireboat, mostly searching for parts and slowly making new parts. I did find a company that still supplies parts for Worthington air compressors, who may have the parts we need.

The Sea Lion as an example of a really comfortable boat

The Sea Lion IV, (recently sold at auction) is a great old tug with an Enterprise diesel that was converted to a nice cruising yacht a few years ago:

The other pictures in the set show beautiful cabins, decks, and living spaces, with great attention to the fine details. I think that with its medium-sized DMG-8 engine, it must be a very comfortable boat.

Those looking for a great cruising yacht should seriously consider an old tug like this. I think a lot of people labor under the misconception that new fiberglass yachts are much more comfortable than the old wooden or steel workboats converted to private cruisers. Comfort, however, is measured in many different ways.

I believe that it is the engineer’s job to look at comfort as an evolving formula and constantly tweak the boat to optimize it. Many people think that comfort stops at appearance and how squishy your throw pillows are, but there are a lot of other properties. Here are just a few of the things that the engineer thinks about when engineering the comfort of a vessel:

• vibration from the engines
• noise from the engines
• smells from the fuel tanks, black water tanks, and diesel exhaust
• brightness and tone of the lighting
• feel of the deck beneath your feet (there’s a big difference between a springy steel deck and a thick planked wooden deck)
• smoothness of the door latches and other hardware
• echoes in the head
• a loud cook in the galley
• perceived safety (which ranges from the integrity of the systems to the training of the crew)
• taste of the water
• appearance of the vessel – up close and from afar
• power surges, outages, and brown outs

All these factors are very connected, which makes engineering the comfort of a vessel challenging. Here’s an example:

• A motor with no frequency drive starts and causes:
• a brown-out (the lights dim)
• higher vibrations and noise while the generator is overloaded
• unsightly black smoke from the stack for a minute
• more exhaust smell
• a decrease in the level of perceived safety (“they can’t keep the generator running well”)

Here’s an example of monitoring and adjusting the comfort level:
Energy-efficiency adds to the vessel’s comfort by reducing generator noise, exhaust, and the need to start a second generator (even more noise and exhaust). To reduce the lighting load on a charter boat, I changed out many incandescent light bulbs to compact florescent ones, including the lights in the crew mess. The light bulbs I used were a “cooler” color (towards the blue spectrum) than the old incandescents, and they were the curly bulbs. I patted myself on the back for making the boat more energy-efficient, which reduced the load on the generators and decreased the exhaust and vibrations.

Well. The crew hated how the lights looked and revolted against me. The captain demanded the “regular” bulbs be re-installed. I quickly replaced the new bulbs with different florescent lights, which were a “warmer” orange color. The bulbs were also completely enclosed to look more like a “regular” bulb. Everyone thanked me and never knew the “regular” lights were also florescent lights with just a different color and a more normal look.

When it comes to comfort, both diagnosing the complaints and engineering the solution can be difficult, but it’s worth the work. There is nothing more worth striving for than “normality,” since it makes people feel at home, and that’s what comfort is all about. I don’t think it’s possible to get the mix right before commissioning a vessel, which is part of my preference for older boats. I think that my subscription to Showboats International may be canceled for saying this, but the new yachts just can’t compare with the comfort of an old boat that’s had all that time to engineer the issues out of it. I think that 50 years with many long-term crew members maintaining the boat and tweaking it is worth way more than “all that’s new, all that’s best in the world of mega yachts” – and, of course, they just don’t build them like they used to.

An update from the Catalyst

Speaking of comfort, we got a call from one of the most comfortable boats out there, the Catalyst. They report that everything is fine up in Southeast Alaska. Bill said that he just saw the John N Cobb being towed through Wrangell Narrows, and he flew the flag at half mast.

Wanted: Engineers for heavy-duties

This is a call for applicants for engineer positions on yachts, charter-, fish-, or research boats powered by heavy-duty diesel engines. Please send résumés to Old Tacoma Marine Inc.

We get a lot of calls for crew and we would like to provide a heavy-duty crew pool as a service to vessel owners. All applicants must have experience working with Atlas-Imperial, Washington, Fairbanks-Morse, Enterprise, or other heavy-duty engines.

The next generation

There was a great article in the July 2008 issue of WorkBoat magazine about the next generation of mariners. The article raves about all the maritime high school programs around the country and mentions the Youth Maritime Training Association, a customer of OTM Inc. We coordinate the Engineer for a Day class held at South Lake Union for High schoolers. We’ve described it previously in this blog, but to recap for new readers, this program introduces students to the engine room by allowing them to run machinery and monitor its performance. The course takes place in three very different engine rooms: direct-reversing diesel (on the tugboat Arthur Foss), diesel-electric (on the fireboat Duwamish, and reciprocating steam (on the excursion steamer Virginia V).

Among other things, we demonstrate how the engineers’ duties are very similar on each different system. Our teaching platforms – the vessels – are some of the best I can imagine and many of the participants in the classes we offer go on to fill a much-needed position in the maritime field.

Memberships!?

We at Old Tacoma Marine Inc. will soon be embarking on a new online endeavor. To provide even more services for owners and enthusiasts of heavy-duty diesel engines, OTM Inc will be adding a “Members’ Only” section to its website. Benefits of membership will include a framed photo of the fascinating and unique V-8 Washington Iron Works diesel (last seen in an Alaska logging camp), quarterly newsletters, an events calendar, a directory of other HD diesel owners and services, quarterly gifts and other benefits.

What else would persuade you to pay a membership and fill out an online survey? Help us develop this new feature!

OTM Inc Weekly eBay Auction

This week’s prize from the OTM Inc shop is this Manufacturer’s Plate from our local Washington Iron Works foundry:

2008 Week Eleven in Review

An update from the Maris Pearl

This week we pushed to get the Maris Pearl running again to move it back to Shilshole Marina. Once it was good to go, we took the time to change the oil in the main engine: all 250 gallons of it. We also changed out the oil filters and watched two painters begin work (they also helped take the boat back through the locks). It was another uneventful trip.

An update from the David B

We got call from Jeffrey on the David B, following their shipyard work. They replaced the stern bearing and had some pitch taken out of the prop, bringing the RPM up to 288 with pyrometers at 625 degrees with a speed of 7.9 knots (a 1 knot increase). I still want to see 325 at 600 degrees, but its better than it was. Good work, David B crew!

An update from the Velero IV

Irv from the Velero IV visited the shop the other day. He wanted my opinion on how he’s going to replace the steering mechanism. Currently, it has a worm drive and bull gear, but he wants to use hydraulic rams since they’re more reliable. I think that sounds great and I’m looking forward to hearing about the replacement process.

An update from Waimea

Research on the Sugar Mill Camp Museum’s Washington Iron Works engine in Waimea, Hawaii is progressing slowly but surely. Dan let us borrow the photographs that his wife Carol took when she visited in 1998 or so:

In addition to being great photographs of an old Washington Iron Works diesel engine (an Estep, even!), this gave us the serial number (it looks like 7182 but is really 7162). The serial number let us look up the original Washington Iron Works manufacturer card, which showed that it was purchased by the Kauai Fruit & Land Company in 1928 through the Perine Machinery Company of Seattle, then sold to the Waimea Garage & Electric Company in 1932. The company later bought two other Washington diesels (numbers 7410 and 7587; they must have liked them a lot.

This finally gave us an excuse to email Chris in Waimea again. She works at the Kauai Museum by day and with the fledgling Sugar Mill Camp Museum when she can. She told us that the engine had been sold by the Electric Company when they upgraded their equipment. We haven’t nailed down a date for this; they bought their last Washington diesel in 1945, so maybe this one replaced number 7162, or maybe they upgraded in the 1960s or 1970s to high speeds and got rid of all three Washingtons at once. I don’t know, but we’ll try to find out.

Anyway, Chris said that after the Electric Company sold number 7162, it went to the Kekaha Sugar Mill and powered the pumps used in the sugarcane irrigation ditches. It turns out that Kauai’s sugar cane industry relied on these irrigation ditches, which makes me wonder if Hawaii is full of old heavy-duties rusting away in the fields. Anyway, her cousin Mike rescued this engine after the Kekaha mill went under, and brought it to the Sugar Mill Camp Museum, which is located on the former Waimea Sugar Mill site. Chris says that she’ll send us a CD of photos, and it sounds like Mike might be interested in doing a little ground research for us.

This is especially exciting news for two reasons. First, the serial number confirms that this engine is the second-oldest remaining Washington Iron Works diesel engine (the oldest being the Kodiak Maritime Historical Society engine that Guy alerted us to). Second, from the pictures, it seems to be unusually complete. I don’t see anything missing, which is uncommon considering how engineers can behave like scavengers when it comes to old engines.

Stay tuned for future updates. This is a neat story that’s unfolding.

Atlas-Imperial 668 pistons available

John in Oakland, who works on the Lightship WLV-605 Relief, called with a neat discovery. He said that volunteers with the United States Lighthouse Society, which owns the vessel, are moving some of the spare parts around and found that they have more pistons than they will ever need. They’d like to sell some of the extras to free up storage space and maybe make a little cash for buying other needed parts. If anyone reading this has an Atlas-Imperial 668 and would like some spare pistons, comment here so we can forward the request, or just contact John on the Oakland lightship at (510) 272-0544.

Read the manual!

One of my on-again off-again customer is calling me regularly for free engine trouble advice. While I don’t mind talking shop, anyone working on the heavy-duties should read the engine’s manual over and over again so that you understand how it’s supposed to work. Also, keep the engine clean – really clean – so that leaks can be found and fixed quickly. Good gages and monitoring equipment are also worth the price to install them, since they let you know what’s going on inside (though remember that gauges are not always accurate).

Sometimes, an owner will want to throw money at the engine blind-folded. If they ask me to get involved, I will ask for gauge readings and symptoms before I do any work on the engine. Throwing money blindly into the engine isn’t criminal, but I want to see measurable results and this usually requires patience.

Living the tugboat dream

As I mentioned previously, OTM Inc is getting a lot of calls from people interested in old tugboats for sale in Seattle. I feel like I’m acting as a broker for boats powered by heavy-duty diesels, but I don’t mind because I like seeing these old boats go to good homes.

What I do mind is how many people don’t really realize what they’re getting into by buying an old tug to live on, fix up, and cruise around Puget Sound in. Boats are expensive. They require a lot of maintenance that is in addition to the repairs and overhauls and other fixes. Even boats in great condition need a lot of work. One of the best examples of this is the tugboat Newt. She is a beautiful home for Eric, Laura, and their two kids and is in great shape to the rest of us, all clean and cared for with lots of bright wood and a great Atlas-Imperial diesel. When Eric (who is a very talented guy) gets talking about the boat, though, he says that he feels that about half the work is “done.” I like hearing that, because it shows that he and Laura are responsible tugboat live-aboards who realize that an old boat will always need work.

Back to Old Tacoma Brokerage. I’ve been talking with two “clients” who worry me a little bit because I don’t think they realize what they’re getting into. First, a guy and his wife called me about buying an old tug to live aboard and be their ticket to joining the tugboat enthusiast club. We showed them the Briana Marin, a great tugboat powered by an Enterprise DMG-6 engine (and took pictures of the engine room while we were there):

It’s about 65 feet long, very comfortable inside, and easy to maneuver with both a reverse gear (installed after a previous owner had some problems learning about direct-reverse) and a bow thruster. It was built as a tugboat-yacht, later used hard by a San Francisco lightering company, and then used as a yacht again by a doctor, then a scoundrel, then a local tugboat guy. A few years ago, the main coupling crapped out and the current owner put it up for sale rather than pay the very hefty repair sum.

During the tour and in later phone calls, I tried to scare impart to him the responsibilities of tugboat ownership, as I do all potential buyers. I described all the work that I think needs to be done on the Briana Marin, including replacing the main coupling which is priced at $25,000 plus installation fees. I was trying show that old boats need constant maintenance and repairs, and to get him to think long and hard about the responsibilities of boat ownership.

Apparently, he got the wrong message; he called on Friday asking what I think of a 108-foot steel tug with a Fairbanks-Morse opposed piston diesel. Holy crap, that’s almost twice as much boat as the Briana Marin! He reported that it’s in perfect condition, but I say that even a boat in perfect condition is a lot of work to maintain, since it still needs yearly dry-docking, painting, engine tune-ups, moorage, registration fees… I recommended that he buy a smaller boat and practice before moving up to that 108 foot tug. The Briana Marin, despite the work needed, would be a good tug to learn from, since she’s so maneuverable and not too big for two people to handle. Plus, she’s a pretty little boat:

Second, an upstate New York couple just moved to Seattle and are looking to buy an old boat to move into, fix up, and eventually cruise in. I call this plan “Living the Tugboat Dream.” They got my number from John Callahan in Kingston, New York, who’s the lead guy on the tugboat Chancellor. I like John a lot; he’s the organizer of the Waterford Tugboat Roundup in Waterford that is one of the best parties I’ve ever been to. Anyway, these two used to live in Kingston and hang out with the tugboat guys there, and mentioned to John that they were moving to Seattle and looking to buy a tug. Naturally, John passed on my number.

I met them at Hattie’s Hat in Ballard, then we went down to the Briana Marin as well. They liked the boat, but they’d already toured the J S Polhemus that’s currently at Ewing Street Mooring. The Polhemus is a neat old work tug that I don’t know much about except that it’s also got a nice Enterprise DMG-6 and is for sale by owner (an artist guy who decided that he didn’t want to be a tugboat guy). I don’t think that it’s a good choice for a first tugboat, though, since it needs a lot of work (unlike the Briana Marin, which other than the coupling doesn’t need very much right now work).

I gave these two the the same spiel that I’d given the earlier guy and his wife: boats need a lot of time and money to keep afloat, regardless of the purchase price. They said they knew, but that they are determined to make it work. This frankly worries me, since good intentions without money to back them up have sunk more than a few old boats. See, they’re sort of thirty-something Bohemian types from how they present themselves. She’s a leatherworker, he works with computers. I’m really afraid that they’re looking to buy and old tug and live aboard because they think it’s cheaper than buying a house in Seattle. While it is getting expensive to buy a house, it’s just as expensive to buy a boat. Rather than a mortgage, you’re paying moorage and dry-dock costs and mechanic fees – not to mention paint and oil and fuel, plus major restoration projects like repairing damage.

I know that I’m starting to sound like a broken record and like I’m trying to poop on the party, but people just don’t realize how much work it takes to keep a boat going until it’s gone and they’re deciding between hiring a salvage company so that they can claim the insurance payout, or just walking away.

Another problem I see is that boats don’t act like houses, and most people know more about houses than boats. If you leave a house alone for a few years while you’re living in it and saving the money for a remodel, chances are it’ll be fine. If you leave a boat alone for a few years while you’re living in it and saving the money to dry-dock it and repair the slow leak in the forward bilge compartment, chances are it’ll sink dockside. This illustrates what I call the “Work/Money Curve.” If you don’t keep up with maintenance and repairs and make progress, then the boat starts to fall behind and you need more and more work and money to bring it back. If the boat falls far enough behind, no amount of work or money will fix it and it’ll slip off the surface of the earth – or rather under the surface of the water – without anyone noticing:

I don’t know. Maybe I’m being harsh and these folks really do have the means and the drive to make it work. I have seen some success stories, like the Newt and other tugs that their owners keep looking great through hard work rather than huge bank accounts. I’ve just seen a lot more that end up getting behind that curve and getting ruined. Does anyone reading have an old tugboat success story that they can share? Comment here, or better yet, post to the Tugboat Dream thread at Old Tacoma Marine Inc’s discussion board.

Anyway. I haven’t heard from anyone about either the Briana Marin or the Polhemus for a few days. I was hoping that they’d call me back so that I could show them some other tugs in the area, but they haven’t yet. The ball’s in their court.