2008 Week 12 in Review
March 16 to March 22, 2008
An Update on the Maris Pearl
This week I cleaned up and organized the Maris Pearl's tools and spare parts:
Jay recently bought a new storage container and had me lead the move from the old container to the new. Changing storage areas like this is a good time to inventory and organize the stuff you're keeping with your boat and make sure that you're holding onto the right things. Every time I do this for a client I find tons of parts that don't fit the engine they are intended for. Since holding onto the wrong parts is a waste of space and effort, I try to arrange trades or sales of the wrong parts and get the right parts instead.
The Maris Pearl has a Q Enterprise, but many of its "spare parts" that Jay has been storing are for a G or R Enterprise. I'm working on trading them in to Striegel Supply for store credit, but if anyone reading needs parts for a G or R Enterprise, or has parts for a Q Enterprise, maybe we can arrange something.
Despite the clutter, Jay has some really neat spare parts, including a brand new cylinder head still in its original factory crate:
Classic Workboat Show 2008
On Saturday, OTM Inc met with representatives from the Northwest Seaport and the Center for Wooden Boats about holding another Classic Workboat Show. After some discussion, we decided that it was too soon to hold another show featuring tugboats, but holding a Classic Fishboat Show is doable for this fall.
The Classic Fishboat Show this fall will be great, but Old Tacoma Marine Inc won't be as heavily involved. The 2009 Classic Workboat Show, though, will be epic, with even more heavy-duties, more events, and hopefully a big crane barge demonstration. We're already looking for sponsors and donors, so give us an email if you're interested or know someone who's interested.
For those of you who missed the party, the first-ever Classic Workboat Show was last October. It was by far the best boat show I've ever been to - and I've been to a lot of boat shows. I may be biased, though, as OTM Inc was a major sponsor of the show and I helped put a lot of it together with Northwest Seaport and the Center for Wooden Boats. The best thing about the show was getting together six of the eight remaining boats powered by Washington Iron Works Diesel Engines all lined up at the Historic Ships Wharf at Lake Union Park. The restored tugboat Donald R, the research boat turned charter boat Catalyst, the monkey boat David B, the tugboat Ruby XIV, and the hard-working Western Towboat tug Fearless (formerly the Ruby II and the Discovery) joined the museum tugboat Arthur Foss for one awesome lineup of Washington power:
We also had the tugs Lorna Foss and Newt on "Atlas Row," and the Joe, Teal, Propeller, and a couple other boats in the non-heavy-duty section (but we thought they were great anyway). A Sea Scout troop did a scuttlebutt demonstration on the wharf and we held line-toss and bollard-lasso competitions for all ages:
To complete the festive atmosphere, Ballard Brothers Seafood & Burgers set up a booth selling their famous blackened salmon burgers and the jazz trio Bar Tabac played old-timey music on the docks and the boats. We even set up a pub, sponsored by Pacific Maritime Brewery.
The best moment was at five o'clock, closing time for the show. All the workboats sounded their horns, whistles, sirens, and bells at once. It was totally unplanned except for me telling everyone to blow their noisemakers at five, and it became this amazing workboat symphony. I can't even describe how awesome it is, you'll just have to listen to it yourself. It was an amazing day and I think it will be tough to beat. The fishboat show this fall will be great, but I think that the 2009 Classic Workboat Show will be even better. I hope to see everyone there.
If anyone reading can help with the 2009 Classic Workboat Show, we need sponsors, visiting workboats, volunteers, and cash (and see if your employer has a program for matching funds, since it's a great opportunity for sponsors to get their names out there). Donations can be earmarked for the show or for other programs. Email me or Northwest Seaport to help.
A Unique Two-Cycle Atlas-Imperial
Finally, this week Chris from Utah sent pictures of the only two-cycle single-cylinder Atlas-Imperial diesel engine I have ever heard of. If anyone reading this knows of another, please let me know.
We borrowed the two-cycle Atlas-Imperial manual from Dan and scanned it for you to read. I read through it as well, and it seems like Atlas stole the idea straight from Fairbanks-Morse.
What do you think? Read it and let us know on the Discussion Board.
More Scans Coming Soon
Speaking of scanning original diesel manuals, Old Tacoma Marine Inc scanned a whole bunch of original heavy-duty manuals and catalogs this week to post on the website as a resource to enthusiasts, operators, and history geeks. We're still getting them formatted for the web, so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, what manuals do you want to see scanned and posted on the web? Make a request and we'll track it down and get it up--as long it isn't about lawnmower or washing machine engines. Heavy-duties only.
Tours for Guy
Guy [formerly] from Kodiak, who sent us the great photographs and information about the Kodiak Maritime Museum's Washington Iron Works engine, visited Seattle on Saturday and called to ask if he could see some old engines. We were happy to help - we sent him to the Northwest Marine Propulsion Museum to see their Washington and to Northwest Seaport to see the Arthur Foss's Washington. It's too bad that he didn't get to see them run, but he'll just have to visit again during a demonstration.
