2008 Week 27 in Review
June 29 to July 5, 2008
An update from the John N Cobb
We hear that NOAA has decided to tow the John N Cobb back to Seattle before decommissioning the boat. This may give the engineers and mechanics a chance to determine the problem. All of us at the shop think the vibration dampener should be the first suspect component.
An update from the fireboat Duwamish
Work continues on the fireboat's air compressor, but progress was interrupted by the Wooden Boat Show...
32nd Annual Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival
The Wooden Boat Festival, the big annual show put on by the Center for Wooden Boat, took place on July 4th, 5th, and 6th this year. It took over all of South Lake Union, between the boats on the docks and the booths on the grass. It was great to see all these people gathering to celebrate the old boats.
I ran the Washington in the Arthur Foss for the whole weekend. We kept almost the entire boat open to the public so that they could look around and get a feel for the boat:
The engine really sounded great at 60 rpm, so I just left it there most of the time. The hiss of the air-starts and the rhythm of it going were enough to draw people into the engine room and then the sight of all the rockers going up and down kept some there for hours. Some danced, some talked shop, and some were literally brought to tears by the heartbeat-like thumping. At 60 rpm, you can hear and pick out each firing stroke of each cylinder. On top of that, there are hundreds of other interesting syncopated sounds coming from all over the 70-ton engine, like the whoosh of intake and exhaust, the squeak of the manzels, and a low rumble that you can feel rather than hear.
About three thousand people visited the tug during the show, and many said the engine was the neatest thing they saw all day. I would have to agree.
Old Tacoma Marine.com was represented well at the show by some very cute girls handing out our famous propeller stickers. Don't forget about the photo contest!
Last but not least, the Excaliber (the former Langston Hughes that we talked about back in Week 21) and the Arthur were reunited at the dock for the festival:
The Excalibur was built in 1908, but the crew is much younger and eagerly participated in the show with snappy matching red shirts. Salty captain Andrea, who is tougher than French nails, spent hours on the Arthur while the Washington was running. The Excalibur was also re-powered to a Washington in the 1930s, but it was replaced with a high-speed diesel in the 1950s - to Andrea's lasting sadness. She's now looking for an old heavy-duty of her own. I would love to see one -- an enterprise, maybe -- being lowered right through the galley in to the engine room someday.
OTM Inc Weekly eBay Auction
This week's prize from the OTM Inc shop is a 1950s-era Henschel General Alarm Switch.
