Portland Triangle?

[Roger Long]

Not strictly wooden boat news but, in view of the weird woodenboat stuff happening recently, I thought it worth a mention that they took Portland's brand new fireboat out and ran it over a rock in Whitehead Passage tearing one strut completely off the boat, mashing in the keel for most of the length, and bending one of the rudder stocks enough for the corner of the rudder to puncture the hull.

Portland Press Herald story quoted the fire chief as saying that the vessel "likely would be pulled from the water for inspection."

Ya think?

[Steve Paskey]

There has been a fair bit of discussion about the incident elsewhere on the forum, as the boat in question was designed by a forumite (Mike Mason, aka "mmd")

See: www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=105196 (http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=105196)

From mmd:

I just found out from a reliable source that the damage is not minor. The vessel hit a ledge at near full speed (18 knots) and did serious damage to one shaft, prop, & rudder and some hull damage at the aft end of the boat. There is some internal structural damage, too. This ain't no marina repair job, Donald. To give the devil his due, this occurred at dead-low of a full moon tide.

The good news from this, if any can be found, is that the DriveSaver worked, shearing off and saving the engine and transmission from damage.

[mmd]

WHOA, NELLIE!!

Hold the bus a moment, there, Steve. While I am very pleased and thankful that you place my skills in such high office, and I do have a fair number of commercial vessels of my design floating about, I DID NOT DESIGN THE PORTLAND FIREBOAT!!

The vessel was designed by Robert Allen Limited of Vancouver, Canada.

It was built by A. F. Theriault & Son Ltd. of Meteghan River, Nova Scotia.

I - Mason Marine Designs Inc. - was contracted by AFT to act as the project manager for the construction and delivery of the vessel.

Again, thanks, but one must be accurate when posting attribution of a vessels' design.

[StevenBauer]

As I said on the other thread there are some uncharted ledges over there in Whitehead Passage. I'm always very careful going through there.


Steven

Micheal, your package arrived today, thanks!

[Roger Long]

As I said on the other thread there are some uncharted ledges over there in Whitehead Passage.

Can you give us some idea where? I've been through there many times and never seen any strange blip ups on the depths sounder. I've seen enough boats with greater draft than the fireboat go through that it's hard for me to believe they were where they should have been.

[StevenBauer]

When Lion's Whelp hit there a couple of years ago, causing some damage to her keel, I think they said it was a ledge that showed on the chart but extended much further out than shown. Maybe Phin Sprague could tell you exactly where, he and his son were on board when they hit.

Steven

[JRG]

Article in the Press Herald mentioned that the new fireboat is on stands at Gowen Marine. Might just ride down and take a look...
jrg

[Roger Long]

Maybe Phin Sprague could tell you exactly where, he and his son were on board when they hit.

It's shown in the thread over in the Misc Boat Related forum where I really should have started this discussion. See my comments there.

[Steve Paskey]

WHOA, NELLIE!!

Hold the bus a moment, there, Steve. While I am very pleased and thankful that you place my skills in such high office, and I do have a fair number of commercial vessels of my design floating about, I DID NOT DESIGN THE PORTLAND FIREBOAT!!

Thank you for clarifying that, Michael ... my apologies. I missed the pre-accident discussion of the boat. Given your background, I simply assumed from passing comments on other threads that you designed it. (The other thread, for instance, calls it "MMD's fireboat.")

But I do hold your skills (and knowledge) in high office.