Well there was a mild opinion


I agree with 'dat if the crack was accessible from the interior, but sounds like the yardworkers had to drydock it to get to the crack.

I know a couple of the ferry workers (but not an engineer) and listening to them talk, their jobs are so tightly regulated between state and union rules that they can't do anything out of their job description, even to help somewhere else. So if there wasn't an engineer or deckhand with "qualified welder on ship's hull" in his jobscrip, then they can't touch it.

Is that right? I dunno', and it only makes sense considering that (1) It had to be drydocked anyway and (2) For safety reasons it had to be a thorough repair and visually inspected by Todd's QC, the Coast Guard, et al.

These are her specs after a quick search, this class ferry is a nice ride and been here a looong time. How'd you like to have that horsepower under the hood?

Class: Steel Electric Class Type: Auto/Passenger Ferry
Length: 256' Engines: 2
Beam: 73' 10'' Horsepower: 2,400
Draft: 12' 9'' Speed in Knots: 12
Max Passengers: 617 Propulsion: Diesel-Electric(DC)
Max Vehicles: 64 Gross Net Tonnage: 1369/931
Max Commercial Vehicles: 24 City Built: San Francisco
Auto Deck Clearance: 13' 4'' Year Built/Re-built: 1927 / 1981
Meaning of Klickitat: Native American/Chinook: "beyond." From the South Central Washington tribe; a county, town and river are also named after the tribe.

 

Understood as an ex union member it is legally binding. I just seem to think that we do not think things through and this is why i am not PRO union. I am not ANTI union either. Seems to me that sometimes things need to be delt with accordinglly. I do not know where the crack was and do not mean to speculate. I simply implied that the state makes a huge issue out of something that may have not been. Again... I do not know I just wonder if the crack was on the underside and I also wonder how it was found and I wonder How long it was thare?

BTW I would think that 2400 hp was kind of low. When you think a 50' yacht has an average of twin 750HP cats

 

Cool Info rex. I remember her from when I was a kid.

 

You'd have to expect some metal fatigue on that old of a ship. They probably bumped a sand bar or something, made a little tear in the bottom.
To fix it right, you have to grind the crack out a bit from one side, fill it in, then grind the other side until you are into the weld you just put in, and fill it back in. On a stressed piece of steel, if you just weld on one side without proper prep, chances are the crack will grow, and there is a slim chance a crack will just rip open like a zipper, depending on where it is and how stressed it is.
The boats can get away with that low of HP since they just do 20knt. max. A yacht is expected to do 35+, so they need a bit more power.

 

Jaaaysus, it's that old?!?

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Edit: JK arctic, don't shoot me!
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Yea Marty, same here, i.e. I'm on the fence about unions. Between Navy stints, I worked at a coupla' places, one was a factory and warehouse for pre-fabbed big steel buildings. It was a union shop and joining Teamsters was required. Meetings, dues, and everything worked pretty smooth.

Another job was a leather tannery, 125,000 lbs of tanned hides a day. Open shop, no union. Meetings, not , and everything worked pretty smooth.

Unions have their place, and were certainly needed in the 19th century for workers protection, good jobs and fair wages. Times have changed, the capitalist robber barons don't often lock out or shoot us employees much anymore, pay fluctuates with business cycles and profitability but is generally on an upward trend for the last century, etc.

So like any huge organization or corporation, unions have their good mixed with the not-so-good. It's a toss up IMHO.
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I'm easy, would like to have just 400 horses and 600 ft lbs torque lol. I just don't like the smell & sound of diesel under my nose. Except the dozer, 'dat was different

 

So K Rex I can handle it. HAAA

 

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Trying to get new ferries built: All the ferries, and these old ones too, service most of the western part of our state. In the San Juans it's the only off-island transport for most people to carry groceries and building materials. On Guemes, residents order gas in 55 gal drums and roll them into their truck :~)

Metal fatigue is finally hitting them harder and harder; our Navy ships would have the same problem if any active-duty hulls were 80 years old...