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Old 11-10-2012, 08:29 AM
 
Location: Connecticut is my adopted home.
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I knew several people in Juneau that spent multiple years living aboard boats. Frankly now that we are moving south, that's our plan for the hot season down here, live aboard our 34' sailboat in the Puget Sound area or Vancover Island for a few months in the summer.
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Old 11-10-2012, 09:26 AM
 
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Yet another enlightening thread. Not for me at the moment, but sure sounds interesting.
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Old 11-10-2012, 04:31 PM
 
517 posts, read 1,046,634 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by starlite9 View Post
Attachment 103530

The Sorrel was a "Wood" class (named after trees, Sorrel, Sweetbriar, Ironwood, and so forth) Bouy tender, of which were all built in about 1941 to 1943. They had icebreaker type hulls for breaking ice up to maybe four feet tops or less, but worked well in Alaska where there was almost a dozen of them stationed, more were on the Great Lakes where that type of hull was good in the fall freeze up and other Coastal areas.

The main engines where two GN8 Cooper Bessemer's, they turned out 600 HP at 600 RPM, drove generators that powered one 1,000 HP electric Motor that drove the eight blade propeller. I was in engineering as an EN3 (later changed to the MK rate) so I got to fix it a lot!

You sure the Cutter "Fir" wasn't a diesel fired 180' "wood" class bouytender built in the 1940's? The Coast Guard hadn't had a coal burner since WWI. The oldest CG Cutter in the 1970's was the 125' Cutter Cuyahoga built in 1925 and it was diesel when it was built.

We use to kid the "Deck Apes", we told them we use to be a coal burner the boat was so old. Many believed it, as well as Sea Bats, buckets of Propwash, coils of shoreline and so forth.. ;0)
USCGC Fir (WLM-212) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Per Wikipedia, the Fir was not decommisioned in 1982, the Walnut was. In any case when they sent it down to California, they made a place for me in ET school.


The United States Coast Guard Cutter Fir (WAGL/WLM 212) was the last lighthouse tender built specifically for the United States Lighthouse Service to resupply lighthouses and lightship, and to service buoys. Fir was built by the Moore Drydock Company in Oakland, California in 1939. On 22 March 1939, the U.S. Lighthouse Tender Fir was launched. She was steam driven with twin screws, 175 feet (53 m) in length, had a beam of 32 feet (9.8 m), drew 11 feet 3 inches (3.43 m) of water, and displaced 885 tons. Fir was fitted with a reinforced bow and stern, and an ice-belt at her water-line for icebreaking. She was built with classic lines and her spaces were lavishly appointed with mahogany, teak, and brass. The crew did intricate ropework throughout the ship. The cost to build Fir was approximately $390,000. Fir's homeport was Seattle, Washington for all but one of her fifty one years of service when she was temporarily assigned to Long Beach, California when USCGC Walnut (WLM-252) was decommissioned on 1 July 1982.

She was well fitted and a Seaman Apprentice could spend forever polishing all the brass on the Bridge.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter History

[SIZE=2]Machinery: Originally 2 triple-expansion steam, horizontal engines; 2 oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox watertube boilers; twin screws; converted to diesel in 1951: 2 four-cylinder Fairbanks-Morse 38D 8-1/8; 2 Detroit Diesel 100KW generators.

[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]She was originally a steam ship, but was oil fired not coal. I suppose the welded up spot was where they pulled the old engines out and put in the diesels.

Cheers
Qazulight
[/SIZE]
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Old 11-10-2012, 04:35 PM
 
517 posts, read 1,046,634 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by losttechnician View Post
Pardon a darned stupid land-lubber question here... What about living on a boat in an Alaska harbor during winter? Does the ice in the harbor cause problems with the hull? Are there folks that actually do this year round?

Okay, so maybe more than "a" stupid question.
No not stupid.

As I understand it, and I have never been to Alaska, the pan handle where Ketchikan and Juneau are very similar to Seattle except a little cooler. I beleive that area does not get ice in the winter like Wittier and Anchorage. Of course I could be wrong, in that case the dream is dead.

Cheers
Qazulight
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Old 11-10-2012, 09:43 PM
 
Location: Texas
748 posts, read 1,471,818 times
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Thanks all! While I think that would be a cool lifestyle to read about, it would not fit me. I don't know how to drive a boat, navigate, and I have never been out of sight of land. Might could live on a boat parked in the harbor, but would not know much of anything about maintaining the residence...
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Old 11-11-2012, 12:24 AM
 
Location: Interior alaska
6,381 posts, read 14,488,964 times
Reputation: 3520
Quote:
Originally Posted by Qazulight View Post
USCGC Fir (WLM-212) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Per Wikipedia, the Fir was not decommisioned in 1982, the Walnut was. In any case when they sent it down to California, they made a place for me in ET school.


The United States Coast Guard Cutter Fir (WAGL/WLM 212) was the last lighthouse tender built specifically for the United States Lighthouse Service to resupply lighthouses and lightship, and to service buoys. Fir was built by the Moore Drydock Company in Oakland, California in 1939. On 22 March 1939, the U.S. Lighthouse Tender Fir was launched. She was steam driven with twin screws, 175 feet (53 m) in length, had a beam of 32 feet (9.8 m), drew 11 feet 3 inches (3.43 m) of water, and displaced 885 tons. Fir was fitted with a reinforced bow and stern, and an ice-belt at her water-line for icebreaking. She was built with classic lines and her spaces were lavishly appointed with mahogany, teak, and brass. The crew did intricate ropework throughout the ship. The cost to build Fir was approximately $390,000. Fir's homeport was Seattle, Washington for all but one of her fifty one years of service when she was temporarily assigned to Long Beach, California when USCGC Walnut (WLM-252) was decommissioned on 1 July 1982.

She was well fitted and a Seaman Apprentice could spend forever polishing all the brass on the Bridge.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter History

[SIZE=2]Machinery: Originally 2 triple-expansion steam, horizontal engines; 2 oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox watertube boilers; twin screws; converted to diesel in 1951: 2 four-cylinder Fairbanks-Morse 38D 8-1/8; 2 Detroit Diesel 100KW generators.

[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]She was originally a steam ship, but was oil fired not coal. I suppose the welded up spot was where they pulled the old engines out and put in the diesels.

Cheers
Qazulight
[/SIZE]
That was interesting, I thought you said you were on a Bouy Tender, the Fir was a lighthouse tender, although the Bouy tenders serviced the lighthouses in Alaska until the early 1970's when they were all automated by about 1974ish, we helped automate them along Alaska's Gulf coast then.

Did your ship do any of the ATON (Aids TO Navigation) work?

Pretty interesting, did you ever get any photos when you were stationed on it?

This is a photo of the Sorrel out on a rescue in the Gulf of Alaska during a storm, the bow was completely out of sight a number of times!
Attached Thumbnails
Just daydreaming: Live aboard in Ketchikan?-image.jpg  

Last edited by starlite9; 11-11-2012 at 12:36 AM..
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Old 11-11-2012, 10:15 PM
 
517 posts, read 1,046,634 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by starlite9 View Post
That was interesting, I thought you said you were on a Bouy Tender, the Fir was a lighthouse tender, although the Bouy tenders serviced the lighthouses in Alaska until the early 1970's when they were all automated by about 1974ish, we helped automate them along Alaska's Gulf coast then.

Did your ship do any of the ATON (Aids TO Navigation) work?

Pretty interesting, did you ever get any photos when you were stationed on it?

This is a photo of the Sorrel out on a rescue in the Gulf of Alaska during a storm, the bow was completely out of sight a number of times!
Yep, we pulled buoys, cleaned them, dropped them back in, an on station. As I recall, and remember, not only was I just a Seaman Apprentice, I was the junior Seaman Apprentice and was only there from October to February on 81 and 82.

We had one, the last buoy leaving the Straits of Juan De Fuca. The current was so strong that it kept getting moved off station. When we reset that one, we had so much concrete hanging over the side the low side of the buoy deck was almost awash. It felt weird. You could feel that the captain was pushing the ship some. We had faked out a huge amount of line on the deck as well as a lot of chain. (If the whole anchor chain had been chain the weight of the chain would have sunk the buoy.)

I had the choice between a White Boat close to home and a Black Boat on the West Coast, I took the Black Boat. I would again. Although, I turned down the Coast Guard base in Ketchikan to go to Seattle. If I had it do over again, I would have taken Ketchikan.

Cheers
Qazulight
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Old 11-11-2012, 10:26 PM
 
26,506 posts, read 36,370,326 times
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SE really isn't that similar to Seattle, but you shouldn't have to worry about ice in the harbor in Ketchikan (although it does occur occasionally). Plenty of people live onboard boats in SE.
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Old 11-14-2012, 11:21 PM
 
Location: Interior alaska
6,381 posts, read 14,488,964 times
Reputation: 3520
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blockus63 View Post
South East live aboard. Do you know the docks are geared for very high tied's? One must walk up and down a very steep latter step. I was walking the docks in Skagway. The small size boats only about 60 foot.
That is because you went out on the docks at low tide. It will almost be flat at high tide. Does that twice a day, both ways!
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