Just out of the shop...

[fogtender]

Just pulled this out of the shop this morning with a new paint job and just about everything else in it new too. It is a 40' Catamarian that is a pretty nice ride, should be a bit faster now too....

Pulled the 275 HP Mercury Inboard/Outboard and replaced with New 330 HP Volvo D6 engines and outdrives with counter rotation props on each outdrive.

Has all new electronics, fire suppression systems and a bunch of other goodies. Will be putting the radar and such back on when the boat gets back up to Prudhoe Bay (Alaska Oil Fields) in a few weeks, it is sitting on the ground next to the boat.

The picture where it is green, is when I went out to King Salmon to inspect it for buying last year, which is out on the West Coast of Alaska. It was being used for taking tourist up into Katmai National Park to see the bears, the market wasn't there and the boat sat for a few years before we bought it.

Anyway, we didn't do much with it for the last year, about two months ago started pulling the engines and going though the rebuilding process... It was "Soda" blasted, they used a course baking soda that cuts the paint, but no etching on the glass, pretty neat process that I haven't seen before.

The new name of the boat is the "American Discovery".

 

[Doc]

Looks Great. Nice work.
Would like to see pics of the inside and power plant if you don't mind sharing.

 

[fogtender]

Looks Great. Nice work.
Would like to see pics of the inside and power plant if you don't mind sharing.

Here is some photos of the different stages of removal and replace and other stuff

 

[Doc]

Good pics. Looks like you got brand new motors for it.
You've been busy for sure. When is the maiden voyage?
Any idea how much she weighs?
Will she be a pleasure boat for you or business?

 

[Av8r3400]

Dumb question: What's the difference between an inboard/outboard drive and an outdrive?

 

[fogtender]

Just about all phases of the boat have been updated for use for hauling passengers as per the new regulations.

Both the new engines required belt covers, so the welders built a pretty nice setup, next year when there is more time to work with, will cut out viewing areas in the cover and put expanded metal to see the belts verses having to removed the cover for inspections.

The bow anchor boom was not constructed properly and had broken off in the past and been "Cobbed" back together, had it shortened by about 18" and reinforced so it should be able to take the swells when at anchor.

 

[urednecku]

Now that looks nice enough to live in. I'm jealous!!

 

[fogtender]

Now that looks nice enough to live in. I'm jealous!!

It has a nice galley, shower/head, cabin for sleeping is a bit small under the bridge, but very livable...

 

[Doc]

Dumb question: What's the difference between an inboard/outboard drive and an outdrive?

Not dumb at all. The difference confuses many folks.

Inboard motors will only have a shaft with the prop on it on the underside of the boat.
Inboard/outboard have the out drive like Foggy pictured above. (very nice looking outdrives by the way )
I guess all outdrive means is that the gears for the prop are outside of the boat. On inboards just the shaft and prop are outside of the boat.

Maybe foggy will add more detail, but that's the basics of em.

 

[Av8r3400]

We build stern tubes for ships, so I'm familiar with inboard drives, but an i/o verses an outdrive is a little fuzzy.

An I/O has gear cases and lowers the propeller lower into the water. The classic Mercury or Volvo or OMC styles.

Is an outdrive like on the racing boats that do not have gear cases and go straight out the transom?

 

[Doc]

I've always heard the "lower unit" referred to as the 'outdrive'. One and the same I think. As for what the racing boats use I've no clue.

 

[waybomb]

We build stern tubes for ships, so I'm familiar with inboard drives, but an i/o verses an outdrive is a little fuzzy.

An I/O has gear cases and lowers the propeller lower into the water. The classic Mercury or Volvo or OMC styles.

Is an outdrive like on the racing boats that do not have gear cases and go straight out the transom?

I believe you are writing about Arneson type drives. They still have a gear box on the outside to get the prop shaft lower on the boat to the proper level.

The gearbox on an Arneson is actually a chain drive. The top drive sprocket is connected to the bottom driven sprocket with a wide multirow chain. This asembly is mounted to the transom just like an outdrive would be.

I also believe I/O is the term for the entire power transmission package from engine to prop. Outdrive would be that part bolted to the transom. There is a transmission bolted on to the bellhousing which couples right to the outdrive adapter, or, via a drive shaft to an outdrive adapter.

 

[waybomb]

I've always heard the "lower unit" referred to as the 'outdrive'. One and the same I think. As for what the racing boats use I've no clue.

I've always called the lower unit the lower part of the outdrive that includes the vertical drive shaft(s), the prop shaft, gears, and bearings.

 

[fogtender]

I've always called the lower unit the lower part of the outdrive that includes the vertical drive shaft(s), the prop shaft, gears, and bearings.

When you look up at any of the Marine engine sites, they have three general listings.

Outboard- The engine is located above the gear box and propeller assembly and hangs off the back of the boat. The whole engine turns left and right to steer the boat. This is what an outboard looks like, you can see the entire assembly.

Inboard/Outboard- The engine is mounted inside the boat and bolts to the inside of the transom (back of boat), it has a short shaft that goes to an "Outdrive" that is like the lower end of an "Outboard" attached to the outside of the Transom. The outdrive is hinged to turn to the left or right to steer the boat. An Inboard/Outboard only has the "Lower" end assembly (Outboard) visible, not the engine.

Inboard- The engine is mounted inside the boat and drives a transmission inside that does the shifting and turns a propeller shaft than goes down though the hull to a propeller located below the bottom of the boat with a rudder below it to steer the boat by moving right to left and the propeller shaft rotates, but does not steer but stays stationary. When you look at a boat that has an "Inboard" there is nothing to see on the back end of the boat... since the propeller is under the boat.

Having said that, there are also other versions of engine systems, Jet that uses an impeller and a Nozzle for thrust like a fire hose and a new 360 degree turning pedestal propeller that spins all the way around on a bearing assembly for steering in all directions.

 

[fogtender]

Good pics. Looks like you got brand new motors for it.
You've been busy for sure. When is the maiden voyage?
Any idea how much she weighs?
Will she be a pleasure boat for you or business?

Yep, new Volvo diesel engines, 330 Hp each, that is almost a total of 110 more horsepower over the Mercruiser diesels that were basically Ford diesels (International Harverster) rated at 275 HP that we took out.

If all goes well, maybe in the water this Friday we will take it for a short run to check it out and finish the details. Will post some photos. Today took some of the other boats out for a test run in the Port of Anchorage. All went well and got back to work on this boat.

Right at about 23,000 lbs the way it sets.

Business, it will be trucked to Prudhoe Bay at a cost of about $30,000.00, one way. That and our other boats will be running crews to the drilling islands there and taking crew boats to other job sites. Same as we were doing last year AND having to deal with a large number of "NOT" endanged Polar Bears...

 

[RedRocker]

That's a nice rig and beautiful work. I really need to live near you, we could get in to a lot of trouble.

 

[fogtender]

Well yesterday, splashed the boat for a sea trial test run. Was figuring that we would get into the lower 20 Knot area.

Ended up at almost 30+ going "against" the tide that is about 5 knots, so don't know how much faster it will be. Really great that it turned into a speed boat verses sea slug...

The old 275 HP Merc's only got it up to about 12 Knots max. The 330 Hp Volvo engines and outdrives really made a big difference, also the fact that the Volvo's have a lot of low end torque really makes the difference.

The second boat is one that I rebuilt last year, it is a landing craft type configuration, it does about 30 knots also and is a jet drive and can run in very shallow water. We used that one for running up on the beach and picking and dropping off workers in the offshore areas in the oilfield.

Both boats are headed North in a few weeks for the summer, so I get to play with the polar bears again...

 

[RedRocker]

Man that's cooking pretty good. Be careful around those Polar Bears, apparently there are only a couple of them left.

 

[fogtender]

Here is a video that one of the other guys made of the first sea trials. It isn't when the boat was run at the top end, but looks pretty good.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDYlPaGwptU"]YouTube - American Discovery[/ame]

 

[fogtender]

The crew got the other boat out on the water today, it was doing about 30 knots to. Rebuilt both the main engines (Volvo's) that are now about 400HP diesels, should be alot better boat this summer to run the Polar bears over (OK, for those idiots that think I am serious about running over polar bears, get a life).

We do though, have to run patrols at night to watch for the dozens of polar bears that swim up to the drilling islands evey few weeks and catch the crews offguard. They swim out to the ice pack (That isn't suppose to be there) and then to the beach to dine on a few Caribou before going back to the seal diet out on the ice. They are doing just fine....

The fact that the Polar bears got listed on the endagered list is a ploy by the enviormentalist to stop the drilling for oil... So when you get to about ten bucks a gallon, wake up to the fact that the far left is screwing you....

 

[Doc]

Good video and pics. Looks like both of them will get up and go pretty good.
Beautiful background scenery with the mountains and all.

 

[fogtender]

Good video and pics. Looks like both of them will get up and go pretty good.
Beautiful background scenery with the mountains and all.

The mountains in the photos is of the Anchorage skyline, we were running the boats just out front of Anchorage in the Cook Inlet. There is about a thirty foot tide+- to deal with so launching and retrieving the boats is a big issue there.

The day we launched the Discovery (blue boat), there was a 35 foot high tide...

 

[Doc]

35ft tide!!! Wow! And I thought things were big in Texas. That is the biggest tide fluctuation I've ever heard of. That would add to the challenge for sure. River boating with damns helping control water level is a good thing.

 

[fogtender]

35ft tide!!! Wow! And I thought things were big in Texas. That is the biggest tide fluctuation I've ever heard of. That would add to the challenge for sure. River boating with damns helping control water level is a good thing.

The low tides for this last week has been about -5 (about a 40 foot tidal action) or so, and they are killing the Razor Clams down by Kenai, which is south of us by the mouth of the Cook Inlet.

 

[fogtender]

This is the boat that I delivered to the North Slope on June 21 to be unloaded for the summer work of playing around the the "Endangered Polar Bears" that are all over the place, and not really endangered, they have accually increased in numbers greatly....

By the way note the Ice in the background, that is the Arctic Ocean that isn't suppose to be there (You know that Al Gore thing), note again that it is frozen and will be for another three weeks or so and will refreeze by the end of Sept. or there abouts... The Polar Bear issue is so that the Oil Companies can't drill here, again, thank the "Tree Hugger" types for passing that high price of gas on to you and your friends....

We were working the Crane at midnight so I took a photo of the Summer Solstice, you can see the well heads next to the sun just behind the clouds.

 

[pixie]

WOW !!!

Thanks for the pictures !

I'll be interested to hear how the catamaran does in a 6 foot chop ...
My father had a catamaran sailboat with 225 Mercruisers built in the '60s. It would really move out but the pounding between the hulls was scary.

 

[fogtender]

WOW !!!

Thanks for the pictures !

I'll be interested to hear how the catamaran does in a 6 foot chop ...
My father had a catamaran sailboat with 225 Mercruisers built in the '60s. It would really move out but the pounding between the hulls was scary.

Well in a big sea, no matter what boat you have, it will affect it in some way. Up to three foot seas, should be a pretty good ride for this Cat. It may have some noise under the center like you mentioned, but more than that and you will need to slow down just like all the other boats do. The nice thing about being fast, is that you can get back to port faster than the "Slower" boats that have to endure the rough water for the lack of speed...

 

[fogtender]

WOW !!!

Thanks for the pictures !

I'll be interested to hear how the catamaran does in a 6 foot chop ...
My father had a catamaran sailboat with 225 Mercruisers built in the '60s. It would really move out but the pounding between the hulls was scary.

Where the boat will be operating is pretty much inside the "Barrier" Islands so six foot seas would be pretty much some really nasty weather.... Where six foot "Deep" water is pretty much the norm... pretty shallow...

 

[fogtender]

When we get this in the water, will post a bunch of the photos of the endangered (NOT) polar bears for you entertainment... Unless of course the newly "attempted" endangered walruses get run over first, then I will post them... Strictly a first come basis....

 

[Doc]

Great pics Foggy! Why did the crane set the boat where it did? Will the tide come up to help you launch it?

Love the midnight pic. Always wondered what it would look like from way up there with 24 hour sunshine. More pics as you can please!!!!