To cut a tow boat into?

[Laura's Babies]

We were in the shipyard last trip out and I found this to be a most interesting sight and story. The company wants a bigger boat so it picks the P.I.Heart and has it cut in two and guts out the inside. They are going to add 30 feet in the length (inbetween the two sections), PLUS another deck . Adding another deck means they also have to cut off the wheelhouse and attach it back to the new deck. They are also going to add 1000hp per engine. When I asked why they just didn't buy a bigger boat rather than go through all that, the answer was that it is tons cheaper to do it this way. A new boat would cost millions of $$$$ and this is only costing hundreds of thousands..

I just don't know if I would like the idea of being on a boat that had been cut in two and welded back together.. I am sure they know what they are doing but the whole concept sounds scarey to me. It was really odd to see it cut and gutted, really creepy but interesting.

Here are a few pictures I took of it when we were tied up by it.

Front and back


The back


They said it is on like railroad tracks that they can pull the sections back and forth as they need to, to work on it. When we were there the first time, they hadn't started on it. When we got back in 10 to 12 days, they had cut it and pulled it apart.

[critter crazy]

Hmmm....I would probably imagine, that many boats out there, are made like that! Not that makes me feel any safer! But that is how most Limos are made, they take a car, cut it in half, and add the longer sections in the middle.

[Cinder & Smoke]

I just don't know if I would like the idea of being on a boat that had been cut in two
and welded back together.

A number of the big (700 - 1,000 foot long) bulk freighters operating on the Great Lakes
were built "in pieces". Common practice was to construct the bow and stern sections as
seperate pieces, weld 'em together to make a super short, stubby boat;
then sail the short boat onto the Great Lakes.

Once on the Lakes, the short boat went to the shipyard that had the contract to build
the "center section" - the cargo holds. Then they cut apart the bow and stern sections, "slipped in" the cargo section, then welded all THREE pieces back into
one unified Jumbo Boat!

[Laura's Babies]

Wow! That is nice to know Phred although it will take me awhile to warm up to that idea... I can't wait to see it finished, I am sure it will be a "show boat" for the company and draw all the big wigs out to see it.

I guess when you stop to think about it, they all were just sheets of steel and welded together to form what they are in the end......

[davidpizzica]

I once had a car like that! A 1973 Maverick. My dad and I bought it then we had it on a lube rack and found a weld through the center of the car! It turns out that it was parts of TWO cars welded together. We got rid of that car QUICK, and told off the dealership!

[Laura's Babies]

A CAR!!!! That IS extreemly alarming that they could sell something like that without telling you!

[Cinder & Smoke]

Here's one of those "Three-Piece Boats" ~ one of the "Footers" hauling
Iron Pellets and Coal on the Great Lakes >>>

Article Credit to http://www.Boatnerd.com

M/V Mesabi Miner
Owned by the Interlake Steamship Co.

Great Lakes Fleet Page Vessel Feature -- Mesabi Miner

by George Wharton

The keel for this "super carrier", the fourth of thirteen "1,000 footers" built for various American flag carriers on the Great Lakes, was laid at the American Ship Building Company's Lorain, OH yard on May 15, 1975 as their hull # 906. The bow and stern sections were built at Lorain and the 550' (167.64m) mid-body was built at Am Ship's Toledo, OH yard. The completed mid-body was towed to Lorain and moved into the drydock in mid-October of 1976 to be joined to the stern section. Hull # 906 was built at a cost of $45.1 million. The new, giant self-unloader was one of a number of American ships built under Title XI of the Merchant Marine Act of 1970 which allowed U.S. shipping companies to build new vessels or modernize their existing fleets by government guaranteed financing and tax deferred benefits.

The new self-unloading bulk carrier was launched February 14, 1977 as the Mesabi Miner. The Mesabi Miner sailed on her maiden voyage June 7, 1977 from Lorain to load iron ore at Superior, WI. On June 11, 1977 after arriving at the twin-ports of Duluth / Superior, the vessel was formally christenedMesabi Miner at Duluth, MN for Moore-McCormack Leasing, Inc. and managers, the Interlake Steamship Co. (Pickands Mather & Co.) of Cleveland, OH by Mrs. Hubert H. Humphrey. TheMesabi Miner was named to honor the people of the Mesabi Iron Range who had encouraged the development of the mining industry in Minnesota. She was the second of an initial 2-ship building program commissioned by her owners; the first vessel being her sister-ship and fleet-mateJames R. Barker.

The Mesabi Miner is powered by 2 Pielstick 16PC2-2V-400 single acting, 4 stroke cycle V-16 cylinder 8,000 b.h.p. (5,968 kW) turbo-charged diesel engines burning intermediate grade 280 fuel and driving 2 controllable pitch propellers giving the vessel a rated service speed of 15.5 m.p.h. These engines were built by the Fairbanks Morse Engine Div. of Colt Industries International, Inc. of Beloit, WI. She is equipped with a 1,500 h.p. (1,119 kW) bow thruster. The vessel is capable of carrying 63,300 gross tons (64,317 mt) of iron ore at a mid-summer draft of 29' 01" (8.86m); the product being contained in 7 holds serviced by 36 hatches. Her cubic carrying capacity for coal is 57,200 net tons* (51,892 mt). TheMesabi Miner's self-unloading system consists of a gravity fed 3-belt hopper/belt system feeding a stern mounted 265' (80.77m) discharge boom that can unload up to 10,000 tons of iron ore or 6,000 net tons of coal per hour. She is equipped with modern pollution control systems that effectively handle the ship's waste and cargo dust.


Aerial Photo of the Mesabi Miner >>>




MY photo of the Mesabi Miner entering the Poe Lock, at the Soo Locks, Michigan, on June22, 2006. >>>



Can hardly tell she was built in three pieces!

[davidpizzica]

A CAR!!!! That IS extreemly alarming that they could sell something like that without telling you!

Not only that, but one time I drove it, shifted my weight in the seat and the back of the seat broke off. THAT was welded, too!! That was THE worst car I owned.

[catnapper]

Laira, thats what limos are -- cut in half and then welded back together with the extra bit in the center.

[Laura's Babies]

Well Phred, if they can do that to the ocean going vessels, I guess doing it to a tow boat is a piece of cake!

David, that is scarey! I hope you didn't own it long!

[Sevaede]

Whoa! That sounds freaky to me too, Laura. When I get worried about things, though, I go and talk to the person(s) in charge and involved and just talk about it and have them explain things. It doesn't totally take away my fear but it definitely help to ease the mind.

[davidpizzica]

Nope, we got rid of that pile of parts right away. We went back to the dealership and after my dad giving the sales manager what for, they gave us a GOOD '74 olds Omega (which we made sure we checked over first).