WOW! Tug lovers take note!

The place to put an advert for thing you want to sell, buy or swap.
coalburner
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Re: WOW! Tug lovers take note!

Post by coalburner » Wed Feb 16, 2011 3:39 pm

A question was asked in this area about the Q.A.Gilmore / Reiss condenser.

What is in there are 2 valves, one that lets the steam from the engine excape to the atmosphere through a pipe on the aft end of the deckhouse or the other valve sends the steam to a mechanical vacuum / condenser pump (not unlike a steam water pump - stroking, not rotary) that pulls a vacuum on the low pressure side exhaust from the engine and mixes the steam with water. This vacuum gives an increase in power to the engine. The condensate then goes over the side as a total loss. The waste steam from the rest of the equipment (pumps and generators) goes up a vent pipe behind the stack and passes through a boiler feedwater heater on it's way. To the best of my knowledge, there is no means of condensate recovery on board.
87gn@tahoe

Re: WOW! Tug lovers take note!

Post by 87gn@tahoe » Tue May 17, 2011 10:58 pm

Are you the gentleman who bought her?
coalburner
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Re: WOW! Tug lovers take note!

Post by coalburner » Thu May 19, 2011 11:40 am

No I am not, but I have an extended interest in her well being and hope to be involved in her restortion. I worked for Franz and have been aboard going through her systems and boarding up the pilot house windows and securing her doors. My current project is the diesel tug USCG Apalachee which may go to auction soon also. It is hard to restore large old equipment without lots of money and money is tight these days. My work can be seen in the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, WI. The triple expansion steam engine from the Chief Wawatam car ferry.
boatbum
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Re: WOW! Tug lovers take note!

Post by boatbum » Fri Nov 01, 2013 4:49 am

Bump!!!

Any news on what's happening with this tug boat?

Keith
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Re: WOW! Tug lovers take note!

Post by coalburner » Fri Nov 01, 2013 10:56 am

To the beat of my knowledge she is still there in the mud. They had a chance to get her out when they dredged a channel in to get out the big ship SS Keewatin. It all should have been done then. They had special tugboats with shallow draft to get out the big ship. The Keewatin was bought by a firm from Canada with large pockets. The idiot who bought the Reiss off e-bay does not have the bucks to deal with her.
87gn@tahoe

Re: WOW! Tug lovers take note!

Post by 87gn@tahoe » Tue Nov 12, 2013 5:28 am

I knew I should have pulled the trigger. Damnit. Maybe the current owner would be willing to let her go for his purchase price???
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DetroiTug
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Re: WOW! Tug lovers take note!

Post by DetroiTug » Tue Nov 12, 2013 6:28 pm

My guess, it's still sitting there.

I met the owner last summer. We talked about it a bit and he was describing the machinery. He never made mention of how he planned to get it out of the bay. I have been right to where this tug is and I can attest it's going to be a substantial undertaking to get her out of there correctly. It's at the mouth of the Kalamazoo river, about 300 feet offshore at the edge of navigable waters for smaller boats. The whole area is heavy fine black silt (run off from the fertile farmlands in that area of the state)and it has filled in around the bottom of the hull. It draws around 6-8 feet if I remember correctly, and there is about a foot of water next to the hull. So presumably about five feet of thick silt.

To move it correctly, first a channel needs to be dredged in front out to deeper water. Then jet pumps need to brought in to flush the silt out from around her. The Ebay sellers intended only a channel needed to be dug and then drag it out or some such. Moving it like that would probably rip the propshaft out and the rudder off. The cost to free this hull properly would be at minimum 15k.

Owning it and not being able to move it is potentially quite a predicament. First there is liability, it's sitting where it has no authorization and no active signals, if someone runs into it in the dark - lawsuit. If the state, city or DNR decides they want it gone, they will move it and bill the owner. I'm amazed it's still sitting there, as tight-pantied as those folks are around that area. Saugatuk is sort of an upscale tourist BNB river town.

Coalburner above is very correct, when they moved the Kewatin, that was the best opportunity to get her moved as the necessary equipment was there. Could have been done at the same.

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-Ron
Last edited by DetroiTug on Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
coalburner
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Re: WOW! Tug lovers take note!

Post by coalburner » Tue Nov 12, 2013 6:43 pm

The tug draws closer to 12 feet, has an 8' wheel.
Should have been moved when Keewatin was moved.
This is just the start. She would need a place to stay (74 feet of dock), boiler work, hull painting. Good news is that she is almost 100% intact down to the coal shovel and all gauges. Everything is there, but it hasn't been run in quite a while (70's I think).
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