Interesting 61' steel boat

I thought this to be of interest and look forward to comments and maybe some of you have seen this boat

Sitka Ranger

I have seen the boat in Sitka for years but cannot state as to her status. She looked nice from my view from the fuel dock near where she was docked in the past.

Glen

I wonder why it has a 5.31-1 Gear? she didn't do towing as a forest ranger tug?

Was a FS boat and was sold as excess property a few years ago. Was never a tow boat. Lots of sea stories about this boat and about a former skipper.

Old deckhand said:

Was a FS boat and was sold as excess property a few years ago. Was never a tow boat. Lots of sea stories about this boat and about a former skipper.

Click to expand...

Care to elaborate?

Just truing to figure out why a FS boat has a 5:1 gearbox?

Big prop?

Either a typo or a big a$$ prop. A 3408T is more like 400-800hp, not the listed 290hp. Unless a strange rating, which cat does do. So a typo might on the list of possibilities.

Neat boat. If I was in the market I'd jump on that. 3408 and mg514 are real machinery. Good stuff. If hull is not rotted with rust, it looks good.

Modern 3408's are up to 800 hp. I like the boat, just trying to figure out if its a typo or someone trying to pull a fast one?

Doubt it has a double/king-sized berth for the owners.

This drive train replaced and older drive train. Survey does rate the 3408 at 290 and calls the gear MG514 3:5:1. Cruise 10 knots at about 30+ gallons an hour with max speed at 11.5. Surprising consumption given that she is only supposed to weigh 40 tons. 48x32 inch 3 blade on a four inch shaft when she was built in Seattle in the late 50s.

290hp at full power is going to be about 15gph. No where near 30. Cruise even less. Another typo?

And that is a big wheel!!

Ski in NC said:

290hp at full power is going to be about 15gph. No where near 30. Cruise even less. Another typo?

And that is a big wheel!!

Click to expand...

My cummins 330 hp is rated at 25gph at full rpm of 2800

found this for more info

http://gsaauctions.gov/ATTACHMENT/REGN4/41QSCI13488001/SitkaRangerInsp.Survey.pdf

The Caterpillar Continuous rating for the 3408T is 300HP @ 1800 RPM. At that rating the maximum fuel burn is 15.6 gal/hr. Looking at the propeller curve from Cat, 1300 RPM is about 90Hp and 5 gal/hr. 1200-1300 RPM would be a pleasant cruising speed in this boat. Survey states 3.5:1 reduction turning a 48" x 39" four blade prop.

Someone needs to jump on this. A real boat with real machinery. Lines look good to my eyes.

Bligh- A 330B is about 17-18gph at full.

Definitely an opportunity for someone to get their hands dirty. A steel boat, any boat for that matter, built in 1959 that has been sitting around for several years is going to need some TLC along with a few boat dollars to get her into good shape. In my reading about her it appears she's been "out of service" since 2010 and was taken out of service due to overall operating cost of the Ranger boats. The article goes on to say.... "The Sitka Ranger is the oldest and in the worst condition" of the three boats they had in operation and this was the reason she was chosen to be taken out of service.

I guess the 5yrs since the survey could involve a good bit of additional decay...

Interesting boat, but the extract below from the Survey report should give anyone pause for thought:

"Most of the internal structure is inaccessible from the inside due to joiner work and insulation."

Just what might you find after 50 years when regular inspection and PM of the interior of a steel hull is not possible?