Anybody ever seen another one of these aluminum tugs?

No but having kids does.

I often drive from the lower helm, too, but never noticed the rails as a visual impairment, but rather, as visual guides for approximately 10, 30 and 45 degrees. The vertical rails help the admiral in estimating how much to turn via the autopilot.

I hesitate to post this video (click the frame to start video) of crossing San Pablo Bay, though, as Marin may feel my hatch is an oozing scab on my forward deck.* At least it's color matched to camoflage it's horrendous appearance.* Often, I just cover it with my dink to avoid the visual assault, kind of like an inflatable bandaid. (see above pictures) ;-)

http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/...nd/Als Pics/?action=view&current=ff8e31a0.mp4




-- Edited by FlyWright on Monday 19th of December 2011 11:24:57 PM


-- Edited by FlyWright on Wednesday 25th of January 2012 10:21:41 PM

I couldn't see a damn thing. Those huge railings blocked everything forward plus I was all distracted by that big square thing on top of your forecabin. And that thing like looks like set of Mickey Mouse ears on a funnel frame right blocked all sorts of stuff, too. I'm amazed you didn't plow into that boat I got the occasional glimpse of through the massive bow railings. You're really tempting death driving around in a boat like that.

I'll bet Al's anchor is a 33# Bruce/Claw similar to mine.* Hasn't failed me yet ... yet in the San Francisco estuary with its mostly shallow, heavy-mud bottoms.* Thank goodness for global warming.* If not, the shoreline would be at the Farallon Islands*and the "Bay" Area would be along*a narrow*river.

Yes, I'm drawn to living on the edge where the air is thin and the consequence of failure is death. Arrrrrgh!!

Incidentally, that Mickey Mouse ears thingy of which you speak happens to be THE ULTIMATE MODEL 747 FAN, after which the Boeing 747 was proudly named. It is designed to keep the Captain cool and composed in the face of death defying acts.

As a bonus, it also is designed to protect his fingers when he forgets it's there and points carelessly at something shiny ahead of the boat.* Don't ask me how I know.

FlyWright wrote:
I hesitate to post this video (click the frame to start video) of crossing San Pablo Bay ...

Click to expand...

*I was expecting lots more spray over/hitting your pilothouse in sometimes-treacherous San Pablo Bay.* The Coot makes a bigger "splash" at a fraction of your speed.* More fun with less horsepower?

markpierce wrote:
Thank goodness for global warming.* If not, the shoreline would be at the Farallon Islands*and the "Bay" Area would be along*a narrow*river.

Click to expand...

*You'll have to wait for global freezing--- that's coming next--- before that will happen.

Marin wrote:
*You'll have to wait for global freezing--- that's coming next--- before that will happen.

Click to expand...

*... again.

FlyWright wrote:
Incidentally, that Mickey Mouse ears thingy of which you speak happens to be THE ULTIMATE MODEL 747 FAN, after which the Boeing 747 was proudly named.

Click to expand...

*Trivia for you--- why was the 747 named the 747?

Because, boys and girls, when Boeing decided to develop a jet transport prototype, it was given the code name 367-80.* This meant it was the 80th design study for an improved Model 367 Stratotanker (a piston*airplane derived from the Boeing B-50 which in turn was derived from the Boeing B-29).* It was hoped that giving the jet transport development project a number from an older piston plane would help mask what the company was actually doing from the competition*(it didn't).

When the Dash-80 as the jet transport came to be called was built, it was obvious that it wasn't a piston plane and that it heralded a new product line for Boeing.* From very early years Boeing's product lines all had numbers that meant something.* The 200 series were twin engine planes (except the 299 which was the prototype B-17), the 300 series were four engine transports, the 500 series were missiles (I think), and the 600 series were gas turbine engines*(I think).

In any event, when the Dash-80 came along, the next product line number was 700.* And that's what the company was going to call the production derivative of the Dash-80.* But Boeing's ad agency said that "Boeing 700" sounded kind of clunky and dull.* They suggested "Boeing 707" which had a snappier ring to it.* Bill Allen, the company's CEO didn't give a hoot in hell*what the plane was called and if*the PR department*went all weepy eyed over*the sound of "707" then 707 was just fine with him.

The 747 is simply the sixth model in the 700 series aircraft.* The ones before were 707, 717 (Boeing's model number for the KC-135 tanker), 720 (a variant of the 707), 727, and 737.

When we acquired McDonnell Douglas in the late 1990s*all their airplane models except the MD-95 and the C-17 were immediately killed off.* We kept the short to mediumm range*MD-95 alive for awhile thinking that it had a viable market (it didn't).**Since it was going to be a "Boeing" airplane it*needed a Boeing number but which one?*

The next model number in line was 787 and we weren't going to give a number higher than our latest plane, the 777, to a warmed over DC-9.* Then someone remembered the number 717 which had been Boeing's number for the KC-135 but a number that was never used with the public or the military.* So "717" was dusted off and stuck on the MD-95.* That way, if the MD-95/717 was a dud (it was) nobody would really remember it even existed since its number came before the long-discontinued 727.

Too bad, in a way. I did some marketing support work for the 717, travelling to Greece, Hawaii, and other locations where there were airlines that had purchased them.* It was actually a very nice plane, far, far*superior to the previous*DC-9 models and derivatives*in almost every way.* But it had what Boeing considers a fatal flaw in an airplane design, and that was a limited capacity and range which greatly limited its flexibility (a major word at Boeing).* Enlarging the 717 would have moved it*into a market where we already had a superior entry in every way, the Next Generation 737.* So we put a bullet into the 717's head and that was that.

Rails are good. *I use mine for taking quick relative bearings using the stanchions. *Other boat moving ahead of the stanchion, I will pass behind. *If he moves*behind the stanchion, I will pass ahead of him. *If he stays constant with the stanchion-------DANGER! *Unless something is altered we will shortly be trying to occupy the same space.

This is a public service message. *No thanks needed.

*

Photo: *Everglades Inlet


-- Edited by Moonstruck on Tuesday 20th of December 2011 04:32:47 PM

Moonstruck wrote:
Rails are good. *I use mine for taking quick relative bearings using the stanchions. *Other boat moving ahead of the stanchion, I will pass behind. *If he moves*behind the stanchion, I will pass ahead of him. *If he stays constant with the stanchion-------DANGER! *Unless something is altered we will shortly be trying to occupy the same space.

This is a public service message. *No thanks needed.

*

Photo: *Everglades Inlet



-- Edited by Moonstruck on Tuesday 20th of December 2011 04:32:47 PM

Click to expand...

*Looks like big city rush hour to this country boy.

dwhatty wrote:

*

Photo: *Everglades Inlet

Click to expand...

*Looks like big city rush hour to this country boy.

*Everglades is one of the busier inlets------ships, sports fisherman, cruising boats, pilot boats, tug boats, mega yachts to open skiffs. *You will see it all there. *It is a jumping off place to the Bahamas, but it is the entrance to one of the big yachting capitals. *Ft. Lauderdale is Annapolis on steroids.

Marin wrote:*the 500 series were missiles (I think), and the 600 series were gas turbine engines*(I think).

Click to expand...

The turbines were the 502, 551, 553, and the T-50. The 502 was used on a lot of GSE and those goofy remote controlled Navy ASW helicopters that sometimes made it back to the ship.

*

dwhatty wrote:Moonstruck wrote:
Rails are good. *I use mine for taking quick relative bearings using the stanchions. *Other boat moving ahead of the stanchion, I will pass behind. *If he moves*behind the stanchion, I will pass ahead of him. *If he stays constant with the stanchion-------DANGER! *Unless something is altered we will shortly be trying to occupy the same space.

This is a public service message. *No thanks needed.

*

Photo: *Everglades Inlet



-- Edited by Moonstruck on Tuesday 20th of December 2011 04:32:47 PM

Click to expand...

*Looks like big city rush hour to this country boy.

*David, this is coming in Government Cut another busy inlet. *It is the ocean entrance to Miami. *The view is looking toward South Beach.


-- Edited by Moonstruck on Tuesday 20th of December 2011 07:22:19 PM

Skyscrapers! I've heard about those.

I don't know about you guys but I throughly enjoy the Boeing history from Marin.* Larryw

LarryW wrote:
I don't know about you guys but I throughly enjoy the Boeing history from Marin.* Larryw

Click to expand...

*Ditto

Ditto

LarryW wrote:
I don't know about you guys but I throughly enjoy the Boeing history from Marin.* Larryw

Click to expand...

Glad you like it.* I realize it's way off topic, particularly when I end up putting it in the middle of a boating thread but sometimes it makes more sense to put it there than in OTDE.

Like railroads (another one of my interests), aviation companies that have been around for a long time have pretty fascinating histories, not just the airplanes themselves but the people who were involved in their creation.* This is particularly true in the "old days" when*what the companies did was more the result of individual effort and ingenuity than it is today.

And it's a very closed industry.* Most people, and the media in particular, don't understand aviation at all, why an airplane flies, how it's controlled, how it's made, how its systems work and why,*what factors influence the design, etc.* So there is some satisfaction on the part of most of us in the industry to be able to pass correct information on to people outside the industry*who are interested.

Here is a factoid coming from a project I am working on right this minute that some of you may find*interesting in that it is indicative*of the evolution of aviation.* Boeing has a standarized numbering system for*the fuselage sections of all*its flying vehicles be they airplanes or missiles.* The front end--- in a plane, the nose, flight deck, and expanding fuselage back to just aft of the forward passenger door--- is called the 41 Section.* In our metal airplanes like the 777, the 41 Section shell*is made up of thousands of part numbers.* These include skin panels, structural members like ribs, a bazillion rivets and other fasteners, and so on.* This just to create the hollow shell of the front end of the plane.

On the 787, the same 41 Section, the same hollow shell with all its*strenghening structural members, is just one part number.* It's just one piece.


-- Edited by Marin on Wednesday 21st of December 2011 04:15:19 PM

dwhatty wrote:
Skyscrapers! I've heard about those.

Click to expand...

*Here is a shot of the Miami River from Biscayne Bay. *Nature at its best.

Moonstruck wrote:dwhatty wrote:
Skyscrapers! I've heard about those.

Click to expand...

*Here is a shot of the Miami River from Biscayne Bay. *Nature at its best.

*Is that a gold chain I see?

dwhatty wrote:Moonstruck wrote:dwhatty wrote:
Skyscrapers! I've heard about those.

Click to expand...

*Here is a shot of the Miami River from Biscayne Bay. *Nature at its best.

*Is that a gold chain I see?

*Gotta have your bling and a hairy chest. *Its just part of the scene.

Fugettaboudit! Yo Vinny!

Departing Port Everglades

*

*

In Port Everglades

*

It isn't an aluminum tug but it might be a petrified U-boat.

*

Back on topic

Went and looked, offer accepted, pending survey etc.

Off to BC in the morning with the surveyor

Congrats, Badger. Hope it all looks good. Take lots of pics for us!

Survey written report received, engine oil analysis looked good. Survey counter offer/adjustment sent off to seller..

We will see what happens...