My wife, Mardi, and I took the MV Coho from Port Angeles to Victoria to visit her mother.
Pulling into Victoria’s Inner Harbour aboard the car and passenger ferry, interesting vessels can often be seen moored in the slips along Wharf and Government streets.
This trip never disappoints, and one vessel in particular caught my eye.
Moored along the Wharf Street side of Inner Harbour was St. Eval, a 110-foot tug that was built in 1929 in Glasgow, Scotland.
It has been converted into a pleasure craft by Dennis Washington, a self-made Missoula, Mont., billionaire industrialist and philanthropist who has controlling interests in a large consortium of privately held construction, mining and engineering companies in the U.S. and Canada.
Noisy tank work
Back home on the North Olympic Peninsula, I stopped by Tesoro Petroleum’s Port Angeles office and spoke to the head honcho, Chris Szczepczynski, who told me that contractors will be sandblasting a couple of the storage tanks in the upcoming weeks.
He anticipates the noise level on the Ediz Hook Road side of the tank farm might reach 92 decibels.
Chris added that for the next two to three weeks, joggers, walkers and bikers using the bike path that wends its way through the mill onto Ediz Hook might want to consider using ear protection as they pass the tank farm during the sandblasting.
Patrol boat hoisted
Platypus Marine, the full-service shipyard, yacht-repair facility and steel-boat manufacturer on Marine Drive in Port Angeles, hauled out a 64-foot aluminum Coast Guard patrol boat Tuesday.
The boat is an escort vessel that was built by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding in Somerset, Mass.
Her mission is to act as a screen for high-value military assets in domestic ports.
The vessel works in concert with the HOS Arrowhead and HOS Eagleview to escort submarines as they transit the Strait of Juan de Fuca in and out of Hood Canal.
The patrol boat is powered by twin MTU diesel engines that are coupled to Hamilton water jets, and it can reach speeds in excess of 30 knots.
The boat is equipped with a head, galley, berths and lockers, and mounted on the foredeck is a remotely operated weapons system.
The interior is outfitted with Shockwave heavy-duty suspension seats, shock-mitigating floor matting and a heating and air-conditioning system.
She is equipped with a thermal imaging system plus an array of the latest technology for navigation communication.
I understand that Platypus personnel are replacing the foam collar that surrounds the hull of the patrol boat.
More Platypus news
Platypus on Thursday hauled out Surfbird and stowed her in the Commander Building.
She is a 115-foot expedition yacht that is available for charters in Southeast Alaska from late May to the middle of September.
While out of the water, the steel yacht will receive a fresh coat of bottom paint, zincs will be replaced as necessary and prop speed will be applied to her propellers and thrusters.
Last Tuesday, Platypus put LB7 back in the water.
She is a log bronc that is used at the submarine base at Bangor.
During her one-month stay in the Commander Building, personnel sandblasted, primered and painted the vessel.
LB7 was towed back to the submarine base by the 62-foot tug Danielle, which is owned by Manke Lumber Co. of Tacoma.
Port Angeles Harbor watch
Tesoro Petroleum on Monday provided bunkers to Cygnus, a 600-foot petroleum-products carrier anchored in the harbor that is flagged in Hong Kong.
Tesoro on Saturday refueled the Crowley-owned articulated tug and barge Vision.
She was launched in the late summer of 2011 and is one of 10 of the 650 class of barges.
When coupled together for operation, the tug-and-barge duo is 689 feet long and has a cargo capacity of more than 7½ million gallons of petroleum products.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the area’s waterfronts.
Items and questions involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
His column, On the Waterfront, appears Sundays.