Re: The new guy!
Originally posted by 18rabbit:<br />Jason- welcome aboard!!!<br /><br />There are tons of folks here that are active in small vessel maintenance, restoration and modifications. How small are the vessels you know or work with thru your academy studies?
Well, the smallest I've been out on was a lifeboat when we went through training for that
<br /><br />Our training ship is a former naval ocean surveillance ship from the cold war. It's a 224 foot vessel sporting 4 x Cat D398 diesels rated at 940hp @ 1200 RPM turning a kato generator which makes 600kw a shot. That is just for power generation. For propulsion, we are sporting 2 x General Electric DC motors rated at 800HP a piece. It also has a bow thruster, which makes parking rather easy
For information about the school, you can go to
http://www.nmc.edu/maritime/ or for information on the ship go here:
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/6606.htm <br /><br />Even though it is only my first year, I've been on the ship twice now when they've had it underway. Once was in early september when we took her up to the soo locks. Another was the week before thanksgiving when we brought her back from dry dock over in wisconsin from her 5 year inspection. Wisconsin was fun because I went and inspected the bottom of the ship before they flooded the dock. All I can say is that it's amazing how big it looks when you realize that you have 1500 tons of metal above you. As for being on the water, it's kinda relaxing. Even though we are only moving about 7 kts (on that ship), it's still a blast. I'm in the engine department, but on the soo trip, when I wasn't on watch (4 hours on, 8 off) I was usually up in the pilot house. Going under the mackinaw bridge was neat as hell. I have a picture of that if anyone wants to see.<br /><br />Erm... anyway, I think I've posted enough for now. If you want to know more, feel free to ask!<br /><br />Oh yeah, as for the coast guard, I know about them heh, seeing as our industry (Merchant marine) deals with them constantly. For example, they don't allow the use of PVC piping, even on low pressure systems... how rediculous is that?
