This is something King County or one of the Victoria carriers should pick up and re-engine. This would be an excellent boat for fast ferry service. Detroit Diesel, CAT, and EMD has a replacement engine for these class ferries that would drop right into the boat and produce the same horsepower while cutting fuel costs by 15-35% according to documents I’ve seen from both manufactures.
It’s going for $4.5 million
I need to win the lottery.
Update 7:30am:
I felt the need to write an email to the City Council regarding this and why it should be done.
I am contacting the Council regarding the sale of Washington State M.V. Chinook passenger-only fast ferry on eBay. I have been doing a lot of research regarding the M.V Snohomish but would also apply for the Chinook since they are the same boat. While the boat is for sale for $4.5 million, Detroit Diesel, CAT, and EMD have replacement and near drop in engines that would would work great for both of these boats. They would cut fuel savings between 15 to 35%, lower emissions, and easier to maintain. I don’t have the documents available due to a external hard drive failure but it would be worth to contact the above manufactures to see exactly how much it would run the County for the equipment Purchasing the Chinook and re-motoring the boats is probably one of the best things that could happen for this ferry district. It’s a 38-knot or 43mph boat, which would bring Kirkland to Seattle passengers to Lake Union in less than 15 minutes, including the slow speed through the Montlake Cut. A dock near the Fred Hutch Streetcar would benefit not only the Streetcar but the ease of transfers. It’s a 149-passenger boat that can be a 350-passenger boat if a safety plan is made, the same follows for the Snohomish.
It’s a local boat that is ready to go for the King County Passenger Ferry District, can be used in service now. It’s only a 10 year old boat and a lot of people have memories on these boats, this is something that we have in our hand and in our back yard and need to follow through on. We can’t afford to pass up on this unique opportunity and personally it isn’t worth scrapping the boat at all when it is perfectly fine for our future use.
Thank you for your time,
So the Snohomish seems to be staying off it for now? Did not see a clear answer in the Times article. Plus, I think the Snohomish has proven her worth as a standby boat for WSF.
GOOD POINTS on who should buy it, and if we can at least get the fuel economy boosted, it might work well. Just keep it out of Rich Passage.