05/10/2023
WE ARE BACK!
FEWF………….
It has been a long, long, long winter of upgrades on the vessel Miss Chris. United States Coast Guard inspections revealed some areas which needed to be addressed so the crew of Yank Marine and the Miss Chris got to work, cropping and renewing bottom plate and a section of keelson! This crew is no stranger to this type of work, however this came on top of another project we started in December. The Miss Chris is a 90ft Gulf Craft built in 1976 as the Super Critter from Ponce Inlet Florida. She was repowered in 2005 with new Series 60 Detroit Diesel MTU engines. That was the good. The bad was her aging generator… The Detroit Diesel 271 is probably the finest generator ever constructed by man, however, the 70 year old design and lack of parts makes them difficult or impossible to rebuild.
So, the Miss Chris crew set out to replace the old 271 with two new modern Northern Lights 25 KW generators. Why two? Because when you are on a trip, two engines is better than one. If the unthinkable happens and a fuel filter clogs, the sea strainer clogs, the impeller cooks, or any other thing, the backup of two engines makes it so, you still have lights, refrigeration, toilets, anchor haulers, etc. In other words, two is better than one.
So, after Naval Architecture, cutting, grinding, nutting, bolting, and about $200K, our upgrades are complete. Everything we did was for ease of maintenance and safety. Everything was to the satisfaction of the United States Coast Guard. The engine room difference is night vs day. The visual is not much from outside the boat, other than the addition of an exhaust pipe, but what counts is on the inside. The Miss Chris now meets our own, modern standard of what a passenger carrying boat needs to be. It was a ton of work and never could have happened without the diligence of Captain Scott and Captain Bob. Their mechanical know how, electrical expertise, and brute strength made it happen!
So….. a lot
Here is the process and results…..
