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Starr Refit Blog #9 – Week 9Week of November18-22 – And The Mess Goes on. . . .
 
We have finished installing the new Technicold air handlers. Yay!Installing the sixth and last air handlerDave Schmidt, happy to be moving on to the next challenge

Starr Refit Blog #9 – Week 9
Week of November18-22 – And The Mess Goes on. . . .

We have finished installing the new Technicold air handlers. Yay!

Installing the sixth and last air handler

Dave Schmidt, happy to be moving on to the next challenge

 I’m removing what seems like miles of unused wiring.

For instance: old TV cabling, an unused telephone system, and 3-12 gauge wires that have labels like “spare from wheelhouse to lazarett”, and more.

“It seems like miles of spare wire”

 
The top deck and transom glassing is on the home stretch.

Spreading out the resin in preparation of next glass layer

Rolling out the glass

Spraying more resin on top of the glass

Sopan with a ready smile

Almost ready to start fairing.

As I am sitting at my desk at home at SBMC wrapping up these notes I See two of Western Towing’s tugs bringing back Foss’s Self-loading barges that work at Red Dog Mines.

My Office- It’s hard to get any work done
 

Western’s Tugs bringing Foss’s Red Dog Mine “self-loading barge” back for the winter

 Red Dog Mine is a zinc mine 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Arctic Borough.  
Every summer Foss takes their barge North to the Arctic and brings it back for the winter.  

 http://www.fossmaritime.com/wp-content/uploads/CS_OpenLighterage_RedDogMine.pdf.

Last week while working at my desk, Western Towing entertained me by bringing in Golden Alaska.

Golden Alaska

 Golden Alaska is a 3700 Ton Factory Trawler, and she is beautiful. Why can’t cruise ships look like her?  http://goldenalaska.com

Western Towboat is our favorite towing company.   Western has absolutely beautiful tugs!   Their fleet of tugs is just down the canal from us.The owners, Rick and Bob Shrewsbury build their own boats and maintain them like yachts. I believe they have around 20 tugs at this time and always have another under construction at their yard. Every time Sharry and I row past their yard I feel proud of those guys and am fortunate that they are our neighbors.
http://www.westerntowboat.com/

 
Just 300ft across the canal from Western is the home of the Foss Towing fleet. Foss also has beautiful tugs.   The Foss Shipyard there also does large yacht work. Currently they are working on repainting the 175ft Feadship “Ice Bear”.

http://www.foss.com
http://www.fossmaritime.com

In addition to our towing fleets, our fishing fleet is the largest in all of the US. There are over 700 active commercial fishing licenses working out of our Ballard neighborhood. I’ll talk more about our fishing fleet in the future. Our favorite boats in the fishing fleet are the old wooden Halibut Schooners. Take a walk some day on the estern most docks at Fishermen’s Terminal. When the fleet is in, that is were they are all lined up.  It’s taking a walk back in time.
https://www.johnsabella.com/detail.lasso?title=650716

What a great place to live!

Don

Starr Refit Blog #8 – Week 8
Week of November 11-15 – I have the “Boat Yard Blues”
 We are at a stage where things are moving more slowly. Right now everything is all torn up, and the interior and exterior of Starr are a real mess.  It’s just…

Starr Refit Blog #8 – Week 8

Week of November 11-15 – I have the “Boat Yard Blues”

 
We are at a stage where things are moving more slowly. Right now everything is all torn up, and
the interior and exterior of Starr are a real mess.  It’s just the way it goes and I have the Boatyard Blues”.
I am really looking forward to the point when we will have the exterior ready for painting.
 

Dana Lebo and his crew worked on adding the three layers of coring to the top deck,
and prepared the transom for glassing.

Beveling the edge of core to mate with the next section

Pablo bedding the core at the junction of old top deck and the new section

Meanwhile I’m working inside Starr, changing out all of the wheelhouse electronics.
I’m a Furuno proponent. I want to use the new Furuno TZT system, but was disappointed
to learn that the TZT wouldn’t run on two or three completely separate screens.
That meant that if we wanted to run the Plotter, the Radar, and the Sounder all at the same time,
we would either have to have all systems sharing one screen or else buy two or three
complete TZT systems.
Fortunately, I was able to talk to Aaron Smith, Senior Technical Associate at S3 Maritime.
Aaron has a solution that allows the TZT to run two,
or even three screens, each screen showing a different function: one screen with the Plotter,
one with the 6kw Radar, and one with the new Chirp Sounder. 

The link is too long to fit in this blog, so for more information search for: 
NavNet TZtouch MULTI FUNCTION DISPLAY BLACK BOX
TZTBB

Aaron doing the electronics layout

Aaron’s quick “back of the napkin” design sketch

What is really interesting is that the Furuno experts weren’t aware of this solution; it pays to do business with the Best!
If any of you boat guys need technical advice on your electronics, I would highly recommend talking to Aaron.
You can reach him by calling S3 Maritime at 206-420-4932 or, Aaron can be contacted directly at 206 484 7914.

Aaron says, “It’s all in how you integrate it!”

Meanwhile inside Starr, Randy, Dave and I are replacing all of the Aqua Air heat and air conditioning
system with Northern Light’s Technicold System.

The salon cabinet prior to disassembly

The cabinet ready for new air-handler

The old air-handlers were corroded from the salt air

We have replaced all six air-handlers. In a couple of rooms I have completely relocated the units
to create easy access to make maintenance easier.

Randy re-installing a unit

The new Technicold air-handler
After Randy puts the Salon cabinet back together it looks as good as new.

The pilot house:  what a mess!

The wheelhouse dashboard has been removed for rebuilding

The dash is ready to go to Randy’s shop to be rebuilt
The new dash will have a backing, so that all of the flat screens will be flush with the face panel. 

AND THE WORK GOES ON!

Don

Starr Refit Blog #8 – Week 8
Week of November 11-15 – I have the “Boat Yard Blues”
 We are at a stage where things are moving more slowly. Right now everything is all torn up, and the interior and exterior of Starr are a real mess.  It’s just…

Starr Refit Blog #8 – Week 8
Week of November 11-15 – I have the “Boat Yard Blues”
 We are at a stage where things are moving more slowly. Right now everything is all torn up, and the interior and exterior of Starr are a real mess.  It’s just…

Starr Refit Blog #9 – Week 9Week of November18-22 – And The Mess Goes on. . . .
 
We have finished installing the new Technicold air handlers. Yay!Installing the sixth and last air handlerDave Schmidt, happy to be moving on to the next challenge

Weeks 6 & 7 – Weeks of October 28 to November 8 – My continuing education in Ballard
 Meet the experts who are my teachers:
I feel very fortunate to be working in Ballard with some of America’s best maritime craftsmen. Every day that I’m workin…

Weeks 6 & 7 – Weeks of October 28 to November 8 – My continuing education in Ballard

 
Meet the experts who are my teachers:

I feel very fortunate to be working in Ballard with some of America’s best maritime craftsmen. Every day that I’m working on Starr, I feel like I’m in a classroom learning exciting new things. The fact that I can pick experts from every sector of the maritime industry, work with them and learn from them is thrilling.  

 Yesterday I met again with Chuck Albertson going over a list of questionsChuck started and managed the refit yard at Delta Marine thirty-four years ago and he has a wealth of knowledge. Chuck now is consulting on new builds and on refit projects like mine.  ( http://www.deltamarine.com)

 My questions for Chuck included the following:
How would you do the fiberglass laminate schedule for the connection on the transom extension?

 Chuck Albertson advising on the FRP layup for the transom

We went over ways to improve the hydraulic return manifold for the ABT thrusters and also add a ABT/TRAC get-home drive unit on the main shaft.

 Modifying the ABT TRAC system

How should we go about replacing this grey water tank top manifold?

 The Grey water tank top

Is there a better way to plumb the sea chest for easier cleanout access?

 And so on…………..

 Chuck Albertson can be reached at 425-446-2620, Albertsonchuck@aol.com

Dana’s crew progressed with the fiberglass work. Dana and his partner Bill, have a team of guys that are hard working, thoughtful, and a pleasure to work with.

 We are using Divinycell H80 5lb core on the top deck. The top deck core is made up of (3) one-inch layers of Divinycell H80 that are bonded with the vinyl ester resin.  http://www.diabgroup.com/Products-and-services/Core-Material/Divinycell-H-HP

Sopan preparring the Divinycell core

 
Sophan is from Cambodia

The first layer of Divinycell on deck

 Sophan and Pablo preparing the next layer

It is important the there aren’t any air pockets left in the sandwich, so Dana and his crew compressed the core into the resin using 12×12 timbers loaded on top of the resin coated divinycell.

 12×12 timbers used to compress core into the resin.

Josh and Chris finished glassing the deck drain downspout leaders (within the side walls), and are ready for fairing.

 Josh & Chris wrapping up the downspouts

 The downspouts are ready for fairing

Pablo

Dave Schmidt worked in the interior of Starr, pulling out the radars, the Elbex cameras, and old wiring that no longer has any use.

 Dave Schmidt

I look forward to seeing the exterior fairing get underway, and we will soon be moving on to the painting.

Don

Weeks 6 & 7 – Weeks of October 28 to November 8 – My continuing education in Ballard
 Meet the experts who are my teachers:
I feel very fortunate to be working in Ballard with some of America’s best maritime craftsmen. Every day that I’m workin…