Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Also a lot depends on maintenance most lakers especially the Canadians were meticulously maintained until the mid 80s when the Iron ore trade and to a lesser extent the grain trade started to bottom out, something had to give and it was preventative maintenance!

The lighter amount of steel used in hull construction allows more cargo to be carried. Over the lifetime of a vessel that can represent a significant amount of savings and increased profits. In calculations based on the design perhaps the increased maintenance and possibly shorter lifespan is offset by the income generated by the greater lifetime load capability. I have seen several predictions concerning the possible lifespan of these new builds from China with many agreeing at this being around 20-25 years in length. In about 5-7 more years it will be interesting to see what level of steel work these vessels will require as they reach 10 years in age. Remember, however, several of the ships built in domestic shipyards for the Canadian fleet required new forebodies after 20-25 years in service. A large factor in the potential lifespan of each individual unit of the Equinox and Trillium classes will revolve around their trade routes and cargoes.

You also notice on Equinox vessels they have a part on the stern quarter that seems to ride on the wall as well. It seems that all ships in the Great Lakes should have enclosed bridge wings but we're not used to seeing it.
In Montreal this winter it was very obvious with CSL St Laurent next to Cedarglen. The St Laurent's bow shows all the frames and all the paint is gone below the waterline while the Cedarglen looks 'lightly used.' It's thanks to high tensile steel and designing ships with steel only a 5% thicker than the design margin instead of the 20% they used to do.

FWIW, it seems to me that Algoma has less regard for the cosmetic value of their vessels than just about any other fleet on the lakes, US flagged or otherwise. Personally I wonder if this might lead to greater deterioration of their vessels and shorter life spans, especially if they are traveling so far up the seaway into brackish or actual salt water. And especially since so many of their boat do carry salt.

If you look close below the forecastle, Equinox class bow tapers in slightly, whereas Trillium appear to stay flush top to waterline.

The Trillium boats all seem to have severe ribbing on the bows already, while I don't see any of that on the Equinox boats yet.

Unfortunately the Equinox ships are not winning any beauty contests the trilliums look better by a lot, they look more like lakers, I'd like to see a real comparison on them which one carries more gets better engine performance is better finished off stuff like that.

Names on hulls are raised letters welded on but suffering from rubbing the lock walls as you mentioned - getting harder to read
for sure

Has anyone noticed that the name placement on to bow of Algoma's Equinox class makes is susceptible to being scraped? I haven't had a chance to see many of these yet but I noticed it when I took some pictures of the Algoma Equinox over the weekend. I assume this occurs during lock passages. As more of these ships enter service this may make some hard to easily identify without zooming in on images. Are the names on the hull in raised lettering or are they just painted on?