Boatnerd Discussion Forum

AKA tow making good time heading up river between Neebish Island and Sugar Island, coming up to junction bouy at 13:15.

MCM tug William C Gaynor & tow underway from Detour to Soo Harbor at 9:00 am this morning.

Hello Guest,
that video from youtube is from Ann Arbor Railroad 1938 to 1979(?), there are 2 Ann Arbor Vignettes videos out there.
e-mail me k.kalal@comcast.net
Bob Kalal

Per AIS, the MCM tugs William C Gaynor and Mohawk are arriving at the Interlake dock at Detour as of 11:20 pm Monday. Looks like the William C. Gaynor had the Mohawk "on the hip" for the trip down from the Sault.

And now the latest, latest report is that the tugs are on the way down Monday afternoon with the tow occurring on Tuesday, weather permitting. Winds are forecasted to subside Monday nite.

Here's a short youtube video of the AKA, Viking, and City of Green Bay operating out of Frankfort during the early 70's.

Here's the link



anyone else know of any videos of AA fleet in operation?

Guest wrote:Any Updates?

The latest word was that the tugs will come down Tuesday the 20th and the tow will depart early Wednesday morning the 21st. It should arrive after dark at the Soo the same day. All weather permitting and subject to change. There are no webcams along the way that I know of.

Any Updates?

This from Cathy in DeTour:
"Ok, Heads up Boatnerds and those awaiting the latest news of the tow of the AKA. I have it on Excellent authority that MCM Marine will come down sometime on Sunday to DeTour and make things ready and weather permitting they will begin the tow of the AKA from Spring Bay To the Soo on Monday.all weather permitting"
Bob Kalal

Are there any webcam's enroute to the Soo where you can see any portion of the tow?

The old girl has lots of good memories for many of us who grew up in Benzie County. They were incredibly hardworking ships, as were the men who worked them.

The long awaited tow of the AKA is pushed to next week. Insurance issues needed to be in place first. It's now scheduled for early next week, with a Possible Sat or Sun tow, possible! It will be towed to MCM Marine in SSMarie Michigan where Reid Metals will begin immediately to put the torch to it. It's slated to be completed by Spring 2012.

got this from Cathy on Facebook:
Cathy Jarski-Kohring
Heads up Boatnerds.there will be some action starting this week at the DeTour Coal Dock. Tugs are due to arrive soon and so should begin the tow to the Soo at the MCM dock where Reid Materials will begin immediately to cut up the AKA with an eventual nearly finish estimate of this coming Spring. I'll be hopefully taking pictures of it on this end down at DeTour.

sounds like tugs show up Tues, leaves Wed.
Bob

please post pictures we cannot view them on the car ferry page as it is private group.

Brent wrote:You really don't need much to scrap a ship other then some land, a crane or several and some torches. The hard part is the disposal of asbestos and lead base paint which I assume there is a lot of. Depending on how much was removed when she was repowered, there may be very little asbestos. I would assume/hope that they will save the engines, generators, and the CPP systems. The thing to do would be to take all the removable items such as life jackets chadburns etc and have an auction on the car deck. This could include the cabin furnature and anything else they can un-bolt.

An awful lot of asbestos was used in the passenger cabins at her rebuild (this was years before asbestos was banned)- I understand the material they used had asbestos contained within it to make the passenger areas more fire-proof. There is very little in the way of removeable items left- the chadburns have been gone for years, anything else Stivers pretty much sold off to raise funds.

Hello Group,
for those who are not on the Yahoo Carferry Group, there has been alot of talk, as well as past post's which are very intereting. I posted about 300 photos that Randy Yeo took back in 2007 at DeTour. They show what's left at that time, & where water stood on the lower machinery.
Check it out, some interesting memories coming out now, as well as some great talk.
Bob

Most anything of value walked off the ship a long time ago. It's been pretty well stripped in the nearly 30 years since it last operated. I'm pretty sure the bottom end of the mains have been soaked with water. Besides that, the engines are old and may not pass muster with the new EPA regs. She was a good ship as the AA No 6 and A.A. She saw a lot of heavy weather and ice in her decades of year around service. A great read is how she lost most of both wheels on her maiden voyage through the Straits of Mackinac. As I recall, the St. Marie and Chief Wawatam worked hard to rescue her from her icy predicament.

You really don't need much to scrap a ship other then some land, a crane or several and some torches. The hard part is the disposal of asbestos and lead base paint which I assume there is a lot of. Depending on how much was removed when she was repowered, there may be very little asbestos. I would assume/hope that they will save the engines, generators, and the CPP systems. The thing to do would be to take all the removable items such as life jackets chadburns etc and have an auction on the car deck. This could include the cabin furnature and anything else they can un-bolt.

Do they have a good scrapping facility at MCM? Is there anything of historic value to save from the ship?

As stated in the article the new owners have 45 days to move it. MCM Marine is below the locks so the closing date should not not a factor.