Boatnerd Discussion Forum

As I posted earlier, I first saw the Menasha in Port Clinton, Ohio as the W.C. Harms back about '87 - '88, and a couple years later in Cleveland. Anyone know when this tug arrived on the lakes?

She has a falk reduction gear as well, about 9 seconds from forward to reverse, not very quick for assisting ships in docking. She also has a rotten bottom, at least one fist sized hole starboard side forward, at the water line. Finally, Transport Canada will make sure any new owner will go bankrupt as she was never completely brought up to their standards. If you look her over and consider everything from a business view point only you will quickly realize that she is a lost cause.

Plus I assume the Menasha is a single screw tug. They have very little resale value compared to tugs with twin screws or z drives.

A new engine in a 60 plus year old tug doesn't make much sense. The cost of a new engine, even a rebuild, and the cost of modifying bed plates, etc., has got to be paid back through paying work. If work is scarce it's difficult to see how it would make any sense.
It's likely a new engine is worth more than the tug.

OK, so the engine of the Menasha is "blown". It's very common to replace the plants of tugs -- many of them in far worse shape than the Menasha appears to be. So what else is wrong with this otherwise valuable & attractive-looking tug. I'm definitely no authority on Tugs so would someone please explain the Menasha's impending demise. Thank you.

Here are two of Menasha at Sarnia Ont on 24Jan2014 while I was aiming at fishtugs - I have a couple of shots taken in Jul2013 and it appears that she was moored in the same place -Physically she looked fine but I was told that she had blown her engine-
Monty

Here's a view by Sam Draye on Shipspotting from little over a year ago:

http://cdn2.shipspotting.com/photos/mid ... 070907.jpg

MattJ wrote:Pictures of Menasha in Tug/ Workboat section are from 2006so that's 9 yrs ago. A lot can go on in that time. Be interesting to see a 2015 picture of her

I found this 2014 photo of the Menasha taken by Philip Nash in the February 19, 2014 - BoatNerd -News Photo Gallery, when she was in Sarnia for Winter lay-up.

Pictures of Menasha in Tug/ Workboat section are from 2006so that's 9 yrs ago. A lot can go on in that time. Be interesting to see a 2015 picture of her

Boatnerd's "Tug & Workboat Gallery" has much more recent photos of her & she looks to be in great shape. I seem to recall photos of her working the ice during the Winter of 2013 - 14. What Happened?

Also, with the scrapping of the PM No.10, are there any riverferries left, and if so what & where are they?

What happened that it is in such bad shape? I've got a picture from back around the mid 80's of it sitting in Port Clinton as the W.C. Harms, and then later it was in Cleveland for awhile. She looked to be in pretty good shape when I last saw it in the tug races.

Menasha is at Dean's yard in LaSalle. She is beyond reasonable repair

It was towed to Dean Construction's yard in LaSalle on July 8, 2014 by the tug Pride. If a buyer isn't found, it will likely be scrapped if it hasn't been by now. Sarnia harbour wanted it moved to free up dock space as the tug hasn't been in operation for several years.

went down to La Salle, south of windsor last fall. Pride towed it there. Sarnia hiked their docking fees, and since the tug has seen minimal use, her owners could not afford the fees. now docked at the Dean Construction yard.

of note, looking at recently updated images of the area on google earth, Dean construction is in the process of cutting the Pere Marquette 10 rail barge for scrap. image dates to 4/11/15, and she might be entirely gone by now.

What ever happened to the tug Menasha that used to be in Sarnia?