# Just out of the shop...



## fogtender

Just pulled this out of the shop this morning with a new paint job and just about everything else in it new too.  It is a 40' Catamarian that is a pretty nice ride, should be a bit faster now too....

Pulled the 275 HP Mercury Inboard/Outboard and replaced with New 330 HP Volvo D6 engines and outdrives with counter rotation props on each outdrive.

Has all new electronics, fire suppression systems and a bunch of other goodies. Will be putting the radar and such back on when the boat gets back up to Prudhoe Bay (Alaska Oil Fields) in a few weeks, it is sitting on the ground next to the boat.

The picture where it is green, is when I went out to King Salmon to inspect it for buying last year, which is out on the West Coast of Alaska. It was being used for taking tourist up into Katmai National Park to see the bears, the market wasn't there and the boat sat for a few years before we bought it.

Anyway, we didn't do much with it for the last year, about two months ago started pulling the engines and going though the rebuilding process...  It was "Soda" blasted, they used a course baking soda that cuts the paint, but no etching on the glass, pretty neat process that I haven't seen before.

The new name of the boat is the "American Discovery".


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## Doc

Looks Great.  Nice work.  
Would like to see pics of the inside and power plant if you don't mind sharing.


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## fogtender

Doc said:


> Looks Great. Nice work.
> Would like to see pics of the inside and power plant if you don't mind sharing.


 
Here is some photos of the different stages of removal and replace and other stuff


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## Doc

Good pics.  Looks like you got brand new motors for it.  
You've been busy for sure.  When is the maiden voyage?
Any idea how much she weighs?
Will she be a pleasure boat for you or business?


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## Av8r3400

Dumb question:  What's the difference between an inboard/outboard drive and an outdrive?


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## fogtender

Just about all phases of the boat have been updated for use for hauling passengers as per the new regulations. 

Both the new engines required belt covers, so the welders built a pretty nice setup, next year when there is more time to work with, will cut out viewing areas in the cover and put expanded metal to see the belts verses having to removed the cover for inspections.

The bow anchor boom was not constructed properly and had broken off in the past and been "Cobbed" back together, had it shortened by about 18" and reinforced so it should be able to take the swells when at anchor.


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## urednecku

Now that looks nice enough to live in. I'm jealous!!


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## fogtender

urednecku said:


> Now that looks nice enough to live in. I'm jealous!!


 

It has a nice galley, shower/head, cabin for sleeping is a bit small under the bridge, but very livable...


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## Doc

Av8r3400 said:


> Dumb question:  What's the difference between an inboard/outboard drive and an outdrive?



Not dumb at all.  The difference confuses many folks.

Inboard motors will only have a shaft with the prop on it on the underside of the boat.  
Inboard/outboard have the out drive like Foggy pictured above.  (very nice looking outdrives by the way  )
I guess all outdrive means is that the gears for the prop are outside of the boat.  On inboards just the shaft and prop are outside of the boat.

Maybe foggy will add more detail, but that's the basics of em.


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## Av8r3400

We build stern tubes for ships, so I'm familiar with inboard drives,  but an i/o verses an outdrive is a little fuzzy.

An I/O has gear cases and lowers the propeller lower into the water.  The classic Mercury or Volvo or OMC styles.

Is an outdrive like on the racing boats that do not have gear cases and go straight out the transom?


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## Doc

I've always heard the "lower unit" referred to as the 'outdrive'.  One and the same I think.  As for what the racing boats use I've no clue.


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## waybomb

Av8r3400 said:


> We build stern tubes for ships, so I'm familiar with inboard drives, but an i/o verses an outdrive is a little fuzzy.
> 
> An I/O has gear cases and lowers the propeller lower into the water. The classic Mercury or Volvo or OMC styles.
> 
> Is an outdrive like on the racing boats that do not have gear cases and go straight out the transom?


 
I believe you are writing about Arneson type drives. They still have a gear box on the outside to get the prop shaft lower on the boat to the proper level. 

The gearbox on an Arneson is actually a chain drive. The top drive sprocket is connected to the bottom driven sprocket with a wide multirow chain. This asembly is mounted to the transom just like an outdrive would be.

I also believe I/O is the term for the entire power transmission package from engine to prop. Outdrive would be that part bolted to the transom. There is a transmission bolted on to the bellhousing which couples right to the outdrive adapter, or, via a drive shaft to an outdrive adapter.


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## waybomb

Doc said:


> I've always heard the "lower unit" referred to as the 'outdrive'. One and the same I think. As for what the racing boats use I've no clue.


 

I've always called the lower unit the lower part of the outdrive that includes the vertical drive shaft(s), the prop shaft, gears, and bearings.


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## fogtender

waybomb said:


> I've always called the lower unit the lower part of the outdrive that includes the vertical drive shaft(s), the prop shaft, gears, and bearings.


 
When you look up at any of the Marine engine sites, they have three general listings.

Outboard- The engine is located above the gear box and propeller assembly and hangs off the back of the boat. The whole engine turns left and right to steer the boat. This is what an outboard looks like, you can see the entire assembly.






Inboard/Outboard- The engine is mounted inside the boat and bolts to the inside of the transom (back of boat), it has a short shaft that goes to an "Outdrive" that is like the lower end of an "Outboard" attached to the outside of the Transom. The outdrive is hinged to turn to the left or right to steer the boat. An Inboard/Outboard only has the "Lower" end assembly (Outboard) visible, not the engine.







Inboard- The engine is mounted inside the boat and drives a transmission inside that does the shifting and turns a propeller shaft than goes down though the hull to a propeller located below the bottom of the boat with a rudder below it to steer the boat by moving right to left and the propeller shaft rotates, but does not steer but stays stationary. When you look at a boat that has an "Inboard" there is nothing to see on the back end of the boat... since the propeller is under the boat.

Having said that, there are also other versions of engine systems, Jet that uses an impeller and a Nozzle for thrust like a fire hose and a new 360 degree turning pedestal propeller that spins all the way around on a bearing assembly for steering in all directions.


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## fogtender

Doc said:


> Good pics. Looks like you got brand new motors for it.
> You've been busy for sure. When is the maiden voyage?
> Any idea how much she weighs?
> Will she be a pleasure boat for you or business?


 
Yep, new Volvo diesel engines, 330 Hp each, that is almost a total of 110 more horsepower over the Mercruiser diesels that were basically Ford diesels (International Harverster) rated at 275 HP that we took out.

If all goes well, maybe in the water this Friday we will take it for a short run to check it out and finish the details. Will post some photos. Today took some of the other boats out for a test run in the Port of Anchorage. All went well and got back to work on this boat.

Right at about 23,000 lbs the way it sets.

Business, it will be trucked to Prudhoe Bay at a cost of about $30,000.00, one way. That and our other boats will be running crews to the drilling islands there and taking crew boats to other job sites. Same as we were doing last year AND having to deal with a large number of "NOT" endanged Polar Bears...


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## RedRocker

That's a nice rig and beautiful work. I really need to live near you, we could get in to a lot of trouble.


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## fogtender

Well yesterday, splashed the boat for a sea trial test run. Was figuring that we would get into the lower 20 Knot area.

Ended up at almost 30+ going "against" the tide that is about 5 knots, so don't know how much faster it will be. Really great that it turned into a speed boat verses sea slug...

The old 275 HP Merc's only got it up to about 12 Knots max. The 330 Hp Volvo engines and outdrives really made a big difference, also the fact that the Volvo's have a lot of low end torque really makes the difference.

The second boat is one that I rebuilt last year, it is a landing craft type configuration, it does about 30 knots also and is a jet drive and can run in very shallow water. We used that one for running up on the beach and picking and dropping off workers in the offshore areas in the oilfield.

Both boats are headed North in a few weeks for the summer, so I get to play with the polar bears again...


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## RedRocker

Man that's cooking pretty good. Be careful around those Polar Bears, apparently there are only a couple of them left.


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## fogtender

Here is a video that one of the other guys made of the first sea trials.  It isn't when the boat was run at the top end, but looks pretty good.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDYlPaGwptU"]YouTube - American Discovery[/ame]


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## fogtender

The crew got the other boat out on the water today, it was doing about 30 knots to.  Rebuilt both the main engines (Volvo's) that are now about 400HP diesels, should be alot better boat this summer to run the Polar bears over (OK, for those idiots that think I am serious about running over polar bears, get a life).  

We do though, have to run patrols at night to watch for the dozens of polar bears that swim up to the drilling islands evey few weeks and catch the crews offguard.  They swim out to the ice pack (That isn't suppose to be there) and then to the beach to dine on a few Caribou before going back to the seal diet out on the ice.  They are doing just fine....

The fact that the Polar bears got listed on the endagered list is a ploy by the enviormentalist to stop the drilling for oil...  So when you get to about ten bucks a gallon, wake up to the fact that the far left is screwing you....


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## Doc

Good video and pics.  Looks like both of them will get up and go pretty good.
Beautiful background scenery with the mountains and all.


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## fogtender

Doc said:


> Good video and pics. Looks like both of them will get up and go pretty good.
> Beautiful background scenery with the mountains and all.


 
The mountains in the photos is of the Anchorage skyline, we were running the boats just out front of Anchorage in the Cook Inlet. There is about a thirty foot tide+- to deal with so launching and retrieving the boats is a big issue there.

The day we launched the Discovery (blue boat), there was a 35 foot high tide...


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## Doc

35ft tide!!!    Wow!  And I thought things were big in Texas.  That is the biggest tide fluctuation I've ever heard of.   That would add to the challenge for sure.  River boating with damns helping control water level is a good thing.


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## fogtender

Doc said:


> 35ft tide!!!  Wow! And I thought things were big in Texas. That is the biggest tide fluctuation I've ever heard of. That would add to the challenge for sure. River boating with damns helping control water level is a good thing.


 
The low tides for this last week has been about -5 (about a 40 foot tidal action) or so, and they are killing the Razor Clams down by Kenai, which is south of us by the mouth of the Cook Inlet.


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## fogtender

This is the boat that I delivered to the North Slope on June 21 to be unloaded for the summer work of playing around the the "Endangered Polar Bears" that are all over the place, and not really endangered, they have accually increased in numbers greatly.... 

By the way note the Ice in the background, that is the Arctic Ocean that isn't suppose to be there (You know that Al Gore thing), note again that it is frozen and will be for another three weeks or so and will refreeze by the end of Sept. or there abouts... The Polar Bear issue is so that the Oil Companies can't drill here, again, thank the "Tree Hugger" types for passing that high price of gas on to you and your friends....

We were working the Crane at midnight so I took a photo of the Summer Solstice, you can see the well heads next to the sun just behind the clouds.


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## pixie

WOW !!!

Thanks for the pictures !

I'll be interested to hear how the catamaran does in a 6 foot chop ...
My father had a catamaran sailboat with 225 Mercruisers built in the '60s. It would really move out but the pounding between the hulls was scary.


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## fogtender

pixie said:


> WOW !!!
> 
> Thanks for the pictures !
> 
> I'll be interested to hear how the catamaran does in a 6 foot chop ...
> My father had a catamaran sailboat with 225 Mercruisers built in the '60s. It would really move out but the pounding between the hulls was scary.


 
Well in a big sea, no matter what boat you have, it will affect it in some way.  Up to three foot seas, should be a pretty good ride for this Cat.  It may have some noise under the center like you mentioned, but more than that and you will need to slow down just like all the other boats do.  The nice thing about being fast, is that you can get back to port faster than the "Slower" boats that have to endure the rough water for the lack of speed...


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## fogtender

pixie said:


> WOW !!!
> 
> Thanks for the pictures !
> 
> I'll be interested to hear how the catamaran does in a 6 foot chop ...
> My father had a catamaran sailboat with 225 Mercruisers built in the '60s. It would really move out but the pounding between the hulls was scary.


 
Where the boat will be operating is pretty much inside the "Barrier" Islands so six foot seas would be pretty much some really nasty weather.... Where six foot "Deep" water is pretty much the norm... pretty shallow...


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## fogtender

When we get this in the water, will post a bunch of the photos of the endangered (NOT) polar bears for you entertainment... Unless of course the newly "attempted" endangered walruses get run over first, then I will post them...  Strictly a first come basis....


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## Doc

Great pics Foggy!   Why did the crane set the boat where it did?  Will the tide come up to help you launch it?  

Love the midnight pic.  Always wondered what it would look like from way up there with 24 hour sunshine.  More pics as you can please!!!!


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## fogtender

Doc said:


> Great pics Foggy! Why did the crane set the boat where it did? Will the tide come up to help you launch it?
> 
> Love the midnight pic. Always wondered what it would look like from way up there with 24 hour sunshine. More pics as you can please!!!!


 
They built a new Pad for the company that the boat will be leased to, and another company will be next to it... They put down Orange cones to mark the line so that one doesn't use the other's space! Don't look like much now, but by this time next year, there will be drilling rigs and all sorts of stuff there. The boat is set next to the cones, in a few days, one of the other boats will be setting next to it on the other side of the line... 

The tides there are only about a foot or so, there is a lot of current, but not much level change. When the wind blows from the Northeast, it will blow the water away from where we normally dock though and we have to go elsewhere.

The sun is pretty high at midnight, during summer. In winter, it doesn't come above the Horizon for about two months, it gets daylight, but like a dark cloudy day for a few hours then gets dark again. So it isn't totally dark like the movies and such claim, it is just "Legally" dark since the there is no sun to see in the "rise".

Here is a time elapse photo of the sun stages in summer, it was taken as the sun was "Setting" then rising. Pretty popular postcard with the tourist when they go there to see the place.


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## fogtender

Well got the boat operational. Had to build a dock for working off of, I designed it a few months ago on paper, then we had to do the assembly work on it with a contractor doing the welding of the spuds and such.  The only change was the flexifloats that we used were able to switch into a "U" instead of rectangle shape, so it can hold more boats and such.

Once the boat was in the water, took a quick test run and went out to one of the new drilling islands that is being built for the drilling rigs next winter to operate off of.

When the crews that are doing the dirt compaction on the island first get there, they all have to stay on the boat until one guy sneaks up to where the equipment is at to see if the Polar Bears aren't up there "Lurking", once he gives the OK, they all come up to start running their equipment for the day...  I think I would leave a loader down where they first get there for the days work, start it up and cruise around the island in a 30 ton piece of equipment looking for a white bear....  A Polar Bear was seen a few days earlier off of "Spy Island" a few hundred yards away, (part of the "Barrier Islands") a really big white one too.

Will be watching out for those endangered Polar bears that didn't get the message last year either, they show up about one every few days or so. Will post as I shoot them (with the camera).

Water is only open a few months of the year in spite of the Global Warming claims, the Arctic Ocean will be frozen across the whole polar ice cap by late October or early November...  The new dock comes out about the first part of October...


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## pirate_girl

Wow Foggy!!
Awesome pics hun 
I hope you don't mind... I just made this one my desktop background.


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## fogtender

pirate_girl said:


> I hope you don't mind... I just made this one my desktop background.


 
That is fine, will post a bunch more in the next few days.

Been out at the barrier Islands here on standby while the smaller boats are running a ten mile straight line in the ocean to measure the noise output from the boat for the "Whale" data. Seems to me that being "Harpooned" by the locals would be a lot more traumatic than some boat noise would be, but go figure...

Anyway, put some sounding buoy's out two days ago that we have to retrieve tomorrow morning to replace the batteries that are good for only three days. Have about 25 boats that have to go though the process for permitting to operate in the Oil Fields.

Haven't seen any polar bears yet, but did find a bunch of fresh tracks on the island where we set up on the beach with the bow, they were about twelve inches across for the front paws and wider for the back feet. 

The Catamaran hull really handles like a dream in four to six foot chop, more like floats when a "Normal" V-hull would slam into the oncoming waves.


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## fogtender

Here is a few photos of a guy working the angles of getting some good photos of a polar bear in Northern Canada this last winter....


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## Av8r3400

Seen these before, but still:

Insert *poop *into shorts, now.


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## fogtender

Last night we were running off the barrier islands and as we came around the point of one, there was a polar bears swimming out in open water.  Had to pull out of the way and leave the area, but got one good shot as we went away.


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## OhioTC18 RIP

That is an awesome picture.


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## pixie

Thanks for the great pictures !!!

Nice dock and ramp you got there.... how much does the catamaran draw ?


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## fogtender

pixie said:


> Thanks for the great pictures !!!
> 
> Nice dock and ramp you got there.... how much does the catamaran draw ?


 
It draws about three feet with the outdrives in the down posistion.  About 18 to 20 inches with them up.  When it is up on step, it draws about 22 inches or so.


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## fogtender

Yesterday, we were anchored out as a backup for some seismic boats doing a run to establish how much noise they make.  

There was a barrier island about six miles long we were anchored behind when this bear came down the beach.  It had a tracking collar on it, when it heard us, it took off like a bullet.... guess it figured we were going to dart it in the butt, because he remembered the last human encounter...

Getting a lot of Polar bears in the area now, they will continue until the ice comes back in about the first of October or earlier... About three to four months of open water, freezes every year in spite of Global Warming...


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## fogtender

Got a few more polar bear shots yesterday, will post them a bit later.


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## Av8r3400

fogtender said:


> Getting a lot of Polar bears in the area now, they will continue until the ice comes back in about the first of October or earlier... About three to four months of open water, freezes every year in spite of Global Warming...




Speaking of this, has anyone seen the *STUPID, MORONIC *TV commercials for the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) begging for money to help save the poor, dieing, drowning, defenseless, fuzzy, little, cute, polar bears?

I was so pissed I could have vomited!  


Ecco-Nazis!!!


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## fogtender

Av8r3400 said:


> Speaking of this, has anyone seen the *STUPID, MORONIC *TV commercials for the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) begging for money to help save the poor, dieing, drowning, defenseless, fuzzy, little, cute, polar bears?
> 
> I was so pissed I could have vomited!
> 
> 
> Ecco-Nazis!!!


 
They used the "Endangered Polar Bear" part to get oil drilling stopped in the Arctic, but when it was approved they had a caveat saying they were listed as far as it didn't impede the oil exploration, drove the tree huggers nuts! 

The population of Polar Bears has gone from about 5,000 twenty years ago to closer to 30,000.  That doesn't include the Canada versions and into the rest of the Arctic Rim.


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## fogtender

We have been at Gale Force winds for the last few days, the dock we built a few weeks ago is now "Toast" as a dock.  The beach photo where you see the gangway being offloaded is now cut back about 15 to 20 feet.  All the boats are up on the beach on the East Side of the Point, somewhat out of the weather.  

In spite of all the bad weather, had a sow Polar Bear with two cubs show up and one boar that walked though the boat area.

Sometime in a few days when the weather lays back down, we will re assemble the dock and start over.  Then get back to the oil searching stuff!


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## XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

fogtender said:


> In spite of all the bad weather, had a sow Polar Bear with two cubs show up and one boar that walked though the boat area.


 
I hope you gave them some warm blankets and perhaps offered them some enviro-nazis to chew on!  

Nice pics and I can honestly say: I am glad I am not there with you!


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## DaveNay

fogtender said:


> In spite of all the bad weather, had a sow Polar Bear with two cubs show up and one boar that walked though the boat area.



Stuffed, right?  'Cause everyone knows those things are endangered and pretty rare to see.


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## RedRocker

Mother nature can be a mean bitch!!
Lucky you got to see the last three polar bears,
those things are just about gone.


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## fogtender

RedRocker said:


> Mother nature can be a mean bitch!!
> Lucky you got to see the last three polar bears,
> those things are just about gone.


 

Well we bait for them by having a bunch of guys wearing "Mustang" suits walk on the beaches... They are bright orange work float suits, and down in the Gulf of Alaska, we call them "Orca" Lurer Suits, which the new guys don't think is very funny... Up here we replace "Orca" (killer whale) with "Polar Bear"....


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## fogtender

RedRocker said:


> Mother nature can be a mean bitch!!
> Lucky you got to see the last three polar bears,
> those things are just about gone.


 
I offered to take a couple of them out and have them stuffed so they wouldn't die of starvation and sink where nobody could see what they looked like, all they would have to do is stop by my house and "Ta-Da", there is one...


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## fogtender

Well getting to the end of the season running the Discovery in Prudhoe Bay area. Here are some more "endangered" polar bear photos and a clip of the Discovery making a run by the camera for me to take he shot. 

The first polar bear was about a quarter of a mile from where we operated out of, and then the second photo is when it go to close to some biologist and caught a dart on the butt...  All in the name of science of course...

The one laying on the beach was watching us as we cruised by, he was a pretty big guy too, way to fat from the swimming in from the Ice pack... must have ate a few boaters on the way in.

The boat will be out of the water in a few weeks if the "Global Warming" doesn't kick in, last year we had to pull the boats out two weeks earlier than the year before and the cold this year is coming even earlier than last year...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3XbthE2qdA"]YouTube - American Discovery at 30 knots[/ame]


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## pirate_girl

Thanks for sharing that Mark.
You know how I like the polar bears


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## fogtender

pirate_girl said:


> Thanks for sharing that Mark.
> You know how I like the polar bears


 
It was a fun boat to work on, fast and a really good ride!  Tomorrow I am getting ready to splash a thirty foot jet boat with twin 454 engines.  Should be a pretty fast boat.  We have had it for over a year and never had it wet until this last Thursday when I put the stern in the water to test run the engines.


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## RedRocker

I love that boat. Lucky you got a shot of that bear before it drowned!!


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## fogtender

RedRocker said:


> I love that boat. Lucky you got a shot of that bear before it drowned!!


 

Yeah, I guess that is why Polar Bears are called "Marine Mammals", just like seals, they swim....


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## RedRocker

fogtender said:


> Yeah, I guess that is why Polar Bears are called "Marine Mammals", just like seals, they swim....



I guess you didn't hear, the ice melts and they all drown!!
The folks in DC that have never been to AK said so and we 
know how sharp those dudes are.


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## fogtender

RedRocker said:


> I guess you didn't hear, the ice melts and they all drown!!
> The folks in DC that have never been to AK said so and we
> know how sharp those dudes are.


 
What is funny is the the "Shelf Ice" off shore is reforming earlier than Normal because the Arctic Ocean is colder than what it has been. They are estimating that we will be shutting down the boat operation on/about the 27 of Sept. this year. That is some 10 days earlier than last year, which was already two weeks earlier than the year before last. That is almost a month earlier freezeup than three years ago. 

Wonder where the Church of Global Warming is hiding on that issue... The ""


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## RedRocker

That must be "climate change" rather than "global warming", there is a difference I'm sure, and they both require government funding to study.


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