By Jeff Chew
Peninsula Daily News
Construction of the Port Townsend-Keystone route's $65.5 million ferry of the future is at full throttle, with the vessel's pilot house structures nearing completion on Whidbey Island and hull keel units well under way, representatives of Todd Pacific Shipyard's project team said Tuesday.
While Nichols Brothers Boat Builders work on the pilot houses and the superstructure that will include the passenger cabin above the deck, Nichols is doing the work at the company's shipyard in Freeland on Whidbey Island.
At the same time, Todd workers in their building berth at Harbor Island in Seattle are fabricating the ferry's steel hull with bottom units and the box keel units. About 80 feet of keel has been laid.
Everett Shipyard is building the vessel's mezzanine section and curtain plates, the sides of the vessel.
Jesse Engineering in Tacoma is building bow parts.
Combined, the shipbuilding companies are racing to meet the June 30, 2010, deadline set by Washington State Ferries and the state Department of Transportation, which hope to have the completed vessel on the water for sea trials by August.
On schedule
"It's an exceptionally challenging schedule, but as of right now, Todd and all of our subcontractors are on schedule," said John Lockwood, Todd's marketing and business development director.
"Around January, the hull will be taken out of our building berth, and the superstructure grand block will be placed onto the ship and welded in place."
Todd has also begun work on the vessel's piping system, he said.
"It really is exciting to see the ship taking shape here in the building hall," he said.
Such "modularized construction" is the way ship construction is done today, according to Lockwood.
"Right now, we're just building the first ship of a class, and we hope to build more in the future. That just remains to be seen."
He said that "the lead ship of a class is always the toughest one" because it sets a model for future vessels of its kind and requires more refinement.
The Port Townsend-Keystone route was left with one boat, the 50-car Steilacoom II leased from Pierce County after state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond in November 2007 retired the 80-year-old Steel Electric ferries, saying their pitted and corroded hulls made then unsafe.
Work on the new ferry began in May after it was designed to ply the waters of Admiralty Inlet.
The ship builders were allotted about 12 months to complete the job under Gov. Chris Gregoire's decision to build the new ferry on a fast track.
Greg Farrar, Nichols Brothers project manager, said the company's "grand modules," those sections of the vessel's upper superstructure, will be completed for towing to Todd Shipyard in mid- to late-January.
"It will leave in three great big, huge pieces and they'll hire cranes and set them in place [on the hull] and fit them and weld them into place," Farrar said.
Farrar said the aluminum pilot house structures, about 16 feet deep and 62 feet long and about 15 feet tall, are about a week away from being completed.
"We are getting ready to mock up the console for instrumentation" inside the pilot houses, with ferry system officials overseeing it, he said.
"It's kind of like what is on the ferry between Clinton and Mukilteo, except it stretches across the entire superstructure," Farrar said.
The mast structures will be installed atop the pilot houses, adding up to another 22 feet, he said.
About 50 skilled workers have helped construct Nichols portion of the project, he said.
The deck panels are being built at Everett Shipyard, and the superstructure will be erected above those panels. Farrar said each of three deck panels is 38 to 40 feet long and 62 feet wide.
Cost
Todd's lone bid on the 64-car vessel proposal in December 2008 came in $40 million over budget to build two Island Home-style ferries for the Port Townsend-Keystone route.
Todd proposed bid is $124,450,559 for two vessels and $65,487,328 for one, with Todd Chief Executive Officer Steve Welch explaining that the tight deadline and rising expense of materials drove the price up.
The state settled for one ferry to expedite construction.
The state originally budgeted $84.5 million for the two-ferry project, but this legislative session ended with money budgeted for two 64-car ferries earmarked for the Port Townsend-Keystone run.
Port Townsend will still get a second ferry and a third 64-car ferry is planned for use elsewhere in the system, state officials have said.
The Steilacoom II -- which Farrar said Nichols Brothers built, but not with Admiralty Inlet's harsh sea conditions in mind -- is known to be left at the dock by high winds and heavy seas across Admiralty Inlet. That ferry was built for the much calmer waters of Steilacoom and Anderson and Ketron islands in Pierce County.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com
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