PADDLEWHEELER FOR THE INSIDE PASSAGE
Of course Pacific Northwest-based naval architects don’t have to stray very far from home to find work. Washington State firms had a big hand in developing The 360 ft x 58 ft 4 in Empress of the North, the first paddlewheel vessel to carry passengers from Seattle to Juneau, Alaska, along the Inside Passage in 100 years.
Guido Perla & Associates (GPA) developed the conceptual and contracts designs for the Empress, which was built by Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Inc. Freeland, Wash., for American West Steamboat Co. (AWSC), Seattle. GPA also provided detail construction engineering support for all major vessel systems, including steel lofting for hull and superstructure, detailed piping arrangements, major electrical systems and outfitting.
Interior design for the Empress was developed by Andrea Piacentini Design, Inc., Seattle.
Operating on the Inside Passage—-considered an international route-—and in the coastal waters of Washington and Oregon, the Empress presented a unique design challenge for GPA. The Empress was designed and built to meet the International SOLAS regulations (to which the United States is signatory) and the International Load Line Convention. It’s also classed with the American Bureau of Shipping.
Propulsion is supplied by an integrated, AC-DC, diesel-electric power plant consisting of four Caterpillar 3516B engines with Kato generators outputting 1,825 kW at 600 rev/min. Power Conversion GE propulsion switchboard, transformers and SCR drives provide power to DC electric drive motors.
To obtain the required speed and maneuverability, the Empress has two Schottel STP 1212 Rudderpropellers, each driven by a GE 2,000 hp Kinematic motor. Each rudderpropeller uses two, three-bladed propellers of 2,200 mm diameter each, one propeller pulling and one propeller pushing. The two drive units, one each on the port and starboard sides, each have a forward and aft propeller that can turn 360 degrees, providing both propulsion and steering with more efficiency than single propellers and rudders. The vessel also has a Schottel SPJ 220 pump jet driven by a GE 1,000-hp 752 DC motor that provides 360 degrees of thrust not only for close maneuvering but for slow speed thrust.
The 36.5 ft diameter paddlewheel, which is capable of propelling the vessel, has 20 buckets and is driven by a GE 1,000-hp 752 DC motor through a custom Lufkin gear box.
LANDING CRAFT FOR WASHINGTON STATE
Last April, San Juan Ferry & Barge, which provides service to islands not served by Washington State Ferries, selected Seattle-based Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) to complete the contract design for a new landing craft, the M/V Henry Island. In order to speed the delivery of the vessel, EBDG designed and lofted the landing craft simultaneously, allowing shipyard Latitude Marine Services, La Conner, Wash., to begin cutting steel in December 2002.
The 81 ft steel vessel has a ramp forward designed for beach loading and can handle loads up to 90 tons. The main engines are twin John Deere model 6081 each rated 235 bhp at 2,100 rev/min complete with Twin Disc gear.
HOVERCRAFT FOR NORTH SLOPE
Regional builders have also been licensed to build international designs. In the high speed ferry market, for example, Nichols Brothers Boat Builders is a licensed builder of Australia’s INCAT Designs of Sydney, while Dakota Creek Industries, Anacortes, Wash., is a U.S. licensee of Australia’s AMD.
Another builder of aluminum fast craft, Kvichak Marine Industries, Seattle, recently 
delivered the Arctic Hawk, a Griffon 2000TD hovercraft, to Crowley Marine Services Inc., Seattle, for use on the North Slope of Alaska for British Petroleum.
Kvichak Marine is licensed to construct hovercraft for the U.S. based on designs from the U.K.’s Griffon Hovercraft Ltd.
Working in one of the most inhospitable climates and under some of the most testing conditions in the world, the 35-knot, 42 ft x 20 ft Arctic Hawk is used as a logistics vessel carrying personnel, goods and equipment to Northstar Island, a man-made offshore production island, in Prudhoe Bay. The route from the mainland base to the island is roughly six nautical miles and the sea is frozen for about nine months during the year. Currently BP employs a mix of helicopters, crew boats, haglands, CATCO rollagons, barges and ice roads to access Northstar Island. Since it can be used all year round, the hovercraft could potentially replace the expense of having multiple modes of transportation. .
