All American delivers new ferry for King County

The Sally Fox was joined by sister vessel Doc Maynard in service for King County, Washington. The catamarans were both built by All American Marine

OCTOBER 7, 2015—King County’s newest vessel, the M/V Doc Maynard, started service on the Vashon route on September 29 sailing from Pier 50.  The ferry replaced her sister ship, the M/V Sally Fox, which is being removed from service for scheduled warranty work.

Both the Sally Fox and Doc Maynard were built by All American Marine, Inc. (AAM), Bellingham, WA. The 105 ft x 33 ft aluminum catamaran ferries are the first U.S. Coast Guard Sub-chapter “K” inspected passenger vessels built and delivered under new guidelines that make it possible for boat builders to design and implement suitable structural fire protection in very low fire load spaces in the construction of weight-sensitive high speed passenger vessels.

AAM partnered with naval architecture firm, Teknicraft Design Ltd., of Auckland, New Zealand for the hull design. All American Marine is the exclusive builder for Teknicraft Design Ltd. catamarans in North America.

Each ferry is powered by two Cummins QSK-50 Tier 3 diesel engines, rated at 1,800 bhp at 1,900 rev/min and driving twin propellers to provide a service speed of 28 knots. The ferries also burn a 10 percent biodiesel blend and have LED lighting onboard.

With traffic congestion on roads and bridges continuing to plague area commuters, King County is also exploring a plan to possibly add ferry service on Lake Washington, something that hasn’t happened since the 1950s.

Tour the new boat

All American Marine is sponsoring a tour of the Doc Maynard at MARINE LOG’S FERRIES 2015 Conference & Expo, set for November 5-6, 2015 at the Hyatt Olive 8 in Seattle. As part of the tour, Joe Hudspeth, Vice President of Business Development, All American Marine and Paul Brodeur, Director of King County Marine Division, will jointly discuss the features and capabilities of the new ferries. Those interested in the tour should sign up early as space is limited. See www.marinelog.com/ferries or e-mail conferences@sbpub.com for more details.