While Voyageurs National Park received permission and the funding to purchase a new tour boat, it's going to take just a little while for that cruiser to show up in Rainy Lake.
The 49-passenger boat is being built by Armstrong Marine, Inc. which, interestingly enough, happens to be based near Olympic National Park at Port Angeles, Washington
This tour boat will have an upper, open-air viewing deck with pilot house and an enclosed lower deck with seating, galley, and other amenities; the lower level will be wheelchair accessible. The boat will be powered by twin 600hp Cummins diesel engines, have a tunnel drive, and bow thrusters. It will run on biodiesel fuel.
Now, if you want to see the progression of this craft's construction, you can go to Armstrong Marine's website and see some photos. Here's how you do that:
* Go to www.armstrongmarine.com
* Click on Login – top right below the search box
* Enter user name: vpns
* Enter password: rainy2009
* Go to the Navigation bar and click on VNPS
* Select an album to view – photos will progress automatically
The contract with Armstrong Marine calls for the boat to be delivered in June 2010.
Comments
Interesting.
What I was interested in while looking at it is how will it be delivered to Voyageurs? Is it trucked ?
Good question, DK. Here's the answer:
The boat will be trucked on two semis. The top half and the bottom half each on a vehicle. The marine company will then take about two weeks to put it together at the park or at a local yard. That will be followed by another two weeks of testing and Coast Guard certification.