MADONNA PROJECT AT BAY SHIPBUILDING - 21.0

Upper deck shows screening and handrails in place.  These were
fabricated by a subcontractor and painted white prior
to installation. Handrails are stainless and
will not be painted. (Rich Ellefson photo)

Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -

Weather changes and Island outdoor appearances happened rather rapidly this past week.  Ice has all but disappeared. Only small bits, or banks, remain here and there.   Driving rain and NE winds on Saturday and Sunday created a high lake level.  Two cool and cloudy days followed, along with lower to mid-30s temperatures Monday and Tuesday.

Sculptural piping connects port main engine to keel
cooler, an exterior heat exchanger fastened to the hull.

Wednesday, April 1, however, was pleasant and sunny (no foolin'), and Thursday topped Wednesday, with temperatures in full sunshine and out of the breeze reaching 50.   It was so warm that I bought several buckets of stain and went to work on the boathouse cedar shingle siding.  It's been six or more years since I had last stained them, and the shingles were dry.  While I stained, Dougie Foss continued work nearby on the boardwalk project I had given up on in early May of 2019, when high water made it too difficult.   A wind shift to the NW Wednesday, and then to the west Thursday morning, drove lake water back to Charlevoix and helped dry out grounds surrounding the docks. Ideal working conditions.

Ramp kingpost, starboard, forward.

Looking for afterwork activity for himself and his boys, Hoyt launched Moby Dick late yesterday.  This craft enables them to enjoy scavenging planks and pieces of wood along shore, fenders, pieces of docks - whatever they find of interest that surging waves have broken loose and washed onto beaches of nearby shores.

The morning struck us as being unusually pleasant. Even though there had been a heavy white frost on the grass at 7:00 am, nary a ripple marred the harbor's surface.  Mary Jo and I satisfied our urge to cruise around the harbor's perimeter, our first such outing of 2020.  High water permitted coasting close-in along the shallows for a look at dwellings, docks and natural shoreline features.

That's what's happening in this corner of Detroit Harbor in the first days of April.

Meanwhile in Sturgeon Bay, at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding workers continued construction on the Madonna within the large paint shed.  Rich Ellefson was on hand Monday and part of Tuesday to observe and take photos.  

Rich reported that the yard work force remains at "full strength," although the numbers assigned to the Madonna have been reduced to a couple of workers in each of these areas:  pilot house, upper deck, engine room.  The upper "sun" deck is undergoing a sand blasting in the latter days of this week in preparation for painting.

Passenger cabin on mezzanine deck, an
intermediate space between main deck and
uppermost sun deck.

A May 30th delivery date, target date since the project began, could possibly extend a few days into June in order to accomplish noted change orders.  But over all, this project is still on schedule.  The shipyard plans to move the ferry from the paint shed outdoors, and then into the water before mid-April.  The Fajoli transporters, key piece of equipment for moving this vessel from one building to another and, finally, to the launch site, must be returned to the Fincantieri Marinette shipyard at mid-month.  
 

Sun deck, uppermost passenger deck. 

Coast Guard Marine Inspectors remain on hand and as active as ever, with an inspection staff member keeping abreast of work being accomplished.

Pilot house, with life jacket storage
locker beneath. 

Pilot house construction may have slipped a few days, but that fact shouldn't alter the launch plans.  It can be set later as one piece on the ferry upper deck once the hull is floating.

Thoughts of a christening date have been shoved to the back burner, not knowing what the Coronavirus situation may be when the vessel is ready for delivery, whether or not a public gathering will be at all prudent then.  We're not pressed in any way to place the new vessel into service once it has been delivered.  As of this point in early April, often a time when construction projects pick up pace, people begin to open up their summer homes, and fishermen test nearby waters, our four daily round trips have offered more than enough capacity for essential vehicles and goods needing transport.

Stated another way, the delivery and christening of this new ferry Madonna is well down the current list of Ferry Line concerns.

-  Dick Purinton