[thumper]

does anyone know what is going on with the old bc ferries fast cats? i thought they were docked near londsdale quay in north van, but i was in deep cove last night and saw one of them sitting on some sort of transport ship just outside of the cove:

http://www.revscene.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=150&pictureid=1985

what is going on? :confused:

[misteranswer]

http://www.timescolonist.com/sports/2010wintergames/starred+fast+ferries+sold+overseas+buyer/1839698/story.html

[Supafly]

they have been sold...apparently they sold it for 20Mil...and the dude who bought it flipped it for 25% profit.
His name just slipped my mind..I will comeback with the name...

[Jsunu]

Jesus christ, they lost A LOT of money on these pieces of shit.

[fliptuner]

We lost $425mil on those fucking things.

Supafly, it's all in the article...

[jackmeister]

they have been sold...apparently they sold it for 20Mil...and the dude who bought it flipped it for 25% profit.
His name just slipped my mind..I will comeback with the name...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/DennisWashington.jpg/756px-DennisWashington.jpg

Dennis Washington

[hk20000]

that's money that's gone to some west van people's houses. GG government for not doing research before doing big ass projects!

[Mancini]

The original buyer was the builder.

[Ax2-Y]

The original buyer was the builder.

the original builder was the most recent buyer. :thumbsup:

we were the original buyers.

[Gumby]

Huh? According to Wikipedia, they were built by Catamaran Ferries International of Vancouver BC (owned by BC government). Then Washington Marine Group bought them at auction (for 4% of the original cost) once we decided to abandon them.

So is WMG related to CFI?

[shenmecar]

Wonder what it will be used for. Transporting billionaires to their own private islands?

[misteranswer]

So is WMG related to CFI?

No

[Gumby]

No
Then why are some people saying that the original builder was the most recent buyer?

[misteranswer]

Then why are some people saying that the original builder was the most recent buyer?

I don't know. They're idiots?

[q0192837465]

And they dare to say they need money to build those damn skytrain when they literally flushed all that money down the toilet.

[fliptuner]

I don't know. They're idiots?

Bingo!!!

Washington Marine didn't build them. They bought them (cheap) after the project was scrapped. Had plans to use them as truck/freight transport, scrapped that idea and sold them to the Middle East.

[Great68]

The government could have sold them for a lot more money. I got the chance to ride them once, and they were actually pretty nice. If you ask me they should have kept using them, fuck the hippies that complained about the big wake.
It was political to dump them cheap, keep people pissed off at the previous government for building them.

[CP.AR]

Damn NDP. never voting for them again

[Corey Darling]

.

[fliptuner]

If I'm not mistaken, they left huge wakes, were crap on fuel, didn't fit into some of the docks, were cramped for parking and for interior space.

NDP fail for commissioning the build of something that wouldn't work as needed, spending more than double what they projected, allowing the project to be delayed by 3 years and using shipbuilders that weren't familiar with aluminum construction on that scale. They spent so much of our money, trying to be new and innovative when, if they went with something tried and true, could've got the job done faster and cheaper.

Liberal fail for what they sold it for.

[impactY]

i also had the chance to ride in them. A lot nicer than the current " celebration " ferries. I remember the vehicle decks had aluminum floors.

[Soundy]

How was it the NDP's fault? If I recall, it were the Liberals who pawned them off.

NDP fail for commissioning the build of something that wouldn't work as needed, spending more than double what they projected, allowing the project to be delayed by 3 years and using shipbuilders that weren't familiar with aluminum construction on that scale. They spent so much of our money, trying to be new and innovative when, if they went with something tried and true, could've got the job done faster and cheaper.

Yup - these pigs are entirely the NDP's project.

Liberal fail for what they sold it for.

They've been trying to sell them for years, and they've sat there rotting. They got what they could for them. That someone else is a better shyster that managed to flip them for more isn't their fault.

i also had the chance to ride in them. A lot nicer than the current " celebration " ferries. I remember the vehicle decks had aluminum floors.

"Nicer" how? The aluminum car decks were slick and murder for cyclists. You weren't allowed to stay in your car at all; the car decks had no windows at all. The carpet in the things was technicolor vomit. The stairs to the upper deck were barely wide enough for a single person to pass, let alone people going up AND down. There was very, very little outside deck space. They rolled HORRIBLY in even moderate seas that you wouldn't even feel on a standard deep-V hull (on the plus side, playing pinball in the arcade was a wild experience in those conditions), and the last time I took one, they had to stop and back up to clear debris from the jet intakes... and apparently this was a fairly regular occurrence.

If I'm not mistaken, they left huge wakes, were crap on fuel, didn't fit into some of the docks, were cramped for parking and for interior space.

And all that, too.

They looked slick and high-tech from the outside, but that's about all that was good about them.

[misteranswer]

They've been trying to sell them for years, and they've sat there rotting. They got what they could for them. That someone else is a better shyster that managed to flip them for more isn't their fault.


Not the mention it took them 6 years to "flip them" for a measly 25% profit.

[fliptuner]

Not the mention it took them 6 years to "flip them" for a measly 25% profit.

I'm sure for the first few years, WMG had big plans for them that never materialized. They did do work on them at the Drydock and Seaspan (retrofits for non-public use). But yeah, even with good contacts, they didn't make much, if anything.

[Hondaracer]

shoulda parked em somewhere and moved the DTES into em

[fliptuner]

shoulda parked em somewhere and moved the DTES into em

Moved the DTES into them first, taken it here http://maps.google.com/maps?q=bernard%20island%20nt&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
then killed the engines.

[Hondaracer]

^ lol

at first i was like hmm?.. maybe queen chartlottes?

then you back out and see it's an island, surrounded by islands, surrounded by ocean lol

[Gumby]

They looked slick and high-tech from the outside, but that's about all that was good about them.
I think they would have worked in another part of the world (i.e. Europe), just not in the waters of the Strait of Georgia with our big North-American cars.

^ lol

at first i was like hmm?.. maybe queen chartlottes?

then you back out and see it's an island, surrounded by islands, surrounded by ocean lol
Not only that, but that island is north of the Arctic Circle!! :lol

[Soundy]

I think they would have worked in another part of the world (i.e. Europe), just not in the waters of the Strait of Georgia with our big North-American cars.

They might have worked better (and still might, in all fairness) somewhere with calmer seas, and nice wide-open seaways where they can get up to full operating speed without worrying about the huge wake.

They're just the wrong design for ANY of BC's ferry routes. They should have chopped a good 10-15 minutes off the crossing, but by the time they crawled out of Horseshoe Bay to avoid destroying everyone's docks, they didn't save any time at all.

[SpartanAir]

It's just amazing to me that BEFORE struggling with all the issues that came up with these ferries, EVERYONE overlooked the fact that if the ferry is going to travel faster, which was the main reason to have the 'fast ferries', why the FUCK did they not think that they just might create large wakes when they approach the docks?

How the FUCK does that LITTLE FACT slip by everyone who approved of the project?

[Mancini]

The problem with the crossing isn't the travel time on the ferry. It's the MULTI-HOUR LINEUP.

How many standard ferries could they have purchased with that money?

[johny]

Huh? According to Wikipedia, they were built by Catamaran Ferries International of Vancouver BC (owned by BC government). Then Washington Marine Group bought them at auction (for 4% of the original cost) once we decided to abandon them.

So is WMG related to CFI?


they were either built in vancouver ship yard or vancouver dry dock. both are owned by washington. CFI might have been the BC gov. supervison of it or something. that was the 3rd one of 3 leaving last week. first 2 already left. they were bought by another ship yard in the middle east and will be turned into yatchs and resold.

[Soundy]

It's just amazing to me that BEFORE struggling with all the issues that came up with these ferries, EVERYONE overlooked the fact that if the ferry is going to travel faster, which was the main reason to have the 'fast ferries', why the FUCK did they not think that they just might create large wakes when they approach the docks?

How the FUCK does that LITTLE FACT slip by everyone who approved of the project?

It's not the speed so much, as the fact that the cat hulls produce a larger wake than the deep-Vs at the same given speed. So these things had to go EXTRA-slow out of harbor, which negated the (presumably) faster crossing time. They did outpace the C-class boats a bit once they got to open water... assuming the seas weren't too high.

The problem with the crossing isn't the travel time on the ferry. It's the MULTI-HOUR LINEUP.

How many standard ferries could they have purchased with that money?

Well, that was the other problem, they held only a fraction of the C-class ships' car complement.... I think something like 20% less?? Even if they had been able to run full-speed, I don't think it would have been 20% faster.

And of course, the speed doesn't help if you have to stop and clear debris from the jet intakes... and can't handle rough seas as well as the deep-V.

[Mancini]

They've been trying to sell them for years, and they've sat there rotting. They got what they could for them. That someone else is a better shyster that managed to flip them for more isn't their fault.


Actually, the scrap metal value was reported to be 40 million and they sold them for 19. Presumably, this was done to exaggerate the NDP blunder of commissioning them in the first place.

Shyster's on both sides of the transaction.

[!Aznboi128]

those fast cats would of made a terrific yacht, but in the end its amazing how much we lost selling those things

[misteranswer]

Actually, the scrap metal value was reported to be 40 million and they sold them for 19. Presumably, this was done to exaggerate the NDP blunder of commissioning them in the first place.

Shyster's on both sides of the transaction.

Yet, the Washington Marine group only sold them for several million more. I guess they're trying to exaggerate the NDP blunder too eh?