USCG's 180-foot Seagoing Buoy Tender

[Timerover51]

I so wish I could afford one. I think you could convert one into a really nice yacht, but the fuel costs? Lors have mercy.

Based on talking with Bob LeFean, the second to the last captain of the Bramble, who has been helping to maintain it in Port Huron, fuel consumption at moderate cruising speed, with one main and one auxiliary going is about 50 gallons of marine Diesel an hour, or 1200 gallons a day.  In Port Huron, as of today, 12 January, marine Diesel was going for $2.77 a gallon.  I am not sure about the yacht, but she would make a pretty good inter-island passenger/cargo ship too.  Having the captain's cabin right above the galley is great for winter and Arctic and Antarctic trips but not so good in the summer.  I am not ruling out Arctic or Antarctic work.

I will hopefully be moving the ship about the first week in April.  Would any of you 180 vets want another voyage on one?  Moving crew positions are available.

[Zoomer]

Hey, cheaper than diesel at the gas pumps here....gettin' near Four bucks a gallon.  Guess there isn't a good place to put up a mast for a sail on a 180

[Timerover51]

Hey, cheaper than diesel at the gas pumps here....gettin' near Four bucks a gallon.  Guess there isn't a good place to put up a mast for a sail on a 180

Hmm, if you put the crane vertical and rigged some stays to take up the strain, you probably could run a couple of jib sails to the bow, and then rig a gaff staysail aft of the stack on the empty 3' gun platform.  I am not sure how much that would boost your speed though.  And if you think that Diesel is high, I just got a quote from the Central Solomon Islands where I am heading, where the price per gallon is $6.16 US Dollars for bulk Diesel.

During World War 2, the British built Harbor Defense Motor Launches that could also be sailed for overseas deployment, but they were only 72 feet long. 

During World War One, some of the British monitors rigged sails to increase or supplement their speed.  The smaller monitors that were designed to carry a single 9.2 inch gun look a lot like the 180s and were comparable in size at 177' X 31' X 6', with a displacement of 585 tons.  The main difference is the shallower draft and narrower beam, but both types share the same raised forecastle, large well deck, and aft superstructure with a clear stern.

[Zoomer]

Can you emagine how that 180 would heal over in a healthy wind   Maybe have to tack on some outriggers

[vftb]

Would any of you 180 vets want another voyage on one?  Moving crew positions are available.

Keep us posted on your progress Dale.  I think I might know an ole 180' QM that, given the timing, would love to help you move her  .

[vftb]

This is very rough, cause I used courses I plotted on Google Earth along with their distance calculator.  Trip from Port Huron to Escanaba is about 350 nautical miles; at an average of 11 knots, this would be about 32 hours underway.  Consuming 50 gallons per hour at $2.77/gal. you're talking about $4,432 worth of fuel just to make that trip  .

[ET1-Once]

I would jump on this in a heartbeat but they probably don't need an old burned out ET for this cruise.  And by the way Stan, they probably don't need any old burned out GM's either

[vftb]

Don't sell yourself short Gordy.  Betcha there's some old electronics on there that would appreciate the touch of an old hand.  As far as Stan goes, a couple of line handlers are probably required  .

[Zoomer]

And Stan could dish out the lines, I'm sure.  Dunno if he could take 'em in

[ET1-Once]

If he had a good Chief Boats to kick him in the ass you may be suprised how fast he could pull that line

[Timerover51]

This is very rough, cause I used courses I plotted on Google Earth along with their distance calculator.  Trip from Port Huron to Escanaba is about 350 nautical miles; at an average of 11 knots, this would be about 32 hours underway.  Consuming 50 gallons per hour at $2.77/gal. you're talking about $4,432 worth of fuel just to make that trip  .

The Great Lakes and Seaway shipping site gives the distance from Port Huron, Michigan to Escanaba, Michigan via the shortest safe shipping route as 376 statute miles.  Assuming an 8 knot/9+mile per hour cruising speed, that will be about 42 hours.  That would be about 2100 gallons of Diesel, costing $5817.  Getting her towed there is going to run me at least $5000 a day or fraction thereof, so about twice that.  However, she deserves to make the trip under her own power.  I have no desired for her to suffer the indignity of being towed.  She is heading for a new life, not the scrap yard.

As for crew, gentlemen, if you are physically up to it, can devote the time as volunteers without pay, except for three squares and a bunk, and can manage to get yourself to Port Huron, and then to your home from Escanaba, I am open to everyone.  Based on the most recent email from Bob LeFean, the former captain, both the main engines could use some work, so engineering expertise is my biggest need.  I am already picking up some retired Coasties, and also Lake boat sailors, that are looking to do take part in a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.  Once she is ready to go, then I am heading for the Central Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, through the Panama Canal, stopping in Brisbane, Australia for fuel top of and stocking supplies. 

Targets are the USS Strong, a Fletcher-class destroyer sunk off of the northwest coast of the island of New Georgia, and the USS Grampus, a submarine that went missing in the area on March 5/6, 1943.  Search them and get an idea of what I am going after.

[vftb]

Your assumption of 8 knots is probably more realistic than my 11 knots.

[EX-CG-GM]

As far as Stan goes, a couple of line handlers are probably required

And Stan could dish out the lines, I'm sure.  Dunno if he could take 'em in

If he had a good Chief Boats to kick him in the ass you may be suprised how fast he could pull that line

Sheesh!  Take an evening off and come back to find I am being slandered!

I was a non-rate for over two years before I became a GM.  Even as GM I did deck force stuff.  I was on the aft falls on the boat lowering detail, bow hook in the MLB and stood underway BMOW on two 180's.

I can splice line (well, the old fashioned three strand stuff), tie a multitude of knots, stand helm watches, throw a heaving line without taking out windshields in the parking lot, etc.  Hell, I be better than some BM's I knew!   

[Timerover51]

I so wish I could afford one. I think you could convert one into a really nice yacht, but the fuel costs? Lors have mercy.

Gentlemen, I am setting up a fund with the Museum to accept contributions in order to get her ready to move.  She needs new starting batteries, some work on the main engines, and the Number 3 emergency generator needs new fuel injectors.  If anyone wants to help out giving the Bramble an entirely new life, I will make sure that you have a plaque on the ship recognizing you and your help.  And a BIG THANK YOU TO THOSE THAT HAVE ALREADY VOLUNTEERED HELP.

[BuoyJumper]

Bramble could have new home
Illinois man works on bid for decommissioned cutter
By CRYSTAL GARCIA
Times Herald
January 21, 2011



PORT HURON — The decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard cutter Bramble could begin a new life as early as April.

Dale Ridder, 59, of Zion, Ill., who took a tour of the ship in October, said Thursday he hopes to submit a bid by the end of the month or early next month.

The Bramble, commissioned in 1944, is owned by the Port Huron Museum, which received the ship after it was decommissioned in 2003. The museum's board of trustees decided in December 2009 to sell the ship.

"I was awed by the condition," Ridder said of the Bramble. "It was almost like the Coast Guard had just decommissioned her. The volunteers have done an absolutely fantastic job. I just can't praise them enough."

Ridder said that, if his effort to buy the Bramble succeeds, he hopes to have the vessel moving by the first week of April. He plans to head to Escanaba to repair the ship and make it ready for civilian service.

After the projected repairs are complete, he hopes to go to the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific to locate a sunken destroyer, the USS Strong, and a submarine, the USS Grampus, which disappeared in the area in March 1943.

He said the most appealing thing about the Bramble was its size.

"There's plenty of room on that ship," Ridder said. "That's why I'm focusing on her. The Bramble is in marvelous shape. She does need some work on the engine, but she's what I'm looking for."

He said he is planning to use the Bramble as a full-time research ship.

One other group has expressed an interest in the ship, but it is trying to raise the money for a bid, said Bob LaFean, of Fair Winds Consulting in Port Huron, during a Bramble Crew meeting Thursday.

Expenses for the ship are about $100,000 a year, while income generated by the vessel for the museum's fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 totaled about $38,000.

LaFean said the asking price of the ship is $300,000.

Susan Bennett, executive director of the Port Huron Museum, has said that, until a bid is accepted for the ship, public visits to the Bramble will be "business as usual," and events and overnights will continue to be booked on the ship.

Fifty people are expected to stay on the ship this weekend, said Sheila Lindsey, business and tour manager, at the meeting.

Bennett said there are 17 overnights booked after April 1, but she is "working on alternatives" should the boat be sold.

Despite the deficit the Bramble produces for the museum, officials want to make sure it will have a good home.

"I don't want anything deteriorating," Juanita Gittings, chairwoman of the Port Huron Museum Board of Trustees, said at the meeting. "I want to be a good steward. ...Whatever we do, we do it respectfully, and we do it the right way."

Ridder said he appreciates the Bramble's history and doesn't anticipate that many changes to the ship would be needed.

"I plan on taking very good care of the ship," he said.

Original Article