BC Ferry "Quinsam" not running?

[TH2008]

I saw today that the BC ferry servicing Gabriola Island, which is usually the Quinsam, was replaced with the Bowen Queen.

Anyone know why the Quinsam is not on that route?

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TH

[yorway]

I saw today that the BC ferry servicing Gabriola Island, which is usually the Quinsam, was replaced with the Bowen Queen.

Anyone know why the Quinsam is not on that route?

--
TH

It is out for a midlife refit. Boy that is an awful long life span

http://www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=69434

[Soda]

All I can say is, having the "pleasure" of working on Gabriola on occasion, the new ferry is much smaller and less accommodating for larger vehicles... the 4 outside lanes are 6' 8" clearance at most and the single inside lane fills up very quickly with hydro trucks, water trucks and delivery vans. I want the old ferry back!!

[TH2008]

It is out for a midlife refit. Boy that is an awful long life span

http://www.bcferries.com/bcfservicenotice?id=69434

I see. Thanks.

The Quinsam was looking like a real beater ferry last time I saw it. A total rust bucket. So I suppose it should be looking pretty spiffy again when it comes back into service.

I wonder if they will paint Olympic logos on it? Not that I care, or anything.

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TH

[Smokey©]

The Quinsum was built in Vancouver in 1982 so if it is a mid-life refit, that means they plan on using it for another 26 years or a total of 52 years, which is only 9 years more then the age of the Bowen Queen (it's current replacement) or 6 more years then the Queen of Vancouver has been used on the Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay run. The Langdale Queen retired in 1976 after 73 years of service, so a 52 year aniticipated life span is not a short one.

[Flugel Horn]

The replacement ship Bowen-Queen is currently serving as the fleet's replacement ship for many small routes. ie. "rented mule" of the fleet.

She regularly replaces the Howe Sound Queen on the Crofton-Vesuvius (Salt Spring Island) run, as well as replacing the North Island Princess on the Texada Island run and replacing the Powell River Queen on the Quadra Island run.

On all these replacements, there is always a loss of overheight & overweight vehicle capacity, because of the Bowen Queen only having 1 overheight lane (in the centre of the ship).

BC Ferries built 3 ships in the Bowen Queen class in the 1960's. Similar to today's new ships, they didn't really know the extent and mix of vehicle usage when they designed the ships, and so they soon found that the "only 1 overheight lane" was inadequate on some runs. So they took 1 of these 3 new ships (the Powell River Queen, on the Earls Cove - Saltery Bay run) and modified her to elminate those side saddle-bag passenger lounges, resuting in all lanes now having overheight capacity. But they left the other 2 ships in their original configuration.

I could go on.....