Sea Stories
M/V Chaos In Transport
I managed and was captain of Chaos, a Fairline 66 yacht, for a year.
We experienced so many adventures on Chaos.
I delivered her from Michigan to Wisconsin and oversaw her decommissioning
for travel by truck. I followed the truck from Wisconsin to
Clarksville, WA and over saw her re-commissioning. I brought her
down the eight locks of the Snake and
Columbia Rivers to Portland, Oregon.
Then it was up to Vancouver and Victoria, Canada for several months.
We made a long passage down the west coast to Marina del
Rey for refurbishing. We escorted
the Marina del Rey to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico sailboat
race. We spent a few months in Puerto Vallarta making voyages as
far south as Manzanillo. We spent a
month in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico during Spring Break.
We made a long passage back up the west coast to Santa
Barbara, California.
This page is about our adventures on Chaos from Muskegon,
Michigan to Clarkston, Washington by truck.
Crossing the mountainous western with a 66 foot
vessel on a truck presented many challenges.
The pictures on this page are cropped from a full size picture which
gives a better perspective to what is being shown. To see a picture
full size, simply click on the picture and it
will appear full size in a new browser.
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On the left is Chaos in Muskegon, Michigan, ready for our adventure.
I spent a week in Michigan preparing her for her upcoming journey
to Santa Barbara. Later I found out that the trip would take a year
with adventures in Canada and Mexico.
On the right is Chaos the day I arrived. She was berthed in a little
marina in North Muskegon. She had been to the Bahamas twice from here
and is a very seaworthy boat.
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On the left is the route we took. We sailed her to Wisconsin
crossing Lake Michigan. Then by truck to Clarkston, Washington.
Click on the map to see the details of our route.
On the trip from Clarkston, WA passed through 4 locks down the Snake
River, dropping 400 feet in elevation, then 4 locks down the
Columbia River dropping an additional 400 feet.
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On the left is the new owner and on the right is the previous
owner. They say the happiest two days of a boat owner's life is
the day you buy your boat and the day you sell your boat. I
know from personal experience that it is true.
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Chaos had many unusual amenities being built in England.
Two of the more unusual ones were her own silverware and storage area
and a bidet in the master suite.
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We departed Michigan late in the evening (left) and arrived in
Wisconsin early the next morning (right). The owner and several
of his children joined us for the "maiden" voyage. Too bad it was
night time and there was nothing to see for the passage.
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I spent a little over a week in Wisconsin
overseeing the decommissionning of the vessel.
She is too tall to pass under the highest
bridges and wires across roads.
The arch and its equipment had to be taken
off and all was prepared internally
for the trek across the west. She was
lifted from the water and the
rudders, propellers, shafts, and struts
were removed. All were
boxed and shipped with her on the truck.
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The truck was assembled. Notice the brand new tires.
Chaos was placed in her
bed for the transport. The red part is steel.
The blue part is fiberglass.
It's hard to believe that these two
materials would coexist so closely without damage
over the long treacherous trail.
They did - there were no mishaps.
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Next a house was built over her to protect her on the journey.
Plastic pipes were placed over the house from the cab of the
truck to the stern of the boat. We could now run under low
hanging phone wires and secondary electric wires at 30 to 40
MPH and the wires would be deflected up and
over the boat by the pipe. Primary
electrical wires required slow speeds as having two primaries
touch would result in an electrical fire. The banner "Oversized
Load" seemed like quite an understatement.
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Passing under a secondary electric cable was a piece of cake the
way we were rigged. On the entire trip we only broke one TV cable
and it was to a mortuary.
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When the police came out to investigate, we showed them our $70,000
road permit and they were satisfied. We were off again without delay.
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So when you come to a railroad crossing and can't fit under the
flashing lights, what do you do? We very carefully snaked our
way around both obstacles. The skills of the truck driver never
ceased to amaze me.
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The size of our entourage going down main street and around
mountain curves was incredible. In the trailing truck I saw
many people turn their heads watching this beast go down
their street in total disbelief.
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You get a feel for our size on the left as we fill up next to a
large 18 wheeler. On the right we are passing through the painted
desert in Wyoming. We saw some beautiful sites on this transport.
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Not many 66 foot vessels can say that they have been up to 9,609 feet
in elevation. The Tetons were spectacular. The air was crisp and
visibility was unlimited.
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Nor can many vessels say that they have been to the ski slopes
in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
One good thing about having a travel permit is that your entire
route is approved, including going down up ramps or going up
down ramps. Enlarge to see the "Wrong Way" signs.
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Some of the roads were in pretty rough condition. Construction
work left big pot holes and dangerous debris in our way.
The truck was totally self-contained. To fix a flat, simply roll
up on some boards, replace the flat tire, inflate it and go. The
onboard air compressor made easy work out of the tire lugs and
tire inflation.
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When we arrived at Clarkston, WA I was quite surprised to find
a single point lift crane with spreader bars. To this day, I still
have nightmares of Chaos bouncing inches above the concrete to her
resting place for re-commissioning and then bouncing along inches
above the concrete again as she was launched in the Snake River.
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I tried to utilize the driver of the lead truck to help re-commission the
boat, but he damaged several pieces of expensive gear in his haste.
I paid him anyway, but had to let him go. He took it very personal.
The next day I couldn't find the strut shown here on the right.
We looked for it all day long until finally I thought to myself that
if were drunk and pissed off what would I have done?
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Yep, you guessed it - he threw it in the Snake River. I hired a diver
and he found it on the second dive. Pretty strong guy, those
struts were about 80 pounds. I knew he couldn't have tossed them
out very far.
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What I didn't guess is that he would try to kill me. He re-wired the
converter so that when I touched it, a full 240 volts of
electricity went through me. Lucky for me I was wearing tennis shoes
or he would have succeeded.
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After that I kept the strut in my rent car.
This is how the crane was designed to work. It offloads wood chips
from a barge into trucks to be delivered to a paper mill not far away.
You have no idea how strong a huge barge full of freshly chipped
pine wood smells!
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Re-commissioning completed, the crane launches Chaos into the Snake
River. I was onboard during the launch. The pictures were taken
by another person. I didn't think much about being onboard for
the launch until I saw the pictures below.
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Same type of crane and spreader bar arrangement is lifting a
boat in South Florida about the same tonnage. Two guys are onboard
just as I was.
If there ever was an "Uh-Oh!" picture this has got to be it.
Click on it to enlarge it and see one of the guys sitting on the
stern of the vessel as it goes down.
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Like me, I'm sure he never guessed he was going swimming that day.
What a horrible experience that must have been. What was he
thinking on the way down?
All's well that ends well. Here is Chaos' temporary mooring
before her trek down the Snake and Columbia Rivers. This is
Rooster's which is actually a good place to eat if you ever in
the Clarkston, WA area.
By the way, Clarkston is hot in the summer - 110 degrees in the
shade and there is no shade. I was very shocked to find it so hot.
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