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M.V. Reliant Trip
2004
Troop 542 departed the 42nd street dock on July
24th aboard the M.V. Reliant for a three hour cruise to Sand Island,
near St. Helens Oregon, where we spent an afternoon swimming and a
night camping before returning home.
The Motor Vessel Reliant is a U.S. Coast Guard
inspected passenger vessel owned by Cascade Pacific Council, Boy
Scouts of America, and is available for use by Sea Scout units and
other organizations on a charter basis. It's rated for 46 passengers
and has overnight accommodations for 18. RELIANT is a 64' ex-Navy
Distribution Box Boat built in 1958. It saw service as a Naval
Reserve vessel originally designed for cable laying duties in Puget
Sound. It's powered by a single 6-71 Detroit Diesel and has two 120
VDC Superior generator sets. It has a cruising speed of 6 knots and
tops out around 8 knots.
During our trip, each scout took turns rotating
shifts every half hour between Bow Watch, Stern Watch, Engineer,
Navigator, and Pilot. Our many thanks to the Reliant crew, Capitan
Bill, Carole and Tim.
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BSA M.V.
Reliant |
| Just leaving
the dock and getting settled in. |
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The
crew...David, David and Sam. |
| Michael
performing the very important job of Stern Watch...or
is he? |
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Adam was the
navigator for this portion of the trip. |
| Steven in the
engine room as acting engineer. |
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Ian cleaning
up the deck by coiling up the ropes. |
| Is this
enough equipment for one night? |
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Preston,
Daniel & Axl enjoying a little leisure time on the sand. |
| James,
finger-painting? |
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Mack, I hear
that a mud bath is good for the skin. |
| A pod of
beached whales? |
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CJ, our head
chef. |
| The greased
watermelon game, who has the melon? |
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Troop 542's
tent city. |
| Raising the
colors for the trip home. |
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Bryan, just
after he checked the oil and started the engines. |
| Nibbles, are
we lost?. |
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Does Oscar
need help? |
| Josh,
"MAN OVERBOARD"!
(OK, just a drill) |
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David manning
the ropes before we dock. |
| Because of
the large number of boats at the 42nd Street Dock, our
captain decided to dock at the Scout Sea base where the M.V.
Reliant usually moors. The problem: the tide was going out
and the river was very low. This lead to our being marooned
on a sand bar just 200 yards from the dock. No worries
though, BSA Fire Dragon to the rescue, where they off loaded
all of our gear and passengers and transported us to the sea
base. |
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