"We have entered Great Ketch in the boat parade for the past two years," I announced at the October meeting, "It's time for someone else to sponsor the TMCA entry. Are there any volunteers?"
The meeting room went silent. I could see people looking around, and people looking the other way.
"Well, contact me if you are interested", I said. And the meeting went on.
The following Monday Hank called and said Ed Hearon had asked him, if we would consider using his boat Shorty VI. We have done sailboats in the past, so it would be a new challenge. But how can one make a POWER BOAT into a PRIZE WINNER?
The Birth of the Colossus of Clear Lake
The next weekend at the Houston Ship Channel Cruise I hitched a ride
on Shorty VI and surveyed the possibilities. She is a beautiful
big cruising boat.. Lots of power for running lights and stuff. We held
a mini conference on Shorty VI to discuss possible themes and designs.
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In the previous prizewinners I have noticed that Big Things, Moving Things, Lots of People and Great Sounds help to make a winner. On a big sailboat you have a tall mast and lots of hoisting capability. You can haul up big things and make them move too. What to do on a Power Boat with no tall mast to work with? |
We recalled the really great power boat entries: The Dove , The Space Shuttle, and the Hot Air Balloon. These boats were not just decorated... they were transformed. Sue Knippa, Andy Upchurch, and I were doing most of the talking. Don Thomson and Philip Kropf kicked in with several opinions about the proposals. Ed Hearon said, "You all just decorate however you like.. I'm just furnishing the boat".
I proposed that we make giant paddlewheels out of PVC and mount them on the sides of Shorty VI. Don Thomson winced at the thought of drilling into Ed Hearon's beautiful fiberglass. There were options to be considered for the big wheels. Simulate Motion using lights.... Moving wheel with lights on the wheel... Moving wheel illuminated by floodlights.
No one stepped up to doing simulated motion. And Mickey Murphy convinced us that building a commutator for driving rotating lights would be dangerous. We settled on a big wheel turned by the water and illuminated by floodlights. We would transform that sleek motor cruiser into a 19th century Side-wheeler.
"You gotta have Smoke Stacks," insisted Philip.
"How about a Calliope?" said Sue.
"Can you get us a band?" I asked Andy.
"You betcha," he replied, "and they will be hand picked from the best around."
Don Thomson volunteered to do a design for the wheel hub cap on his computer. And that is how the TMCA boat parade entry got its start.
The following week Dorothy sent me a digital photo of Shorty VI.
I
used it with my drawing program to
experiment with wheel and stack designs.
BIG Planning Meeting
We had the mandatory big planning meeting and formed up committees. I managed to get through three minutes of my half hour standup presentation. There was an Artist Conception Overall, Smoke Stack Sketch, Wheel Construction, Hub Cap Concept, and a full blown NASA Style project plan with Milestones and Interdependencies.
Ed Hearon brought along a wheel hub and axle assembly made from a golf cart . It would be the way we fastened the wheel to Shorty VI. He also brought two eight foot diameter circles of Masonite for the Hub Caps.
Six teams were formed and the project leaders were assigned:
Wheel Construction - Ed Herndon
Hub Cap Art and Painting - Philip Kropf
Smoke Stack Design Test and Assembly - John Lynch
Boom Lights and Lighting - Marion Herndon
Costumes - Sue Knippa
Sound and Music - Andy Upchurch
In addition to these teams Ed Hearon supplied the services of his Chief of Maintenance, Anthony Bederka. Ed and Anthony together did much of the "Heavy Lifting" on the project.
Two High Risk elements were identified:
Would the Smoke Stacks Smoke?
Would the fifteen foot diameter PVC wheels turn
and survive during the parade?
Separate parallel test programs were initiated. There would be a Smoke test and a Wheel test a full week before the parade. That way we would have time to correct deficiencies in time for the parade.
Construction Day 1
Having a plan did not stop the nightmares. For the next several nights I had dreams of the PVC wheel twisting and turning, in a galloping cadence on the side of the boat, and finally crumbling into the lake. I would wake in a cold sweat.
Ed Hearon reported waking at 1:30 AM and not being able to get back to sleep. He called the next morning and said, "Lets get the team together right now and build that wheel... We have to know if it will work."
That morning I went to Home Depot and bought 200 feet of 1/2 inch PVC pipe, PVC Glue, 100 T Joints, a box of Lag bolts and a bag of conduit clamps. This would be enough to make Wheel #1. We went to Ed's boat and measured for the wheel attachment trusses and the smokestack foundation. Anthony came along too; he brought his power tools, several 2x6's, the axle mount he had welded up in the shop, and a bag of nuts and bolts.
We were about to make critical measurement #1. The distance from the hub mount centerline to the surface of the water. This would be a 1/2 case job.
Step 1 Horizontal Mounting Beam
One beer was consumed discussing the fore/aft position of the mounting beam. Then it took Anthony 3 minutes to build the horizontal mounting beam, and answer stupid questions posed by his two supervisors. Next it took 15 minutes for the three of us to drill four bolt holes and mount the beam.
At the end of this task, one Ed asked the other Ed, "Aren't you thirsty?"
Other Ed said, "Yes, do we have any left?"
Anthony says, "I'm ready."
Step 2 Vertical Measurement
The previously opened beer was slowly consumed as we discuss how to measure the distance from the water to the beam. Should we launch the dinghy? Float a 2x4 along side? Which end of the tape measure goes down? How much wheel in the water? These are weighty issues.
It takes Anthony 2 minutes to cut and mount the vertical support to the horizontal beam. We have an easy eight inches of vertical positioning freedom for the hub on the support. Now comes the measurement.
First we send the tape measure zero end down. The wind blows it around and twists the tape in the middle. After several tries at straightening, it still flops around. Next we hold the zero end and let the Reel end down to the waters surface. Six feet six inches is marked off on the vertical to be the center of the hub. With a foot in the water, we will need a fifteen foot diameter wheel.
This major measurement being finished, we celebrated our success.
Step 3 Measure Smoke Stack Foundation
As we celebrated, we tromped around on the fore deck discussing the location of the Smoke Stacks. The smokestacks would have twin fore stays, twin back stays and the decorative bridge between the stacks would keep the stacks apart/together at the top.
The sailing partner suggested cutting holes in the fore deck, so we could step the two smokestacks on the keel. The boat owner pointed out that this was a monohull, so the sailor's idea was abandoned. Instead we chose to step the stack foundation to the comfort cushions on the fore deck. Duct Tape would secure the base.
We measured the cabin top at 9 feet 6 inches and made the foundation 10 feet to bridge over it. This measurement took two minutes. We picked up tools, prepared to head home, and again congratulated each other as we concluded construction day 1.
Day 1 Summary
Dear Reader,
I have dwelt at length with the day one construction activities to introduce
several concepts.
The concept of "case" refers to the quantity of beer required.
You will note that the first day of construction was a "1/2 case job".
Also code words such as "celebrate, contemplate, discuss, and congratulate"
usually indicate that beer consumption is occurring.
During day 1, fifty man-minutes of work were spread over a nine man-hour period. Thus 9% was spent working, and 91% was spent in technical discussions, supervisory activities, or celebrations. This pattern of activity was maintained throughout the project.
Construction Day 2 - Wheel #1
The wheelwrights, Dave Powell, Bert Olavari, Ed Hearon and myself, spent
out first brew discussing the wheel dimensions and construction
techniques. Would the approximation 22/7 be close enough to Pi? Build the
wheel form the inside out or from the outside in? We built it outside in.
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Picture a 48 foot ladder with 16, one foot wide rungs, spaced about
three feet apart.
Each rung has a T joint in the middle pointing straight up. Laying on the ground it looks like a long Caterpillar. Now celebrate.
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Next stick a 7 foot pipe (wheel spoke) in each of the 16 T joints. Now
it looks like a thorny backed Caterpillar.
| Lay the Caterpillar on its side and attach the thorns (wheel spokes)
to the wheel hub one by one, until the tail of the caterpillar is at its
mouth.
The caterpillar became a wheel, so celebrate again. Marion and
Lillian joined us for this celebration.
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The wind was blowing around 20 Kts when we finally got around to attaching the 7 foot diameter hub cap to the wheel. With each gust we could see the wheel vibrating and fluttering. We weighted it down with lawn chairs to keep it from blowing away. We contemplated as we watched this frightening phenomenon.
If the wheel is flopping about with a 7 foot hub cap, while laying on the ground, what would happen attached upright on the boat with an 8 foot Hub cap?
About this time Anthony arrived bearing the two smoke stacks (really twelve foot long, 14 inch diameter, concrete forms) and the smoke stack mounting foundation. He joined us in another round of contemplation. Finally he noted, "That PVC is pretty springy. I think you better stiffen it up with some iron."
We all agreed, and we removed the flutter causing hub cap. We had a
wheel to show for the days effort.
There was more contemplation than celebration going on. This
was a full case day and had a 20% level of effective work.
Plan Revision #1
The original plan called for using anchors to position Shorty VI in the lake parallel to the long pier. We would tie bow and stern away from the pier with enough space to carry the wheel down the pier and hang it on the previously attached axle. With the wind and waves as they were, it would have been impossible to perform this feat without endangering the fragile wheel.
The slips at Seagate are too narrow for Shorty VI. But the harbor is calmer and we could more firmly control the boat by positioning the boat along one side in the harbor and tieing it across the harbor with long lines.
The next day we moved Shorty VI from Blue Dolphin Marina into the north west corner of the Seagate harbor. We moved the wheel nearby, and Anthony stiffened it up with a fifteen foot X made of lightweight angle iron.
John Lynch had brought the smoke generator and was working all day with 1.5 inch PVC building the smoke distribution system, basically a T arrangement feeding PVC up the two smoke stacks. At around 4 PM he called for helpers to erect the two smoke stacks in front of our house.
He was pretty confident because he said, "Call 911 and tell them that we will be conducting a smoke test. That way they won't send the fire department."
All went well and we did a lot of celebrating when the smoke worked just great. Several of us took turns making it smoke.
With the forecast of increasing winds we called off all work for the following day. This postponed the wheel test till the weekend. This was less than a half case day.
Rendezvous and Docking
Saturday, Parade Day - 7, and counting. I called Don Thomson early in the morning and asked him to bring his video camera. There could be some interesting shots as we mounted the wheel on the boat.
The Hub Cap crew, Philip Kropf and Linda Posamentier, was present to paint the hub caps. The smoke stack crew, John Lynch and Richard Collins, was busy snipping sheet metal for the crown. The wheel wrights were ready to mount the wheel.
There was not much desire for celebration at this point so we got down to business. Don Thomson started video taping at this point.
First, a hoist was erected on the fly bridge of Shorty VI using an 18 foot flotsam 2x4 and the mainsheet and blocks from Great Ketch. This would be used to position and support the wheel during the docking with the axle mount.
Second, Shorty VI was repositioned about six feet off the end if the finger piers. This would provide space for us to fit the wheel on the side.
Next five strong men carried the wheel down the dock and out onto the finger pier. Then they lowered the wheel into an inflatable dinghy that I was riding in. The dinghy provided support and the crew held it erect. Together we ferried the wheel out to the end of the finger pier.
In a somewhat tricky maneuver, the wheel and dinghy were rotated about the vertical axis and the wheel was handed off from the crew on the finger pier to another crew on the Shorty VI. This second crew attached the hoist to the hub and lifted the wheel out of the dinghy and lowered it into the water.
Next they adjusted the height of the hub to match the axle mount. Then the wheel axle, as if by magic, floated into the waiting mounting, the axle was pinned to the mount with a through bolt, and docking was complete.
WOW! It was just like you were seeing the Space Shuttle rendezvous with the Space Station.
In two more short ferry trips the two halves of the hub cap were brought out and bolted to the wheel. We were ready for the crucial dynamic test on Clear Lake.
The Big Test
"Cast Off Starboard Spring line."
"Starboard Spring Clear."
"Ease Starboard Bow and Stern lines six feet".
"Bow eased.... Stern eased."
"Haul in on the port ... both Bow and Stern".
Slowly the boat began to move away from the finger piers on the starboard side. With the wind out of the south east at about 15 kts, we were doing everything to prevent Shorty VI from being blown down on the finger piers and crushing the new wheel.
Starboard lines were brought on board, and the long lines on the port side were released to the crew ashore. Gently, Ed Hearon applied power to move us forward. Almost immediately the giant wheel responded and began turning.
We were still in the protected lee side of the townhomes that surround the harbor. What would happen to the wheel when we cleared the breakwater, and were beating into the wind and waves on Clear Lake?
The answer was soon upon us. Don Thomson was there with his video camera capturing the action. Wheel #1 kept on turning, and the feared wind only produced a minor flutter.
We did turns to Port and turns to Starboard... the wheel sped up on the port turns, and slowed on the starboard turns. Speed was gradually increased to about 6 Kts and the wheel showed no sign of strain.
Ed and I were grinning Ear to Ear. We would sleep well that night. The design was proven.
Getting Down To Business
Dear Reader,
I must admit that the next week was not as emotionally charged as the first. We had demonstrated that the stacks would smoke, and the wheel would turn and probably survive. Now we had to get down to business and build the other wheel, mount the spiffy new hub caps on both wheels, finish and erect the two smoke stacks, and put all of the lights on the boat.
This was not HIGH Risk Stuff and we had been supercharged. The weather did not co-operate and we called off work on several days due to the miserable rain and cold.
Nevertheless we built the second wheel in less than two hours (and less than a 1/2 case). We also removed the test hub cap, and mounted the first operational hub cap. This was not much work accomplished.
Then we watched the weather for four days. This was a 1.5 case weather watch as we waited for the rain to quit. Finally, on Parade Day -1, at 2:10 PM, Ed Hearon announced, "While you were gone, Dave calculated that we had 6 hours of work to do and sunset is just the 3 hours away."
"Let's hit it right now," I said, " the rain seems to be slacking. We will be done in two hours."
There would be no beer until we were done. THE PRESSURE WAS ON AGAIN.
In our hurry we ferried the wheel out to the boat with the axle pointed outwards instead of into the boat. Ten minutes were lost going back to the shore and turning the wheel around for a new attempt. Then the axle did not jump into the mount, and we had to work an extra 10 minutes on the Rendezvous and Docking. Twenty precious minutes were lost.
"The Smoke Stacks are ready," boasted John Lynch, who had witnessed, but not participated in, the docking efforts.
"Great News," I said, "we are coming to get them right now." And the construction crew marched up to the house to get the needed parts.
"You can't take them yet," John pleaded, "It's raining."
I could see that one stack did not yet have the full candy cane wrap. "We are ready to put them on... You said you were ready...."
I knew I was pushing John hard, but time was a wasting.
Just as we got the first Smoke Stack aboard, the rain returned. It made work difficult but the construction went smoothly. The two stacks were joined and a crew of six, three on each stack, hoisted them onto the foundation and secured the guy wires fore and aft.
Elapsed time: Two Hours and 20 minutes. The crew of six erectors, plus four onlookers, celebrated the completion of construction. This was 1.5 case day.
Parade Day
On Parade day the lighting team swarmed over the boat in full force.
We had 1500 of the new Ice Lights for the Rails and an other 2000 conventional
lights for the superstructure. There were another 400 lights on the arched
support between the two smoke stacks. Two flood lights were suspended outboard
of the giant wheels to provide their illumination.
| All twenty one members of the team and eight of Ed and Dorothy's family
joined in the fray. In two hours all of the lights were used up.
John did a demonstration of the smoke machine. In the light air the smoke rose majestically. In broad daylight the lights inside the smoke did not show, but they would later. |
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At 3:30 everyone was in costume. Sue had mandated long red skirts, green sashes and white tops for the ladies. The men had black or navy trousers, white shirts, red cumerbunds, bow ties, and garters about their sleeves. At 4:00 the band arrived and went downstairs to reherse and warm up.
The Colossus of Clear Lake was ready to strut her stuff. Don brought his video camera and recorded events. The tide was low, and I asked Ed Hearon if I could pilot his boat across the lake to the channel. The wind was brisk out of the north west. The slow moving boat crabbed its way to South Shore like a tow on the ICW with two empties strung out. I must say it was fun at the helm, but it required a lot more attention than sailing Great Ketch. Don Thomson is familiar with the route; he acted as pilot.
We got to South Shore about an hour and a half before parade start. For the first half hour we toured the harbor in an effort to terrorize the competition and find an anchorage. The TMCA crowd on Pier 1 applauded and cheered us mightily. A slip was out of the question with the two large wheels entending three feet beyond the rails on each side. We finally found a piling where we could tie the bow and simply drifted back.
We fired up the lights, blew a few puffs of smoke, and settled down to a fine buffet dinner.
The Parade
"Fair ladies and gentlemen, take your positions," I called, "the parade is about to begin."
The fireworks over Nassau Bay announced the parade start. Our Santa, Steve Backmon, took up his station on the Bow. Our band struck up "Frosty the Snowman" as we pulled back from the pier. The wheels began turning in synchronization with the boats motion. The smoke stacks belched green smoke from the starboard stack and red smoke from the port. All of the lights were working. We were transformed into a Mississippi Riverboat. The crowd at South Shore roared their approval. I felt we had a winner!
Then I turned and looked back down the harbor at the boats falling into
line behind us. "Curses Foiled Again," I said to myself, because coming
round the bend was the beautiful "Angel with Golden Trumpet".
Two years ago the Christiansens took the top prize with their elegant
"Dove" with moving wings. They were back again; this time the angel wings
were in motion.
The band played "When The Saints Come Marching In" on several occasions to fire up the crowd. It worked every time. The tour up the lake found perhaps a hundred boats anchored near the channel. The TMCA party at Seabrook Shipyard gave us a rousing welcome. Next up along the channel was the judges stand. We pulled out all the stops for them.
Half a league, half a league... Half a league onward... Into Fertitaville drove the Colossus of Clear Lake. There we were met with a cannonade of cheers and shouting. As we passed the heart of Waterfront Row I said to Ed, "I think they like us."
Ed turned so he could see me. "What did you say?"
He was already grinning ear to ear, so I knew he just wanted me to repeat it. I said it again for him, "I think they like us." and he nodded.
Going back you get to see all the boats that were behind. This is when you get to see and judge the competition. There were a lot of beautifully decorated boats. We were pretty confident that we would be in the top four.
Awards Ceremony
In the past there has been a slide show presentation showing each of the boats as the awards were given out. It was a really entertaining show. This year, due to the film processing company going out of business, there was no slide show. Just the awards presentation. Promises that it would not happen next year were made.
The fashion show was an endurance test to the exhausted boat lane participants. It should have been conducted during the brunch, or better not at all.
There was considerable suspense in the awards presentation. We
could relax when the sailboats were being honored. But every time they
got into the larger power boats I could feel the tension mount. We were
hoping for and had convinced ourselves that we should get one of the BIG
Four awards. We cheered mightily when Capt. Wick got the first prize in
the big power boat class. We could only be in the top four.
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We took the "Most Original".
The "Angel with Golden Trumpet" took the "Most Outstanding".
Deservedly so, It was THE outstanding and most memorable boat in the parade.
Team members
Ed and Dorothy Hearon, Anthony Bederka, Steven Blackmon, Ed and Marion
Herndon, David and Cynthia Powell, Don and Ann Thomson, Bert Olavari and
Lilian Fountain, Hank and Sue Knippa, John Lynch, Philip Kropf, Laura Posamentier,
Richard and Joanne Collins, Andy Upchurch and Georgia McWilliams .
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After the Commodore's Ball we tore down the Decorations.
We danced with the Caterpillar one last time in the fog at Lakewood Yacht Club. |