Didn’t recognize this as a boom boat till I read the article. Seen them used in ports that handle logs on U.S. and Canada West coast.
This one is being used on Vancouver Island.
Some action starts at about 1:00, pushing logs around at 2:00
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They had one in Port Angeles corralling logs for the log ships. Pretty cool little things.
Good boom boat operators in big sorting yards where they work in tandem make serious money. The skill necessary is not only boat handling and walking on floating logs but also identifying several different species of trees at a glance.
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I would have had a blast running one of those.
I made a few trips as mate hauling logs with tug/barge from SE AK to PA. We had a boom boat on the barge but I don’t recall that we ever put it in water. Always proved shoreside IIRC.
Full log truck loads of logs would be bound together with steel wire and lifted by crane to the water inside a boom. Our barge had a crane chained down aft and the operator would lift the bundles out and load them onto the barge.
Me and a couple deckhand with caulk boots would run up and down the load unhooking the hook from the slings. Unloaded at Ward Cove AK or Port Angles Wa.
Don’t have a good photo.
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A buddy ran one of these at a pulp and paper mill in Port Mellon BC. He let me jump on and play with one for about 15 minutes when a supervisor wasn’t looking. He made it look easy but I found out it was way more difficult than he made it seem. All the floating logs looked the same to me but he could identify different species and go pick a log in the middle of a boom as if there was nothing to it. I passed on the hard parts like where you walk on logs to go snag one up from the middle of a boom.
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Other than not knowing the different types of logs, was it not fun? I loved handling boats no matter what size.
Yeah, doing quick 180s on a dime was a blast.
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This vessel SS Puke was used in the log trade on the Kaipara Harbour.
A great many Kauri trees were harvested here to rebuild San Francisco after the earthquake and fire.
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Nice lines.