Wahkiakum County News

Since 1925 there has been some form of car ferry crossing of the lower Columbia River from Puget Island on the Washington side to Westport Slough on the Oregon side. In 1959 Wahkiakum County took over operation of the ferry and in 1962 had a steel-hulled ferry, named for the county, built by Nichols Boat Works at Hood River Oregon. This 12-car ferry served until 2015 when the county took delivery of a larger 23-car ferry. This ferry, named Oscar B, after Oscar Bergseng who served as ferry captain for 17 years. He died in 1985 after serving further years as ferry commissioner.

Construction of the steel-hulled, aluminum superstructure ferry M/V Oscar B has been completed for Wahkiakum County as a replacement for the existing ferry, Wahkiakum. The Oscar B, designed by Seattle's Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) and built by Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, is a 115 ft. x 47.6 ft., 23‐Car, 100 passenger ferry named after the late Oscar Bergseng who skippered the Wahkiakum for 17 years. The vessel, currently underway toward Astoria from Whidbey Island where it underwent sea trials…

Ice Floe, LLC dba Nichols Brothers Boat Builders (NBBB) has been contracted by the Government of American Samoa to build a multipurpose vessel to operate in the warm waters of the South Pacific primarily between Pago Pago and the Manu’a Islands, however the vessel will also be certified to travel to Tonga, Fiji and U.S. territory Islands to support the economic development of American Samoa. NBBB has contracted Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) to provide the functional design and production engineering for the project.

Ice Floe, LLC dba Nichols Brothers Boat Builders (NBBB) has been contracted by Vigor Industrial to construct the superstructure portion of the third Olympic Class 144-Car Washington State Ferry the M/V Chimacum. Nichols Brothers completed the superstructures for the first and second WSF 144-Car Ferry vessels delivered to Vigor for final assembly in March and December 2013. Nichols Brothers is responsible for construction of the grand block section of the vessel including the upper car decks, exhaust stacks and pilothouses. Additional work has been awarded to NBBB including all superstructure piping, windows, stairs, ladders, all exterior hand rails and completely painting the interior and exterior.

by Nichols Bros Boat Builders for Wahkiakum County. ft. x 47 ft. run between ferry terminals in Cathlamet, Wash. Westport, Ore. reversing reduction gears with two fixed-pitched propellers. 2015. services on behalf of owners, operators and shipyards across the country.

Nicholas Brothers Boat Builders has been awarded a new vessel contract to build a 115’x47.5’ 23-Car, 100 passenger ferry for Wahkiakum County. The ferry will operate between existing ferry terminals to Puget Island in Cathlamet, Washington and Westport, Oregon. Designed by Elliot Bay Design Group of Seattle, Wash., the steel hull, aluminum superstructure vessel will be powered by two diesel Cummins QLS 9, 285 hp at 1,800 rpm coupled to ZF Marine reversing reduction gears with two fixed-pitched propellers, and designed to operate at eight knots.

A number of archaeological groups and marine service companies are acquiring boat-towed metal detectors to assist in locating shipwrecks and to perform geophysical surveys. These devices can locate a variety of targets including the piles of magnetic ballast stones found on many old wrecks, gold and silver bars, cannons, anchors, pipelines, cables, and various metal debris which must be removed from an area before dredging. The two primary pieces of equipment used in these operations are a magnetometer and pulse induction (PI) metal detectors.

Elliott Bay Design Group LLC (EBDG) has a number of major ferry design projects in progress with clients from across the country, including many repeat customers. In early 2008 the Texas Department of Transportation (DOT), Corpus Christi District selected EBDG to design a new 28-car ferry for service between Port Aransas and Harbor Island. This short route forms the continuation of Texas State Highway 361 across the Corpus Christi Channel. The multi-phased design effort began with a Design Study Report, which included a hull and superstructure configuration study, propulsion and steering configuration and cost studies, and a capital cost study. Follow-on phases include Contract Design, Bid Support and Construction Liaison.