Boat Line Unveils Early Plans for New Islander

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

Early concept drawings were unveiled last week for a 250-foot,
doubled-ended ferry that will eventually replace the Islander, the
dependable and beloved Steamship Authority ferry that has plied the
route between Woods Hole and the Vineyard for 52 years.

In a short presentation made during the monthly SSA meeting in
Vineyard Haven last week, Carl Walker, who is director of engineering
for the boat line, talked about the plan to replace the venerable
Islander. Among other things, Mr. Walker showed drawings for both an
open deck and closed deck passenger and vehicle ferry.

"Everyone loves the Islander, and this is Carl Walker's
presentation, so don't shoot the messenger," the engineer
said at the outset, emphasizing that the only work done so far on the
design of the ferry has been conceptual.

The Islander is slated for replacement sometime in the next four
years at an estimated cost of $22 million.

The ferry has a wheelhouse in each end, eliminating the need for
turning around before entering the slip in either port.

When the plans for replacing the Islander were first announced
several years ago, SSA engineers recommended that the boat line build a
conventional single-ended ferry, and the reaction from the Vineyard
community was swift and heated. Boat line managers later changed their
position and pledged to build a double-ended boat when the time came.

Now the time is coming.

In his presentation last week, Mr. Walker said a number of factors
are important to consider before the design for the new boat can be
launched, including the planned routes for the new boat. "Do we
want this to be a Woods Hole-Martha's Vineyard boat or do we want
this to be a Steamship Authority boat? We have to look at our
infrastructure. It's not just building a boat," Mr. Walker
said.

He said the plan calls for building an efficient, serviceable,
diesel-powered boat that is easy to maintain and fully accessible for
people with disabilities. The current concept calls for building a ferry
with what amounts to one-and-a-half freight decks, with interior car
lifts on the freight deck that can be used to carry extra cars along the
sides on the mezzanine level. When not in use, the car lifts can be
stowed out of the way, Mr. Walker said.

Mr. Walker said the concept calls for a ferry that has more
superstructure than the MV Martha's Vineyard but less than the MV
Eagle.

The current plan calls for building a ferry with about the same
passenger capacity but much more car capacity than either the Islander
or the Martha's Vineyard (the Islander holds about 50 cars and the
Martha's Vineyard about 75). The new ferry would hold about 100
cars, Mr. Walker said, with the use of the partial freight deck on the
mezzanine level.

The early planning work for the new ferry will include extensive
research by engineers, who plan to travel to Washington state, British
Columbia, Texas and North Carolina to view other ferries at work, Mr.
Walker said.

Vineyard Haven resident Marie Laursen suggested that the boat line
board appoint a citizen group made up of Island residents to assist with
design ideas for the new ferry.

Built in 1950 at a cost of $687,510, the Islander was designed by
architect Eads Johnson. She is 200 feet, six inches long and weighs
1,100 tons. Her engines have been replaced three times in the last
half-century. "The new ferry Islander, not beautiful, not even
pretty, promises to be a useful craft for the Vineyard," reported
the Gazette after her maiden voyage in 1950.

"The hull, the propulsion, the breadth and the purpose of this
new ferry were entirely new concepts. . . . The idea would be to build a
wide hull that drew little water, stow the passengers in spartan
alleyways down the sides, give her as much power as possible and have
faith that she could bust her way through almost anything the North
Atlantic might throw at her," wrote Tom Dunlop in an expressive
history of the ferry published in the Gazette in 1998.

There has been a long-standing love affair between most Vineyard
residents and the Islander.

"For generations, Vineyarders and visitors driving down the
Woods Hole Road have looked over the crest of the parking lot to see the
rounded bow and black spear painted along the side of the Islander and
considered themselves already home; at this end, Vineyard Haven harbor
without the Islander in her slip looks somehow incomplete," Mr.
Dunlop wrote.