Iver and Namu the Killer Whale

 Our tug has a rather infamous history that includes the capture of one of the first killer whales held in captivity.  In the summer of 1965 Foss Tug Co. sent the Iver Foss to tow poor Namu the Killer Whale from a small fishing village in British Columbia where he had been trapped by fisherman, to Pier 56 in downtown Seattle.  A newspaper photographer went along and documented the entire trip.  The tug had to move very slowly as it towed the pen with Namu swimming inside, it took them 2 very long weeks and the crew grew very attached to their tow.
Here's a link to a story about Namu and the other orca's captured at that time. And here's another link with more photos of the tug delivering Namu to Pier 56 in Seattle.  Sports Illustrated even had an article about it.  Be warned though, all the stories have sad endings.  The only good thing that came out of all those poor whale captures is that they changed the public's perception about killer whales.

After his death scientists studied recordings of Namu and decided he was from C1 Pod, they believe that Namu's mother died in 1995 and his sister is still alive out in the wild.  

Installing a wood stove

I found a little marine wood stove on Ebay, a Tiny Tot cast iron coal stove (it will burn wood too).  Ours is an antique, probably as old as the boat but looks like it was never used.  You can buy new Tiny Tots they look just like our little stove but with stainless steel backs.
  We were planning on putting the stove on our sailboat but before we had a chance to install it, we decided to sell the sailboat.  It's a cool little stove and we wanted to use it but couldn't figure out where to put it on the tug.  One day I was sitting watching TV and it hit me, if we removed the rounded corner on the side of the stack next to the built in, the little wood stove would fit perfectly in that space.  When I told Bill about my idea it seemed he had been thinking exactly the same thing.  The stove ended up being a perfect fit for an odd space and it finished off the side of the built in nicely.

 Bill made the little niche for the stove by removing the side of the stack wall and putting in a couple of pieces of plywood to make a corner space and then added concrete backer board to fireproof.  Here Bill is grouting the seam between the two concrete boards. 

 Stainless steel sheets are set off the concrete backer board to allow air to circulate behind it and keep the wall cool.

  He also installed a damper in the stove pipe.  The stove sits in the wall and is easy to walk by without bumping into it.  We'll be adding some grab bars around it to make it safer if we're anchored out and the boat gets rocked.  Wouldn't want to trip and grab a hot stove or stove pipe. We wouldn't have it burning while the boat is under way, no need, the engine will be enough to keep the boat warm and the pilot house has radiators.  We plan on installing a boiler in the future and using hydronic heat.

 The stove pipe goes up through the deck, there's a deck iron or thru deck fitting that keeps the hot pipe from the edge of the opening in the deck.  We still need to fine tune the opening and make it look pretty.

The finished stove pipe topped with a charlie noble.

 

Bill lights the first fire, the stove draws well and burns hot.  It's just enough to take the chill out of the tug on a cool spring morning or additional heat on a cold winter night.