Hello,
I stumbled across your forum last week and if I can be any help let me know. I am the son of the current owner of the Plainview, which is located in Chinook, Washington. The boat is partially scrapped, but only the rear half of the house was removed, along with the exhaust cowlings and some of the deck gear. In my opinion it will never run under it's own power again, getting it to that point would be an extreme labor of love. I think this would have been the case when my father purchased it, but even more so now.
My father's original intent for the vessel was salmon processing in the Bristol Bay Alaska fishery, but due to falling salmon prices that never happened. It was indeed in the movie "Short Circuit" as I saw mentioned in the forum. It was moored in Astoria, Oregon for many years until my father sold his boat building shop there. It was then moved to it's current located 2.4 miles East of the Astoria Bridge on the Washington side of the river.
The scrapping project was begun in 1996 and lasted about two months. It was halted due to a drop in Aluminum prices and has never been resumed. I am not sure of my father's plans on this matter, he is busy with a new business venture for a new rudder design, so I believe it is on semi permanent hold. Feel free to check out the website regarding his business "Deflector Marine Rudder" at http://www.deflectorrudder.com. He does not wish to be contacted regarding the Plainview however, so please address comments to me.
Now it sits, serving mainly as a tourist attraction. We can't seem to keep the no trespassing signs up, and I personally had to chase many people off of it when I lived at home. In my opinion, if someone was really interested in making it useful again as a hydrofoil it could be used as an educational exhibit vessel. It would not be too difficult to make it appear to be in running condition. Much easier than actually making it ever run again. It definitely has drawing power, but I don't know if even that is enough.
I hope this answers questions you might have had.
Please do not contact my father.
Gusty Stambaugh
Applied Solutions, Inc.
415.276.3100
http://www.iappliedsolutions.com/
or email via Malin Dixon
|
(63k) |