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Sturgeon Bay May 7, 2011 - Annual Shipyard Tour

On Saturday, the Rotary Club Of Sturgeon Bay sponsored the event which is held each year around this time. Temperatures were great this year! (In past years, the weather has not always cooperated). Bay Shipbuilding Company (a Fincantieri Company), Palmer Johnson (builder of custom yachts), and Great Lakes Yacht Services all threw their doors open for visitors. Bay Shipbuilding Company is working both on a contract for some (new-build) "Oil Company Support" vessels and their other work as a ship repair facility; there are currently 5 vessels in the shipyard for repair.

As an added attraction, the USCG Mobile Bay, which is stationed in Sturgeon Bay, also hosted an Open House. I took advantage of just the Bay Shipbuilding Company and Palmer Johnson tours due to time constraints. The following slideshow shows some of the points of interest from those tours, plus some extra photos of the ships at Bay Shipbuilding from outside their fences. Since I was there just 3 days ago, the 1004-ft.-long American Spirit arrived at Bay Shipbuilding for unspecified repairs.

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John J. Boland and American Spirit fully visible	American Spirit in for unspecified repairs	Gantry crane is the first thing we see as the tour begins
Operator's "cabin"	American Courage newly painted (see previous slideshow)	McKee Sons in the large graving dock
Floating dry-dock (old)	Looking into the old floating dry-dock	Controls for the trimming of the old floating dry-dock
St. Clair with American Spirit in background	Tug, Invincible, that pushes the barge, McKee Sons	St. Clair
One of the main buildings	A lot of the work is done with overhead cranes	A second building, more overhead cranes
Here, the welding is done	More machinery	A look down a line of welded steel sections
Machinery and parts for the barges	A custom barge part	... and another
Outside the facility we see the John J. Boland	John J. Boland with American Spirit in background	St. Clair from outside the fence
Another look at the 200-ton gantry crane from outside	Stern of the barge, McKee Sons in the graving dock	Palmer Johnson all-aluminum yacht hull
Another Palmer Johnson yacht is further along	... and a third hull is also under construction	Sign showing what these yachts will look like when done