It began on an ordinary day with an ordinary call from Carl
Shelhorn. In Alameda there was a 49.5 foot boat called the SSS
Gavalan By the time he got around to telling us there was a hole in
the boat, we already had agreed to help fix her up.
SSS Orion is a 1943 Coast Guard Harbor Patrol Boat #50068. She was built in Washington by Grandy Boat Builders, and she served at Yerba Buena Island during and after World War II.
After her military service, we are not sure of her history, but she became a Sea Scout vessel in Monterey. She was named the Gavalan and served there until 1998. The Gavalan officers and crew needed a larger ship and the Gavalan became available. The boat was brought around to San Francisco Bay and tied up at the Naval Supply Station in Alameda.
This is the Orion at her last haul out before she was sunk at the Alameda Naval Supply Station in June 1998. It looked as if the boat was destined for the scrap heap. Skipper Carl Shellhorn from the SSS Chaser was asked to evaluate it and save it if possible. He and Skipper Mike West of the Guardian asked the officers and crew of the Orion to help clean up the oil spill and the mess on the boat. Skipper Shellhorn and his crew as well as the men from the Orion started the engines and determined that the boat would be worth saving. One of the following four pictures shows the Orion with a bandaid at the Naval Supply Station after much of the oil had been cleaned up. The other three pictures are of the crew that took the Orion from the Supply Station to Napa in July 1998. If the crew looks a bit "salty" it is because it is 0330 after a long day at work and a long voyage to Napa.
The Orion was tied next to the Chaser until she could be berthed at the Petaluma Marina. The crew on the fantail here is the crew that tried to bring her to Petaluma the first time. Sinking any boat takes such a toll, and we had to try everything several times before we finally accomplished it.
The Orion's maiden voyage as the Orion and as a boat ready to function on her own, came in October with a weekend cruise to Yerba Buena Island. The crew participated in Safety Weekend Training presented by the Coast Guard. This was "old home" week for the Orion because this is where she was first stationed. We hoped to christen her in June, the one year anniversary of her sinking.
We tried the "bandaid approach" to refit on the Orion. We
tried to fix the worst problems first while keeping the boat on the
water. We replaced the front part of the wheelhouse, painted the hull,
made new bunks, cleaned and cleaned, and fixed the stove. However, as
soon as one problem was patched so we could use the boat, another more
serious problem arose. The final straw came on the summer cruise of
1999; The electrical system finally gave up. We limped home on one
engine ready to evaluate and repair. We tried another trip that fall
only to have one transmission refuse to work. As we began to list the
boat's needs, it became evident that the only sensible course of action
was to fix all the major problems beginning with the
transmissions. First we pulled the engines out, cleaned and rebuilt
them, and Steve Phillips made the needed parts for the transmissions.
It was quite a messy job, but we "fell to" with a right good will.
To rebuild the transmissions, they had to be removed. To remove the transmissions, the engines needed to be removed. While the engines were out, the bilge needed to be cleaned and painted and the electrical wiring in the bilge replaced. To properly replace the bilge wiring, the electrical control panel needed to be replaced. When the control panel was being replaced, the rest of the electrical wiring in the boat needed to be replaced. Since the rest of the electrical wiring was being replaced, we also needed new electronics, bilge pumps and hoses, lights, generator and inverter, refrigerator, microwave, and stereo system. Removing all that wiring gave us room to fix the worm-drive steering, but it was more reasonable to replace that with a hydrolic system. Meanwhile, we discovered the existing exhaust system was too small, so we needed a new one of those, too. The projects truly became a "Hole in the Bucket" problem.
The first step was removal of the engines and transmissions. Skipper Barry Thorssen (of Compass Rose fame) used his motor life boat to tow us to Pomeroys in Petaluma. The engines and transmissions were taken to Steve Phillip's museum in Pengrove. There they were cleaned and rebuilt.
Meanwhile, Stan Sterling built the three control panels for the electrical system. He obtained many donations, and the result was an impressive, marine grade electrical system for the entire boat. It caused many, many days of frustration.
Then came the glorious day when we placed the starboard engine and transmission back in the boat.
And much, much later the port engine was installed at Pomeroys - courtesy again of Steve Phillips and Pengrove Power and Implement Museum.
Skipper Shellhorn guides it in.
Down the Hatch!
Please note - Mr. Sterling is smiling again!
Here are the two dragons - nested nicely.
Parts were installed, electric hooked up, a short shake-down cruise took us to Papa's Taverna. Then came the BIG maiden voyage - we left for Coast Guard Island in Alameda May 27, 2001
We even revised a sea chanty to reflect our boat's history.
Later:In 2003 the back bulkhead was replaced - yes, the WHOLE thing!
