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 Welcome to the Marine Project Center
"There is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats...or with boats... in or out of 'em, it doesn't matter."- Kenneth Grahame
If you've wandered into this page you have found me. Between boats, fishing, and this web site, you can pretty much sum up my current place in the world. I also use the analogy of "an old wood boat" to describe my view of Bainbridge Island these days. It is sort of like an Ed Monk design (he's a local naval architect). It started life as a sturdy work boat, then went through a refit a while back (when we became a city) to emerge as a classic wooden yacht. It looks nice, and we polish the brass every now and then, but if you poke around you can find some dry rot under the white wash. Now we have a gaggle of captains on the bridge. Every now and then they get distracted and forget to look at the charts (comprehensive plan), run aground and bend a prop or two. So, we hull out (have a city counsel meeting on the subject), do a little survey (appoint a committee to study it), fix a few planks, hammer the prop back into shape, throw on a little bottom paint (fix things as best we can and cover it up) and we're back on the water (business as usual). Such is the nature of this boat called Bainbridge Island that we find ourselves in. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with this space. Sometimes I may talk about boats. Other times it may be about the goings-on of my "project boat", The SS Bainbridge Island. Be seeing you - Dave
A Shot Across the Bow. Back in 1999 I got wind of a little movement in Olympia to move the Ferry Maintenance Yard from Eagle Harbor to Bremerton. Seems that after they closed down our local marine businesses to expand the yard it was noticed that it might be a little too inadequate for the size of the fleet. About a year and a half before this time I had the idea that the location would make a great spot for what I call the "Mystic Sea Port of the West Coast". It would be the jewel of Puget Sound. But I knew that it was a lost cause unless the Ferry System could be persuaded to move the maintenance yard. When I heard the news I put this project together to show "what might be" in support of the move to Bremerton. It was actually moving along until I-695 knocked the skids out from under the Department of Transportation. At that time I didn't see any hope for the state to be doing any moving and put the project on the back shelf. But low and behold!
I just saw in the paper that they are taking stock of the situation and it's back under discussion. So I am bringing the project out of mothballs, and I'm adding a little recent history of the success I was having in rallying support and where it was coming from. We have also lost some options but gained other in the time that has passed. 
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