Future Sea Scout Training Vessel Arrives in Cleveland, Ohio

The Navy 44' Luder Yawl transferred to Sea Scout Ship 41 arrived safely in Cleveland over the weekend.

It was unloaded at Riverfront Yacht Services on the banks of the Cuyahoga River where it will be on the hard for a year while it is refurbished. Follow the progress on this blog.

The vision is for the boat to be re-commissioned as the Sea Scout Training Vessel, "Intrepid" and used to inspire future generations with a love of sailing.

Navy 44' Luder Yawl turned over to Sea Scouts.

A group of Sea Scout advisors and consultants, expert sailors, from Cleveland, Ohio, visited the Naval Support Facility, Annapolis to survey the Navy 44" Luder Yawl, "Intrepid". After a close inspection the group adjourned to the Harris Crab House to discuss their findings over dinner of crab cakes and stuffed soft shell crabs.

The group concluded that the yawl was sound and would make a beautiful training vessel for the Sea Scouts.

A restful night was spent in the Navy Lodge, Annapolis, then a filling breakfast at the mess hall and it was back to work preparing the boat for it's trailer ride to Cleveland, Ohio. The photo below shows three generations of "Intrepid", ours is the oldest and closest to the River Severn.

At noon, Tim Beattie of Beattie Marine Transport, Inc. pulled into the yard with his rig and the process of loading started.

Sea Scouts Play an Important Role in Memorial Day Parade

Members of Sea Scout Ship 41 played an important part in the community Memorial Day remembrances. Our youth assisted in running the sound system at the Lakeside Cemetery, marched with the Bay High School Marching Band  and as members of the Honor Guard carrying the flags. The service and parade was a great show of community spirit for our military past and present.

 YESS Leadership Boot Camp, Sunday, May 23 was a high-energy kick-off event for our YESS program. The boot camp curriculum is being designed by the Institute for Creative Leadership, a local organization focused on creating unique leadership and team-building programs for youth and corporations for over 30 years. Through a series of exercises and games the organizers built a real sense of camaraderie to the 25 Sea Scouts present. The picture below shows the entire YESS group being assigned into crews.

This crew successfully removed the bucket of gold from the acid pond.

How to turn the tarp over without stepping on the concrete.

Local Sea Scouts partner with new Ship.

This year Sea Scout Ship 41 is excited to welcome the  Tall Ships to Cleveland, Ohio July 7-11, 2010.  The event is sponsored by the Cleveland Rotary who are offering 30 scholarships for high school students through a new program called Project YESS. The selected youth will have an opportunity to go on a three day sail aboard a Tall Ship.  The youth will be selected after completing an application which includes an essay on why they would like to go on a sail.

Once selected the 30 youth will be signed on as Sea Scouts, members Ship 247, newly chartered by the Cleveland Rotary. They will complete 6 training sessions which will include team building, Safe Swim Defense and Safety Afloat taught by Sea Scout leader, Richard Gash. 


Skipper Gash said, "this is a fantastic opportunity for the selected boys and girls, an all expenses paid trip working on a Tall Ship".  Courses in navigation and sailing basics will be taught by Doug Sewell and members of the U.S. Power Squadron at the Lakeside Yacht Club to help prepare the youth for their three day trip. 

Richard Gash also said that the adults and scouts of Ship 41 will partner with the new Ship to ensure that their scouting experience is a positive one.

Sea Scouts Receive Top BSA, Dover Rockport District Award

The Westshore Award for the top Venturing Unit in the B.S.A. Dover Rockport District was awarded to Sea Scout Ship 41.  Congratulations, Sea Scouts for having a fantastic program. The qualifications and requirements for the award are listed here.

Navy 44 Allocated to Sea Scout Ship 41

The Navy Yawl, NAY 1, "Intrepid" located at the Naval Station, Annapolis just across the Severn River from the U.S. Naval Academy has been allocated to Sea Scout Ship 41. This boat was used to train midshipmen from mid 60's to mid 80's. It will now be used to train Sea Scouts in seamanship, navigation and leadership. The beauty of this yawl is that there is a complete sail training manual available to us and it has berths for 9.  Ideal for a long cruise to the Lake Erie islands.

Sea Scouts Acquisition Navy 44' Yawl "Intrepid"

The vessel we are requisitioning is the one with the sail covers on. This is one of the second generation of navy offshore sail training boats.  The picture in fact shows three generations all named "Intrepid". 

At this point we are reasonably confident the boat will be assigned to Sea Scout Ship 41 but it has not been confirmed yet. Stay tuned ..... as they say.

Navy 44 Luder Yawl becoming a Sea Scout Training Vessel?

At the request of a good friend of Ship 41, the chair of the local USNA Alumni, sent out an email to the members requesting help regarding the technical aspects of the Navy 44 Luder Yawl.  We wanted to get background information on the sailing and handling characteristics of the boat - would it be too much for us to handle?  What follows is a quote from an alumni:-

"We did sail on these yawls during Plebe summer and afterwards for training back in ’86.  They are very forgiving boats and hard to break, very solid.  Definitely designed for training.  Easy to sail without a lot of bells and whistles.  They were fun.

Below decks were very bare-bones without many comforts.  You could take them out overnight as they had a few racks, cooler, very small stove and a small head.     

For something like training Sea Scouts, I would definitely recommend them.  But, for their age, they might also require a lot of work to keep up and running."


Rob Morley of Riverfront Yachts has offered to unload the boat from a trailer, allow us to work on the boat (even provide advice), and then put the boat in the water next year at a substantially discounted price. To encourage us even further, Matt, manager at Spitzer Marinas, has kindly agreed to continue to work with the Sea Scouts to provide summer dockage at Spitzer Marina.  This is a great group of people and a super marina located in the Lorain Harbor.


We continue to research the suitability of using the Navy 44 Luder Yawl for our Sea Scout program.

Wow! Could the Sea Scouts Handle It?

These are exciting times at Sea Scout Ship 41. We have an opportunity to acquire a Navy 44 Luder. A brief history and details of the boat are available at the Navy Patuxent Sailing Club. The one available to us is a 60's fiberglass boat that was designed to train the midshipmen of the U. S. Naval Academy and was used in their offshore sailing program.

The yawl has beautiful lines, the cabin has seven bunks, two pipe berths, a galley, head and navigation station, it looks to be in sound condition but.....the concerns.

.The deck gel coat is flaking, cracking and peeling off as the close up photograph shows.  The websites giving details of gel coat repair indicate this could be a major job.

Our plans are to consult a few marine experts before we commit to what for us would be a major undertaking and expense.  Any suggestions???

Sea Scouts Have A Great Learning Experience.

Saturday, we were up early and at the Alpena High School by 8:00 AM. The Sea Scouts were first up for their 40 minute Engineering Evaluation presentation before the panel of judges. The team came away feeling confident they had done well.  After a short wait it was on to the pool  and the real competition.

The team had ROV "Indomitable" in the water and operational within the allotted 5 minutes. The thrusters easily moved the ROV across the pool and down to 8 feet but that's when a major problem was encountered.
  

At below 8 feet the machine lost it's mobility and control became difficult as it was pushed down further. The tasks lay in 10 feet of water, a depth the ROV had not been tested at.  None of the tasks were able to be completed. While very disappointed the scouts really took defeat gracefully and saw the experience as a great learning experience.  They are determine to solve the problem and come back next year.

Arrival in Alpena for the Great Lakes Regional ROV Competition

We arrived after a long 7 hour drive at the Holiday Inn, Alpena, Michigan, our home for the next several days.
 Within minutes the Sea Scouts were in their swimsuits and placing ROV "Indomitable" in the water. The first thing that was done was to check the buoyancy of the vehicle and balance it so that it had a slightly negative float.

Once that was done, Crew Leader, Gabriel and ROV Driver, Nate took  the ROV off across the pool and through it's paces.

The machine performed very well (note, it was in 4-5 feet of water) as it went through the various tasks that it would be required to do the next day for the competition. In the photo below you see ROV "Indomitable" about to insert the HRH power/communications connector into the port on HUGO.

Well it was early to bed after a great meal in the Holiday Inn restaurant. We will see what tomorrow brings. 

Sea Scout Ship 41 Heads to Alpena, MI

We have our BSA "Local Tour Permit" approved and signed by Greater Cleveland Council to head out as the sun rises Friday morning. We will head north to Alpena, Michigan and the 2010 Great Lakes Regional ROV Competition.

 There are 15 teams competing from 10 different schools and colleges.  It should be a great experience and a lot of fun - who knows we may even come home with an award. Stand by for photos and news.

Sea Scout ROV "Indomitable" in First Pool Test

With our collective breaths held, it was all systems go as ROV "Indomitable" was gently lowered into the water at the Westlake Rec. Center pool.. Take a look at this very short YouTube video, it gives a really good idea of the progress that has been made since our first design meeting in January.

ROV Dry Land Run Through by Sea Scouts

Finally the Sea Scouts have the ROV "Indomitable" assembled and in great working order. We placed the tasks as they are laid out on the MATE  video. This is a great demonstration video and we watched several times to get a good idea of the requirements.

Gideon acted as our prime mover as Nate operated the claws on the mechanical arm.

There was no problem removing the pin from the elevator releasing the HRH and placing it on the site emitting the sound picked up by the hydrophone.

The ROV "Indomitable" then moved over and removed the cap from HUGO and placed the connector in the port..

The next task required the ROV to maneuver into a six foot long cave and remove, after hitting the back wall,  three samples of a new species of crustacean.

Not so easy, the claw grabbed two but only surfaced with one crustacean.  A redesign of the claw coverings maybe needed?

(The next task of sampling the temperature of three vents is a work in process. The cabling is in the tether and the thermocouple is in place.)

Picking up the sample of the bacteria mass was relatively simple with Gideon positioning the ROV.

It remains to be seen if the rear tilt motor will have enough power to thrust the sampling tube into the mass.

Below is a photo of the camera picture on a computer along with the control box.  The compressed air gauges are on the left.  Next week we have the first in the pool test!!!!

Final Build of Sea Scout ROV

With just over 4 weeks left until the regional competition in Alpena, Michigan Ship 41 is putting together the ROV components.

To the left is the making of the en-defector or mechanical arm.

A clevis pin (not shown) will connect the claw to the compressed air cylinder.

This assembly will be inserted into a PVC tube with a slot at the end to hold the claw in place.

The wiring for the temperature sensor, hydrophone, camera and lights, and the two compressed air lines will be encased in an expandable plastic hose.  The hose is very kindly being donated to us by Dave Zwart of Zwart Systems , St. Catherines,  Ontario.

Sea Scout Flag Travelling the World Visits Cleveland

Taking a break from our build of the ROV, the Sea Scouts participated as part of the BSA, Greater Cleveland Council contingent of over 1,000 scouts in this years St. Patrick's Day Parade.  A highlight for us was to parade with a Sea Scout flag making it's way around the world that was stopping at various countries 100th anniversary celebrations of Sea Scouting.  The flag was flown over the grave in Scotland of Warington Baden-Powell, founder of Sea Scouting, last August. A link to details of the New Zealand celebrations can be found here by Ron Bird.  There is also a great article on the founding of the Sea Scouts and the U.K celebrations here by scout archivist Frank Brittain.

We received the flag from New Zealand and after putting on our patch had to express mail it on to Barcelona, Spain for their celebrations. At each stop a celebratory patch is being sewn on to the navy blue flag which has the universal Sea Scout emblem in white at it's center.

Ship 41 was excited to be part of history in the making as this is the only visit the flag will be making in the U.S.A. This world travelling, Sea Scout flag,  was seen by over 200,000 spectators at the Cleveland, Ohio St. Patrick's Day Parade,

Photo courtesy of Mark Horning and Co. Photography.

Sea Scout's ROV Saga

It's now just a matter of getting all the bits and pieces and putting it all together.  The picture below shows a ten LED floodlight which at 12 volts only draws 0.15 amps. and provides plenty of illumination.  It will be attached to the front of the ROV and be used to light up the cave containing the crustaceans.

         

At our meeting this week we also worked on the compressed air controls for the endefector.  We had procured a three way valve only to find that while it would force the cylinder arm open it would not draw it closed.  And so not function as a control valve for the endofector.

Sea Scouts finalize design of ROV

This past week we had a great lesson in applied physics as Mr. Ricketts lectured us on the advantages of a mechanical arm.  Below is a brief video of Mr. Ricketts in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3x9_Hv3TAs

We have ordered compressed air valves and other components and hopefully the scouts will be building a ROV that can be tested.  

Sea Scouts design ROV details.

This last meeting crew leader, Gabriel, shared his thinking on the operation of the ROV's "endofector".  Check out the video below on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8FECXINp90

We also discussed how to power the operation of the endofector.  It was generally agreed that compressed air should be used.  The rules state that a pressure of up to 40psi can be used.  The question was then raised where were the control valves to be located?  Placed actually on the ROV would require only one air hose but might require a holding tank and control wires to operate the valves.  A much easier design would be to have two air hoses and place mechanically operated valves on the surface.  

Discussion then moved to Task#4, removal of a goop sample from the sea floor.  For this the crew had come up with a thin metal tube pushed down into the goop (gelatin)  with a flap valve that would close and create a vacuum when the tube was with drawn.  It was found that if tabs were cut and bent into the tube the sample of goop could be retrieved successfully.

Sea Scout ROV Design Advances

Sea Scout Ship Indomitable has signed up to attend the Marine Technology, Great Lakes Regional competition in Alpena, Michigan.  This competition is sponsored by NOAA's Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

To date we are the only group or school outside of Michigan to enter. Our team name is "Indomitable" and Anthony (Gabe) Felici was elected crew leader.

Our ROV has reached the drawing board stage.  And progress is slow as different options are discussed by the scouts.

 A number of wild ideas are put up on the board, nothing is seen as impossible.

In the picture to the right the scouts test out some small high torque gear head motors, checking the torque available and amperage draw.

Because time is of the essence the ROV was broken down into sub-components.  Each scout or pair of scouts volunteered to research and build a specific component(s).

Sea Scout Team Indomitable's ROV

The Sea Scout Ship 41's ROV is taking shape.  The motors have been tested out in a local pool and work a treat.  Our advisors built mock-ups of the competition tasks as detailed on the MATE website.

In this picture Mr. Ricketts demonstrates Task#1, resurrecting HUGO.

 In this picture Mr. Brewer describes the requirements for Task #3, sampling a new vent sight.  This requires taking and graphing temperatures inside various vents.

Once the four tasks had been explained the scouts had a dummy run through the mock-ups with a handheld ROV frame just to get a feel for the steps needed by the competition.  More to follow.........

Sea Scouts To Enter Marine Technology ROV Competition

So the next challenge for the Sea Scouts of Ship 41 will be building a ROV (remote controlled underwater vehicle).  The regional competition is in April, 2010, however the goal of our Quarterdeck is to go to the U of Hawaii for the international event next June.

This is a photograph of a ROV, Seafox Retrofit, designed and built by Steve Thone .  The picture gives the scouts an idea what the final craft should look like.  As Ship 41's project progresses we'll keep you posted.

Also from Steve's website (click on link above) is diagram of a typical ROV.  These pictures are shown here with his permission. He has kindly offered to assist us by answering any (and there are sure to be some) questions as we move forward.

Sea Scout Ship 41 Receives NE Ohio Environmental Award

Commodore, Scott Engel, and Skipper, Richard Gash, receive the Northeast Ohio Environmental Honorable Mention Award from Mrs. Anne Bomar, V.P. and General Manager, Dominion Corp.  

By sponsoring these awards, Dominion & Biodiversity Alliance hope to encourage the community to emulate the achievements of the nominees, thereby promoting innovative evvironmental efforts and enhansing the quality of life in Northeast Ohio.

The award included a $500.00 check and a framed Herbarium print of a Trillium erectum.  Mr. Gash thanked Mrs. Bomar on behalf of Sea Scout Ship 41, BSA.

The presentation was made at the Cleveland Natural History Museum which was also the setting for the adult reception that followed.  

Sea Scouts Headlines in Observer

This latest issue of the Westlake/Bay Village Observer has Sea Scout Ship 41's award winning "Hi-Tide" as the lead article.

This article is a great recruiting tool.  Be sure to get copies of the paper and pass it along to your friends so that they can see what Sea Scouting is fun.

Video of Live TV 3 Broadcast

This is the LINK to the live WKYC, TV 3, broadcast of the Great Lake Erie Boat Float.   The last 3 minutes of the interview are live with our very own Andrew Gash, an employee of Procter and Gamble, Tide Plant in Lima, Ohio.


Ship 41's award winning  "Hi Tide" was used as the backdrop for the interviews. 

This has been a great learning experience for our Sea Scouts.  Now "Hi Tide" will be on display in the quad. at Case Western University as part of Campus Sustainability Day, October 21, 2009.

"Hi Tide" will be displayed with a sign promoting recycling and indicating the fact that the Tide bottles are made with 25% plus of post consumer recycled plastic.  After the display all the plastic bottles will be recycled.