Just found out the original boilers on the SS Badger were rated for 450 psi back in the 50s

I was reading an old maintenance log from the Lake Michigan car ferry and saw the pressure rating. That's a lot of steam for a ship that's still running today. Makes you think about the quality of the steel and the welds they were doing back then. Anyone here ever worked on a vessel with that kind of original, old-school pressure spec?

3 comments

3 Comments

wendy_murphy161mo ago

Actually worked on a few old Great Lakes bulk carriers with similar specs. That 450 psi is impressive, but they almost never ran at full rating in daily service. The real test is how they've been cared for all these years. Doesn't that maintenance log show more about the crew than the original steel?

thompson.finley1mo ago

You're right that the maintenance log tells a story, wendy_murphy16. If they almost never ran at 450 psi, what was the usual operating pressure they logged? I'm curious if the log shows them slowly dialing it back over the decades as things aged, or if they kept it steady. That would really show the crew's long term thinking.

christopher6728d ago

Actually, the log usually shows them holding a steady pressure for years at a time (like around 380-400 psi was common on those boats). They didn't really dial it back slowly, thompson.finley. The engineers would pick a safe, efficient spot and stick with it unless something major changed. That steady hand on the throttle for decades is the long-term thinking you're talking about. It shows a crew that understood the gear and didn't push their luck.