Spirit of peoria

More SPIRIT pix

1)looking astern from the Texas bow
2,3)a 43 whistle Tangley calliophone
It wasn't played on our trip. I noted one white key was broken off. I don't know if its automated or not.

I admired the Spirit when she visited Cincinnati for the last Tall Stacks. Did Alan Bates design her? I've heard that her sternwheel (or at lest the bucket planks) is built of some sort of composite material. I'd like to know more about that - particularly how it has held up.

Good pictures Judy! I can't wait to get many of my own next week. And we'll definitely have to fire up that calliope on our trip, or at least turn the air pressure on 🙂

Yes, I made the drawings for the Spirit of Peoria. I did NOT design her. The owner of the boat was a motel operator. He and his interior designer botched her from keelson to stack-tops. The motel owner thought the Coast Guard was like a typical small-town building commission and made every possible effort to evade the regulations. When the time came to incline the boat they hid a number of heavy components from me. I made the inclining experiment and found out about the heavy equipment intended for the upper decks only after the work was done. I could not knowingly allow a false test to be submitted in my name, so I advised the Coast Guard to re-incline the boat.
They ordered the test to be repeated and saw to it that everything was aboard. The owner, outraged that I would not endorse his lies, found another naval architect to do the repeat test. The certificate of inspection as issued contained severe loading restrictions that limited the numbers of passengers, especially on the upper decks.

The boat was soon sold. I do not know if her new owners did or did not correct the stability problems, but if I ever ride her (a very remote probability) I will read her certificate immediately.

The motel owner was absolutely the worst client I had during my entire career as an architect and naval architect.

We're bringing our own calliope player. Surely at some point we can hear a few familiar tunes. Mom is glad they have an air conditioned part in case it's hot. Counting down the days....9!

spirit of the SPIRIT

The motel owner to whom Alan refers was D. James Jumer, who got the casino license here in Rock Island. The Casino Rock Island, now fleeted on the Illinois, looks strikingly like the SPIRIT. Jumer died over a year ago. If there is any heavy machinery on the top deck, it is confined to a small area under the pilothouse. Our trip was on a breezy day with most seats on the top deck filled. I noticed no stability problems, but I'll look up the certificate during our St. Louis trip.
As to the calliope playing, whoever wants that will need to deal with the management. I'm along for the ride just like everyone else, paying the same amount, so I'm not going to get into issues during the trip. If the calliophone is functional, I can't imagine they'd turn down an offer of a free concert, however.

The weights on the upper decks included bars, bar storage, refrigerating equipment, two heavy metal signs, etc., all of which were concealed from me and from the Coast Guard. Jumer and his interior decorator could not understand that a boat rests in a fluid and assumed they could put loads anywhere. I hope some later owner has removed or relocated them.

To demonstratre how touchy the Coast Guard is about weights, naval architects must account for such things as the paint, charts in the pilothouse, liquids whether in small bottles or large tanks, carpets, furniture, passengers and crew. Variable loads must be accounted for such as fuel, potable water, sewage, lubricants and other consumable supplies for both full load and for 90% of them being used. Potable water not only is used, but it moves from potable tank to sink or other fixtures and finally to a sewage tank all of which affect the center of gravity of the boat. Both the weights and their exact locations are required for calculation of the boat's centers of gravity in each condition.

When an owner deliberately conceals a couple of thousand pounds located on upper decks from a naval architect he may get to carry a few more passengers, but then he can drown a few more of them as well. The allocation of passengers in a tender (i.e, topheavy) boat is the responsibility of the boat's officers. What are they to do when the man paying their wages says, "Let 'em go where they wish?"

I think the owner of the boat is now also the Captain, so he should be more cognizant of the regs. I saw no heavy signs or bars up there. They have a counter toward the stern in the gift shop, and a cupboard for storage. They serve fountain and draft there, so obviously there are some kegs up there. But it sounds like the stuff Jumer was stashing from you is gone - and remember, Alan, I was on the top deck the whole trip to add to the instability!!!!!

Another perfect example of why this mathematically challenged boy had to give up the idea of being an architect or civil engineer.

If you didn't dent a steel handrail with your fingers, she was stable.

I wish I could have made arrangements to make that Illinois river trip with you all...I was also wondering if the Corn Growers Associations of Illinois & IOwa were planning more barge trips...on the Illinois & the UMR.

I for one am in the minority here on Steamboats-org in liking the overall scenery of the Illinois River, especially above Peoria, I really like the Morris to Henry stretch personally, but that's just me....heck to each their own! ;+)

For a true non-working or dare I state "wild" river, one must somehow cruise on either the Wisconsin River or the Rock River...a free (thanks to WI taxpayers!) short ferry trip at Lake Wisconsin on the Wisconsin River at Merrimac aboard the Colsac III is breathtaking...

A likewise dinner cruise on the Princess Kay @ Wisconsin Dells would also suffice as well on what is a "natural river"...not offically navigable to commerical vessels.

I always had invisioned if a vessel like the Delta Queen could have travelled the Wisconsin River...those cruises would have been sold out, bar none! But then I'm terribly biased being in a state where scenery abounds by leaps & bounds on 3 coasts, as well as it's numerous inland landmark treasures!

EDIT: Word has reached me via the "Lakeshore Echoes" that the Corn Growers Associations are not having their respective fact finding "trips" on the rivers for 2009...

One of the murals I painted for an operating casino boat had to be coated with fireproofing. I had to submit the weight of the mural as well as the weight of the fireproofing, which could not have been more than a few pounds. Oddly, other murals I did for casino boats did not have to be weighed or fireproofed.

The U S Coast Guard is not noted for consistency. When I designed the Natchez wood was taboo. A year later the General Jackson had tons of it. Much of the drapery on the Spirit of Peoria is wooden.
On Monday if the mate walks aboard with a toothpick in his mouth, he is subject to arrest, fines and prison terms. On Tuesday he can clean a carpet with naphtha. By Friday the entire crew can be in jeopardy if a caterer brings a spirit lamp bun warmer aboard. The regulations are wide open to personal interpretation by each inspector. One man will allow sky rockets in the galley and the next will hang the pilot for whittling a wooden wedge to stop a door from rattling.
For fire protection drawings naval architects are required to include the heat of burning bodies of victims in their calculations. The obese and the string-beans count the same, of course. Go figure!