American Queen Paint job

Smoke stacks...

Anyone on here know if her smokestacks are being lengthened to what they were when she first came out or if the "air filter" rings are being placed on them once again? I was told several years ago that they were shortened because they made her top heavy.

I can remember when I caught my first glimpse of her in '95 coming up the river below New Martinsville, WV's bridge and Hannibal Locks and Dam. There were hundreds of people there. Cars were at nearly a stand-still on the bridge and people lined the railings across it to see her enter the locks. When she cleared the bridge, the first thing I noticed was those stacks laid forward. First thing out of my mouth was, "Look at those cannons!" Since then, every time I've seen her up our way on the Ohio with the stacks down, I always hear that little five year old voice in the back of my head just as clear as it was then!

It would sure be nice if the company puts a couple of simple white collars around each stack. For a boat of the AQ's stature she deserves two on each stack. Also if that exploded cigar look of the AQ's feathers could be toned down a bit, it would certainly improve her looks.

The original collars hid spotlights to light up the stack's feathers, but were removed when the stacks were shortened. I had heard that the strain of raising and lowering the stacks, along with the stress of the stacks being hot and cooling down when lowered, caused problems, so they were cut down by eight feet. They also were reinforced on the outside during this operation.

I have always thought that those big "iron crowns" atop the AQ's stacks were a bit too big. I'd scale the size of those down a bit. Frank's idea of the white collars sounds good. My favorites were the stacks on Cooley's America or those on the City of Hickman. both were Howard Shipyard designs, I think. I'd love to see them copied for use on a new boat.

White Paint

I think the white paint job on the AQ is finished by now does anybody else think so.

The most recent news I have heard is that the paint job is finished and she was being moved from Sulfur, LA to Morgan City, LA to continue preparations for her first cruise. In regards to the smoke stacks from what I understand they are more for looks than anything else, while they do function to an extent....The left one is an exhaust from the boiler that creates the steam for the paddlewheel and the right one is incinerator exhaust. The boat runs on #2 diesel fuel to create the steam so what smoke that does come out is from that. I have not heard anything on them changing the configuration of them but I will ask my contact down there and report back any new info.