For years, our technicians in Ridgefield kept the Lassen, a Columbia River tug owned by Shaver Transportation Co., operational by servicing and rebuilding its two-cycle Detroit Diesel engines. But Shaver recently decided it was time to repower the Lassen to bring it more in line with the propulsion systems used in the company’s fleet. By...

The Bob and Betty Beyster became the newest research boat to join the fleet at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. The 42-foot aluminum hulled boat built by Armstrong Marine of Port Angeles, Washington, was carefully designed for its work in Southern California and the Channel Islands. Our marine...

The crew at Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue’s Station 51 in downtown Tigard, Oregon, is one of the busiest in the fire district. Not only do they respond to vehicle accidents, medical calls and fires, but its specialty units handle calls throughout the district’s 210 square miles of suburban communities outside Portland, Oregon. “I can’t...

As a kid growing up in Alaska, Raymond Nix fell in love with the delta style aluminum-hulled, fishing boats he saw plying the waters near his home. The admiration only grew stronger when he became a charter operator. “I knew I had to have one,” he said. Nix’s dream is coming true with the arrival...

Transportation officials in Puget Sound are increasingly seeing the waterway as a vital transportation route for its residents to reach the Seattle metro area to the east. Case in point, Kitsap Transit in 2017 launched its first fast-ferry service, linking Bremerton to downtown Seattle. Ridership has consistently beat expectations. The local transportation agency is capitalizing...