SS Badger nearing return to home port
Ludington, MI – Soon, an icon of Ludington may be making its return.
The 410-foot SS Badger departed, under tow, Pere Marquette Lake heading for dry dock in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, in mid-November for its inspection and to receive a fresh coat of paint.
The Badger is across Lake Michigan for its inspection that is scheduled for every five years. In the past few weeks, it’s shared a slot at Fincatieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay with another ship, the Alpena. The Alpena is a 503-foot-long cement carrier that was built in 1942, according to MarineTraffic.com. The Badger launched in 1953.
“We do not fill the dock up,” said Chuck Cart, director of operations with the Lake Michigan Carferry. “It is a very large dock so there is another ship along side of us.”
Cart said during this visit to dry dock, it is the first time since 1992 the ship is having the bottom sandblasted. “The bottom of the ship will be repainted with a special slick paint that should make us faster in the water,” he said. “Also, for the first time since who knows how long, we are blasting the black and stripes on the side and having that all repainted as well.”
Cart said the color scheme will not change the only difference is it will be freshly painted. “We are about three-quarters done,” he said. “We have some stripping to do and a little bit of the bottom yet.”
Cart said there has not been anything that has been a surprise while the ship has been in dry dock. “We have been operating the Badger a long time,” he said. “Nothing that happens is really a surprise if you are paying attention to it.”
The Badger’s stay in dry dock is a bit different than in previous times, Cart said. “A lot of the things we would have normally done at home (and) in-house, we have the opportunity to have the shipyard to do, which opens up our time in Ludington to do other projects,” he said.
Cart said the shipyard crews took the ship’s propellers off of the Badger after the water was drained out. From there, the inspection includes the propeller shafts and sea valves, looking at all of the hull, analyzing each rivet and looking for any new dents, bumps or bruises.
“Crews will take all of the anchor chain out of the ship and inspect the chain as well as the anchors,” he said. “This is pretty much a standard dry dock inspection that everybody gets.”
Cart said people can expect to see the ship back home soon. There is work that still needs to be done once the painting is completed like putting the propellers back in place. Weather, too, may factor into when it can get towed from Wisconsin back to Ludington
Also, because the Badger is in dry dock with the Alpena, both ships need to leave dry dock together. Any work on the Alpena will need to be completed, too.
The plan is to have the Badger towed back to Ludington once the work is complete. “We are hoping for another eight to 10 days,” he said.
Ludington Daily News
