"10 Boats, 10 Weeks" Maintenance Team
If you're a sightseeing cruise company like Argosy Cruises, you can't just take a boat out of service for yearly painting every August. The weather is great in the summer for painting, but thousands of passengers want to ride Harbor Cruises!
What we do instead is what has become known here as "10 Boats, 10 Weeks." Regular maintenance is performed on our vessels year-round, but in winter an expanded team of people work every day during the first 10 weeks of the new year on a list of projects gathered company-wide throughout the year.
Week by week, the team's project list is whittled down through LOTS of coordinated teamwork. And this teamwork includes daily lunches where everyone sits around one table and shares not only the meal together but the stories of the work being done that week.
Some of these completed projects are immediately noticeable to guests the very next time they ride with us, like the newly rebuilt first deck bar of the Goodtime III.
And many of these projects are ones that our customers will never see -- new sewage pumps are just not a normal part of our tours and charters! But these small or below-decks enhancements can make a world of difference when it comes to passenger comfort and safety, and un-interrupted vessel operation through the rest of the year.
When all the winter's work is done, the team gathers one more time during the spring to celebrate their successes, retell the stories, and share a really great meal together. And best of all, each member of the team receives their own "10 Boats, 10 Weeks" t-shirt -- a highly-coveted, hard-earned reward whose design is kept a closely guarded secret. The packaging of this shirt is even special: one year each shirt was "wrapped" in a block of ice!
Members of the 2016 Winter Maintenance Team
Vessel Operations Team Members:
- Goodtime II Bosun Dan Barnard
- Captain and Crewmember Adelia Boyer
- Crew member Jason Micayas
- Captain Kristi Schooley
- Captain and Crewmember Zach Simonson-Bond
- Captain Josh Smith
- Captain Steve Turner
- Captain Tavin Weeda
- Captain Nick Zylstra
Year-Round Maintenance Team Members:
- Captain Don Wicklund, Port Captain
- Captain Kenny Wicklund, Fleet Engineer
- Captain Brock Gilman, Manager of Marine Affairs
- Captain James Hem, Fleet Engineer
- Andy McKinney, Fleet Engineer
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Here's a sample of some of the maintenance projects the "10 Boats, 10 Weeks" team accomplished in 2016:
Spirit of Seattle: Painted from top to bottom; new windows and life raft covers; brand new 60" LCD TV for group and charter use.
Lady Mary: New black rub rail along the dock line of the vessel, made thicker to help protect the sides of the boat during docking and for better passage through the Locks; two new doors to improve passenger comfort; brand new tables and windows.
Goodtime II: New generator, new propellers; new window curtains and Lexan for greater visibility and improved views from the second deck; repainted ALL decks; a cleaner burning Tier 3 electrical generator; new LCD TVs for group and charter use.
Goodtime III: Brand new first deck bar with a stainless steel counter top, wood paneling front, and programmable colored LED lights; new restroom partitions; rebuilt BOTH engines; new LCD TV for group and charter use.
Sightseer: Main engine overhaul, which took over two months to complete! The first deck bar was rebuilt to accommodate more products and provide a better work space for onboard crew.