America Project 2007

Lake Superior shipwreck diving at it's finest!!!

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2007 SS America Project Results

Written 09-19-07

This years America Project was again shorter than we like on planning and preparation due to being approved one week before the project, although we have been doing this long enough that we can put together an America Project very quickly now. The two big tasks were to fix the upper engine room starboard side wall and securely install the large spindled support posts on the open after deck. The wall collapsed over the winter of 2005-2006 and the spindled posts fell down again shortly after the quick fix we did on them in the 2004 project. We also buttoned down a loose corner on the purser's office, replaced the steel plate that connects one side of the steel arch near the social salon, and installed a tacking strip on the base of the crew quarters divider wall. Although seeing the America fall apart is very disappointing and fixes are never as good as new, we had another successful repair project and helped to maintain more of the America structure for many years to come. If it were not for these projects the SS America would be a drastically different looking wreck than it currently is.

The work was done using two boats the Black Dog and the Heyboy and eleven participants (front L to R) Paul Imsland, John Connoly, Bill Wallace, Rick Schmidt, (rear L to R) John Ortiz, Phil Kerber, Ken Merryman, Christy Anderson, Brian Anderson, Ken Knutson, and Steve Daniel. Our thanks to all of the participants and a special thanks Brian Anderson for making the Black Dog available, to Kristy Anderson for buying food and doing the cooking, and to Tom Brueshaber for rounding-up and preparing the project materials.

(See project photos at bottom of this page.)

2007 Repair Tasks

This year's project was a short focused set of tasks. We only had a couple of weeks to plan it so keeping it simple was important. Basically we had one full work day and a setup and teardown day. Our first day was cut short by bad weather. The Heyboy was stuck at the Hat Point Marina dock for a couple of hours when some unexpected and short-lived 35 knot winds pasted her to the dock in a corner slip with very little maneuvering room. Black Dog managed to cross to the island, but it was too windy and rough to work until the evening. Once we were on site the weather improved, but we had to moor both boats pointed into the wind to sit well in the northwest rollers. All tasks were completed to some extent. This years tasks were the following:

1. The starboard upper engine room divider wall was pulled back into place and a new header with some sister boards were added to give some structural integrity to the wall.

2. The bottom of the steel arch on the starboard side of the ship opposite the social salon was loose because the threaded rod fasteners we added on the last project had come loose. We added a new stronger plate and replaced all bolts with bolts and locks to keep it from happening again.

3. Three of the four posts on the open after deck had fallen down again. We fixed these last project, but apparently didn’t do a good enough job. We were unable to find one of the posts. This time we moved the base of the posts so the posts were perpendicular to the deck as they would have been originally, then shimmed them into place so they actually can bear some of the load of the collapsing boat deck. We also added battens to the beams they supported to insure the beams don't move out of position and the posts don't slip off the beams. Now the posts not only look like they once did, they also give the boat deck three more legs to stand on.

4. The rounded corner tongue and groove woodwork on the pursers cabin is peeling off and was re-fastened using angle brackets to hold it in place to the deck. The wood of the cabin is getting so mushy there isn't much to fasten it to anymore.

5. The bottom tongue and groove paneling of the longitudinal divider wall in the crews’ quarters is loose from the base plate. We added a four inch base board to sandwhich it in place to the 2"x4" base plate. The bottom of the paneling is getting to soft to fasten each board individually.

Heyboy pasted on the dock wall in 35 knot winds.	All new wood has to be weighted to make it neutrally bouyant underwater. Phil Kerber checks the buoyancy before sending down the new wall header.
Ken Knutson shows off the cleats added to the afterdeck posts to fasten them to the supporting beams.	We added a block to the base of the posts to shim them to the proper length.

Bill Wallace made an amazing find in the wreckage of the assistant engineers quarters--an intact globe from a wall sconce. The artifact was recovered and given to the park. GLSPS will work with the park to conserve the artifact for the Windigo Visitor Center shipwreck display.	The intact artifact gives us a better idea of what the furnishings of the America were really like.
Ken Knutson and Bill Wallace on clean-up duty on the back deck of the Heyboy as we cruise back to Grand Portage after a successful project.