Boat Delivery in Crater Lake? No Problem!

When the boat is too big to go on a trailer, and the road's too crooked, and the terrain's too rough, what are you going to do?

Those who remember the 1981 movie, Das Boot, might conjure up images of a bunch of sweaty guys with machetes, pushing, pulling, and cursing their way over a difficult portage... There must be a better way.

Little boats aren't a problem. You just load them on their little trailers and drag them as close to the water as your car can go. Bigger boats, though, can pose more-interesting problems. How about a 50-man, 12,680-pound tour boat?

When Xanterra Parks and Resorts decided that their fleet of Crater Lake National Park tour boats were getting long in the tooth, they ordered up three new ones. They're 48 passenger models (plus a captain and a Ranger) -- a trifle too large for your average SUV and trailer.

They're perfect for a Chinook, though. The brawny chopper airlifted the boats one-by-one from a nearby staging area.

No such thing as, 'too much power.'

That Chinook had some work to do. First of all, the lake is at 7000 feet -- and it's down in a crater. Secondly, four old boats, in operation since 1972, had to leave, too. Those boats, also seating 50 and stretching 39 feet long, were quite similar to the new deliveries (except that they were wood-hulled, and their power wasn't as modern). The old boats, just over 11,000 pounds each, have flown before, occasionally, for major maintenance. They originally got to the lake on truck, a Xanterra spokeslady told ANN, and were partially assembled, lakeside.

Columbia Helicopters's Chinook (based in Portland, OR) not only put the three new boats in the lake Tuesday; the same chopper removed the four old wooden ones to dry storage, whence they're soon going up for sale.

"Crater Lake is the deepest and purest lake in North America," said Dominie Lenz, general manager of Xanterra's operations in the park. "It is our goal to provide our visitors with a fabulous view of the lake knowing they are doing it safely, while preserving the environment."

The new boats provide many state-of-the-art safety features as well as minimize environmental impact to the lake itself. The boats, from from Modutech Marine of Tacoma (WA), were designed to maintain buoyancy. Each hull is molded out of fiberglass, up to an inch thick, and contains foam-injected chambers. The material used for the seats and decks is fiberglass-reinforced plastic (FRP).

Powered by 315 horsepower, 5.7 liter Vortec GM engine blocks "marinized" by Marine Power, the engines feature electronic fuel injection and are muffled to minimize noise.

The new boats will begin tours July 27.

FMI: www.craterlakelodges.com; www.colheli.com; www.modutechmarine.com