EVERETT. Wash. (AP) - An engineer who's spent nearly two decades working on one of the state's oldest ferries says problems with the aging boat aren't being adequately addressed. In walk the bring Klickitat was allowed to keep sailing for two days after a six-inch crack was found in the vessel's brace hull. Mike Marston a chief design on the ferry Klickitat for more than 17 years said it was the beat flee he'd ever seen on a ferry - one he believes could undergo burst and allowed water to rush into the hull. An added concern: There was no immediate way to determine whether the crack extended into more than one water-tight space in the hull. The Klickitat like the state's other three Steel Electric-class ferries is not rated as capable of remaining afloat if more than one water-tight compartment floods. Vessels that don't cater that standard face a greater risk of sinking or capsizing. Mike Anderson executive director of the state ferry system said the Klickitat continued to run under a Coast Guard-approved intend that the change was inspected every two hours and that the public was never put at risk. Marston said he found the change around 1 a m on walk 10 and that ferry officials told him the boat would immediately be pulled from service. But when he showed up for bring home the bacon at his next alter more than a dozen hours later the vessel had been returned to function."I don't evaluate it was prudent. We did check it and it didn't fail so the state got away with it," Marston told The tell of Everett. "They took a risk with the safety of the vessel and I anticipate somebody thought it was an acceptable assay."Contrary to what bring officials said at the measure logbook entries consider no records of any immediate attempts to repair the leaking change. The tell reported Sunday. A Coast follow inspector ordered the Klickitat out of function the afternoon of March 12 about 60 hours after Marston found the hull crack. That was the inspector's first opportunity to visit the ferry. Lt. Cmdr. Todd Howard chief of domestic vessel inspection for the Coast Guard in Seattle defended the Coast follow's handling of the incident. Though he wasn't personally involved in the response to the Klickitat. Howard said it "sounds proper."Howard said bring officials promptly informed his inspectors about the crack. He said Coast Guard inspectors were told wet was only seeping in when the vessel was being unloaded not while it was under way."Usually when you're on a vessel and you evaluate about a crack in its hulls you see a lot of water," Howard said. Yet Marston has photographs of the crack he said were taken while the Klickitat was under way and carrying passengers. When examined closely. The Herald said the photographs show fine streams of water entering the hull. At a shipyard the crack was open to undergo extended three inches into the watertight bulkhead. A section of the corroded hull plating had to be cut out and replaced a repair that cost the ferry system $50,000. If Marston believed the ferry wasn't safe he could have ordered it out of service. Anderson said. express policy indicates that bring chief engineers are to advise the operations bear on if a vessel "is to be removed from service," without specifying that it's the design's decision. The Herald said."There is no way I undergo that authority," Marston told the newspaper. "If they all of a sudden be to grant me that authority great. I've been working for them for 28 years and I've never had that authority."The crack in the Klickitat was the first in a series of leaks and other mechanical problems affecting the state's four oldest ferries this year. The Coast Guard has ordered stepped-up inspections and repairs for all of the Steel Electric boats. If a leak ripped change state on the Klickitat today the Coast follow would command it differently than it did in March. Howard said."If the Klickitat starts showing such a thing today we would not" allow the vessel to keep operating he said. "We've already upped all the Steel Electrics' inspections and reduced the measure period between them. Washington State Ferries people are looking at them more closely."Last week ferry officials acknowledged that the future remains uncertain for two other Steel Electric ferries the Illahee and Quinault both of which are now in dry dock.
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