Seeing the Bob Lo excursion boat takes me back to my childhood years. Never rode the boat, but the children, the clothes, the colors, the hair, the styles and the type of boats on the river are the things imprinted on the mind of my 10 year old self discovering the world at that time. I'm surprised that steam powered fire boat lasted into the 70's. Fire fighting, with response time being important, would not seem to be the best place for a steam powered boat waiting to build up steam to get going. That process takes time and it is not good for a boiler to try and do it quickly. But I guess when that boat was first built it was the only realistic solution. I don't know when that boat was built but they did have some large and reliable diesel engines as early as the 1940's. After digging around on the web, I found that the fire boat "John Kendall" was active from 1930 to 1979.
Exellent commentary!, we worked at Detroit Wayne county Port authority in 2017 saw mail boat in action. My Dad worked on D/C " Greater Detroit 111. Memories
I lived on Grosse Ile at the southern end of the Detroit River from the age of 12 to 16. I started playing ice hockey and sailing. Still going at 68.
Seeing the Bob Lo excursion boat takes me back to my childhood years. Never rode the boat, but the children, the clothes, the colors, the hair, the styles and the type of boats on the river are the things imprinted on the mind of my 10 year old self discovering the world at that time.
I'm surprised that steam powered fire boat lasted into the 70's. Fire fighting, with response time being important, would not seem to be the best place for a steam powered boat waiting to build up steam to get going. That process takes time and it is not good for a boiler to try and do it quickly. But I guess when that boat was first built it was the only realistic solution. I don't know when that boat was built but they did have some large and reliable diesel engines as early as the 1940's.
After digging around on the web, I found that the fire boat "John Kendall" was active from 1930 to 1979.
A great documentary. I rode and worked on the Bob Lo boat when I was in High School
As young teens in the late 60’s, we used to surf the Boblo boat wake in a 12 ft aluminum boat with a 1948 5hp Johnson.
Exellent commentary!, we worked at Detroit Wayne county Port authority in 2017 saw mail boat in action. My Dad worked on D/C " Greater Detroit 111. Memories
Very interesting documentary. Takes me back to my preteen years.😊
0:41, “One of 9 Planets.”
Scientists in 2006: “I Don’t Think So.” (Proceeds to demote Pluto to Dwarf Planet Status)