PBR Sailors made history and will now be honored in exhibit ant the Navy Museum in Washington DC
WOW what a project!!!
This is an artists conception of the exhibit in Washington DC. The NW chapter has been working very hard to make a PBR ready for the exhibit. We are all proud to be part of such an important event to honor PBR Sailors and tell of the history they created. (yes, I know the drawing is of a MK1 and the boat that we are readying is a MK II)
Over the last few months many members of our group have given their time, money, and bore the expenses of lodging, gas, and food to get the job done. All are Volunteers and most still work for a living. Many have given almost every weekend to the group and I for one am grateful that this is being done to honor all PBR Sailors ---- most importantly those who were lost.
This is the boat after it was cleaned and painted. All the non skid that was put on very heavy and was breaking up had to be removed. A lot of grunt work work had to be done making the 55 + PBR vets feel their age on many occations.
The Navy Historic Center supplied us with a MK 56 Forward gun Tub which was shipped to NS Everett. After a lot of "networking" we finally got it to Jim Creek. Then with the help of Coastal Warfare Squadron 33 and most importantly their Big Ass fork lift under the control of EN1 Thomas ---- supervised by Tom Restemayer and Alan Stephens.
View forward (missing the Canopy which has been removed for shipping) showing the rebuilt light stand, drill and mount the new antennas mounts and newly mounted Radar dome for which we had to have a new base manufactured. We also had to replace some of the canopy mounts and clean all of them up.
We mounted new armor and mounted M 60 mounts, manufactured new braces and cleaned and painted everything. in the back ground is the new After 50 Cal mount. We had to remove the incomplete after mount and add the new one. We also had to replace all mounting hardware for everything that we mounted on the boat.
We mounted all new Armor around the cockpit and added Morse controls and other fittings in the cockpit to make it look good but not complete -- still hope to see more items from the navy.
Many of our group worked very hard on this project and are not pictured below--- Jerry Popovice CosRivDiv 11 , Rich Starks Army 458, Tom Moffatt RD 521 +, Bob Brower Army 458, Alan Stephens NSA Binh thuy + and Dave Perry LST 786 + like all like the others they have many days of hard work invested in the project.
All the work away from home has made our wives feel like Navy wives all over again --- even the wives of our Army members. We are grateful for their support.
The entire canopy frame had to be reworked and painted.
The canopy cover was manufactured for us by Royal Upholstery in Spokane, Washington, in honor of Ernie Hunter River Division 593. Ernie started the process but died very unexpectedly before it was finished. His co workers completed the project in his name. Thank You so very much!!!
They also made a cover for our other boat. In the back ground you can see the blue tarp "FEMA" roofing on the boat and the clear plastic rolled back from the canopy for the pictures. We are LUCKY enough to have many families of swallows that live above our boats in the vehicle shed at Jim Creek.
The Skid
The Navy could not find a skid for the boat so it was left up to the NWC members to figure things out. Bob Brower found an old beat up skid that was used to ship a PBR here to the NW. It had been built many years ago and was laying out in the weather ever since. Bob Brower and Rich Starks our NW Army PBR contingent disassembled it and got it ready for the move to Jim Creek by Tom Restemayer RS 512.
Larry Bissonnette and Don Dennis look at the finished product.
Once at Jim Creek we had to replace about 50% of the wood and replace all the hardware. Wed all became carpenters mates for many days while making the skid whole again. The picture above and below show the results.
The skid was modified a bit to make it as low profile as possible so the the PBR will fit through the very low boor in Washington DC. The un painted cross members are lose so that a fork lift can lift the skid while the members do not add to the height. allowing the keel to be less than 9 inches off the ground. The skid fits under the boat being 8 feet wide and 18 feet long it is under the water line.
The motley crew that finished up the Work on Saturday -- L to R Tom Restemayer RS 512, Don Dennis RD 531, Larry Bissonnette RD 593, and Myself RD 551 + smiling for the camera? Trying to move the next day I think it may have been a grimes coming on rather than a smile because of all the pains in the old mussels and bones the next day.
I listed the units so that all could see that the wide range of units represented in this project. Those with a + also served in other units. All members listed can be found in our membership listing
Now the only thing left is to get the navy to put the boat on the skid and get it on it's way to Washington DC. I make the only a bit large because nothing has been with out the need for a really great effort by our members to get the littlest thing done.
If I missed your name let me know --- as all know I use my head to move the boat some times and I think it make me forgetful.
Thank You all
The Boat arrives at Washington DC
Photos below are from Mark Wertheimer Head, Curator Branch
All the measuring paid off and the fact that we made the skid as low profile as possible paid off --- all can see the boat fit through the door, looks like we may even have given them a couple of inches!!!
Inside it's new with canopy frame back aboard.
As I get more pictures from DC on the progress of the display I will post them here!!!
