Get your boat nerd on...

Here I am in front of the bow thruster of the John G. Munson.

You might be thinking, "Okay... wait. What? Who??"

The Munson is a boat... a big ol' lake freighter. She's 768 feet long, which is exactly 245 feet shorter than the longest laker on the Great Lakes, the Paul R. Tregurtha. This photo was snapped mid-February (it's probably about ten below in the photo) at one of the dry docks in Frasier shipyards. Lakers like the Munson lay up for the winter for repairs. The Munson was getting some body work done, and I have a friend who works at the dry docks who got me down there.

How the boat gets in there is simple. It nestles into a slip of water mid-January, and then a big wall seals the slip up. The water is pumped out, and the flat bottom of the Munson rests on those wooden blocks you can see in the photo.

The bow thruster you see is at the front of the boat, and those propellers in there push and pull water through the hole. This allows the boat easier turning capabilities. The Munson only has a bow thruster, but newer boats also have stern thrusters (same thing, only in the back of the boat), so they can turn a full 360 degrees if they need to.

During the shipping season, the Munson will cruise around our harbor, possibly loading coal or taconite to her full 29,000 ton carrying capacity.

Man, do I love those crazy boats!