$248,395 new Gilford fire boat
 

That seems like a real good safety upgrade, for Gilford to get a new 27' fire boat, made by Eastern Boats, for the big, big, big price of $248,395.

....article in the March 30-LaDaSun .... here it is, ladies & gentlemen .... the local news: http://www.laconiadailysun.com/newsx...ther-equipment

What does Meredith have ...... a large, approximately 27' fiberglass cabin enclosed boat which was donated from Bear Island ..... with two new, powerful Suzuki outboards..... a pump and a water cannon.

Holderness has a large pontoon boat with a big water pump for protecting the two Squam Lakes.

Does the Marine Patrol run fiberglass boats? ..... no, they used to but starting about ten-15 years ago, they switched to aluminum..... the MP runs mostly Defender 27' aluminum boats powered by twin 200-hp Merc outboards ... older 2-strokes...newer 4-strokes...

If it were me ..... I'd go search craigslist-nh for something tough and roomy, and slap on a new outboard, water pump and water cannon, and go hit the training button....buying a big money fire boat specifically designed for that purpose probably makes it a much better fire boat .... it's the fire-fighters who make it a happening fire boat!

Here's a great thought ...... just spend $48,395 on a used boat with new upgrades for a fire boat ..... and spend the other $200,000 on a floating pickleball court for the Gilford Recreation Dept ..... using four old used pontoon boats, pt lumber, and a 60-hp outboard and construct a floating pickleball court ..... a pb court is size 26' x 52'.... plus seating for the peanut gallery. A floating pickleball court, slowly motoring all around Lake Winnipesaukee with four pickleball players on court, and a small seating stand for four others, powered by a 60-hp outboard would really be a happening Lake Winnipesaukee item.

Maybe add some oars and oar locks for rowing along until it's your turn to hit the court.

Just picture a floating pickleball court slowly putt' putt'n along between Welch Isl and Lincoln Park in Gilford......with ten people on board.... and the Gilford Rec Dept lettered in large white letters on the side ..... this could even make it on the Fox TV fake morning news ..... live from Lake Winnipesaukee ..... just look at this America.......here we have pickleballers playing pickleball on a floating pickleball court ..... it's live from Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire ....... good morning!

Gilford is located in the center of the lake, shares their dock with the Marine Patrol, so having a high performance new fire boat, and all the training that goes into it, will probably make it a safety upgrade for the entire lake ...... thanks to the Town of Gilford. Fire boats do not stop at the watery town line and say so sorry, out of our district ..... they keep on..... a keep'n on ....all the way to the fire!

.....say-hey....maybe train the pickleballers to be back-up volunteer fire fighters for some freebie fire newbies ..... in case there's a big fire or something?

So, how many water skiers can a 27' - $248,395 fire boat tow along at the same time?

Just out of curiosity let's take a look at what the MP has and what they cost.

I found online a copy of a GSA price quote from Safe Boats Intl which was generated for the USCG.

A new 2017 27' full cabin boat just like the MP uses, $187,519.00. Twin 200 HP Mercury OB with installation $25,111.00 and to put that package on a trailer add another $17,000. Your looking at $230,000.00 before all the additional lights, electronics and other stuff the MP outfits these things with above and beyond that price. Furthermore consider this was a bulk order from the USCG so my guess is those prices are heavily discounted.

So considering Gilford is getting a fully outfitted fireboat from Easton for 248K seems like a pretty good value considering what it is. Not saying it was needed or not but that's up to the taxpayers to decide and frankly I would much rather see a town spending money on things that are geared towards public safety. While a few bucks can be saved in theory by cobbling together a bunch of used stuff - that comes at a risk to the public as well. I'm sure if your place went up in flames and a humpty dumpty fireboat either couldn't make it to put the fire out or broke in the midst of fighting the fire you'd be OK with that about that because the town saved a few bucks right?

To bad so sad, BOO HOO your house was destroyed as a result. Oh well, life goes on.

Isn’t the major part of what the MP exists for us to protect the public? This is a necessary piece of equipment and as long as if was competitively shopped there should be no issue. As Maxum said, if it saved your home you would be elated or lost your home because they didn’t have it you would not be happy.


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$248,395 new Gilford fire boat
 

How many other boats out on that lake cost more than $250k on any given day? I bet a decent amount.


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That's true but taxpayers don't foot the bill on them.

The fire boat is to be purchased by the town of Gilford and operated by the Gilford Fire Department. That is how all of the towns on the lake work. The Marine Patrol does not operate the city or town fire boats.

Thank you for the clarification.


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You mean to tell me they couldn't
find a cheaper version at Walmart? I bet they could have bought a motorized rubber raft at Walley World and mounted some of those high powered squirt guns on it for under 5K. As one of my firechief friends use to say, "save the foundation".

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[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]. Thanks great!!!!


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And noodles..., don't forget the noodles.:)

Good gawd, where do you find time to come up with some of these useless facts?

Probably the same way you find time to read it.

Does the MP use a full cabin boat or a center console with a wrap around wind shield and a tee top and a canvas aft cover ...... as opposed to a 'full cabin'... sort of like a soft enclosure, or something!

Something else to consider is that Gilford has a full time, paid fire department, as opposed to an on call fire dept.

Believe that Laconia and Gilford are full time, while Meredith, Center Harbor, Moultonborough, Tuftonboro, Wolfeboro, and Alton are on call.

Tuftonboro has a big Eastern, probably +/- 25 ft, with twin Honda 150s. FLL needs to remember that try use it for medical emergencies as well as fires. When they come for me I don’t want them stealing me to a couple of noodles and towing me behind the inflatable raft!


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Last time I was in the dive/dock store in Laconia, across from McDonald's ..... whose name I cannot recall at this time ..... but it's a dock construction biz with a retail store there ...... anyway..... last time there.....it had some very large foam noodles, about 6"d x 44" ....reg price -49.....reduced price-25....and so's I bought one, that noodle is big enuf to use it like a kayak....and sit atop and paddle it with a paddle!

Living in a 200 up to 2000-dollar world of boats .....as opposed to a 200,000-dollar world of boats.....one can figure out a way to make a working fire boat for a lot less money....that still gets the job done.

What does Center Harbor have for a fire boat ...... it has like a 30-year old 15' Boston Whaler with the steering wheel on the side......overhead red lights high up, a pump, and a Stokes, w/ a 40-hp 2-stroke, or something.

And, the MP-27' boats are all center consoles as opposed to cabins ......and, there's no way those MP boats cost anywhere near $200,000......probably more like $44,995. ?

If you look at the manufacture's online catalog I would say the MP has the walk around cabin on their larger boats where as I have also seen they have some that are center consoles but those are typically a little smaller.

http://www.safeboats.com/uploads/fil...talog-2017.pdf

They are super cool and look like they are extremely rugged so an obvious choice for boats that see lots of use in all sorts of weather.

It's so thoughtful that FLL makes us aware of all this wonderful information. Otherwise how would we ever know what was going on. It's not like we all have access to this news at our fingertips. 🤔

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Say-hey ........ a very nicely constructed, homemade pickleball court ......size 26 x 52' actual playing surface with net in middle ..... using four old, used pontoon boats for support ..... a Lake Winnipesaukee floating, motorized pickleball venue with about ten players on board......with Gilford Rec Dept lettered in big white letters on the sides .....would probably get national tv news attention ...... and give the lake and Gilford a lot of publicity.

So much pb competition ..... pb is a growing sport ......on a pb-boat .....it be a rowing sport ......ha-ha-ha!:D

Just what's best for Lake Winnipesaukee ......a $200,000 home made, floating, motor boat, pb-court ..... 26 x 52' regulation size plus extra running room all around for chasing the pickleball!

Any local boat builder talent out there with a big heated garage looking to volunteer their garage space?

.....never seen a pickleball game in play ..... just picture this ....www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkVDzji0wXo ..... "the greatest pickleball point ever played" ....... the 26 x 52' court recreated onto four old, beat up pontoon boats with pressure treated lumber to make a Lake Winnipesaukee floating pb court? The court in this video is a tennis court with pickleball lines drawn in by hand.

Every other town around these here parts has a $900,000 aerial tower for fighting fires ....... but only one town will have floating pickleball ...... this is a high priority, must have, Lake Winnipesaukee item!

Did you know the City of Doha, Qatar, on the big ocean gulf of Arabia, has a very nice, designer made, floating tennis court ...... so's a floating pb-court for Lake Winni ......seems highly appropriate for here!

FLL - defined as “regions largest repository of useless knowledge.”


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He must have a tremendous amount of free time on his hands....

I think he just wants to make sure he always stays the #1 poster on this forum. Some people just like to be #1 at something. I don't know what other reason he would have for making meaningless posts. :confused:

I sure you are correct. He blew past Rattlesnake Gal and just keeps spewing nonsense.

That's what I'm going to do when I retire. I'm going to troll this forum and run up my posts. I'll give him a run for the top spot. I live for that day. That's my dream retirement job! I will have to brush up on my computer skills though, as FLL has informed me in the past that I'm not at his level. :D

We will battle it out once we both retire. :laugh:

Fire Boat
 

First, this post is about a fire boat for Gilford. Not who has the biggest "post" on the Forum.

250K sounds like a lot of money and it is. Let's do the math.

Over the 20 to 25 years that this piece of apparatus is going to be in service that comes to about 12K a year. Or about the price of four "Scott Pac" breathing units. Think about how much money we all spend yearly on our boats and it seems like small change.

I have worked with the Gilford FD on calls. Their current boat is not up to the job. Good folks, old boat. New one needed.

Think about the value of the properties on that shore. I think that what they pay in property taxes that they deserve the best fire protection available.

Thanks for your hard work Gilford FD.

Misty Blue

Excellent post MB! I couldn't agree more! I am certainly glad the town of Gilford cares enough about its shoreline and island home tax payers to ensure we have the proper safety equipment needed.

I would like to point out that this was not all a taxpayer burden. Some islanders and shoreline home owners made personal donations to help with cost.

Dan

It's hard to compare items like a municipal fire boat to a consumer purchase. As other posters have stated, these are long-life assets that are here for public service. The whole point of a local fire department is to provide a service you wouldn't be able to cost justify individually. Keep in mind, a standard ambulance costs about $150,000.

As far as I'm concerned, I wish the towns actually spent more on fire boat protection. As an islander in Alton, this is really the only service I can ever envision needing my significant property taxes used for. On Rattlesnake, I'd love to have a bigger boat with better capacity than what we usually see on the lake. In Alton, we have a 1997 Eastern, with portable fire pumps. Travel time with the small engines from the bandstand to the island takes awhile... Compare that to the new 33' SAFE boat in Bridgeport CT. Holds 22 people, has 900 HP, and a 2000 GPM pump! Only downside is cost was $700,000! (paid for with a Federal grant) But I for one am happy that Gilford has upgraded to something similar to what Wolfeboro has.https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/...ty-4787162.php
https://www.ctpost.com/local/article...e-11284307.php

I'd bet, if the Alton Fire Boat is stored at the south end of th bay, the Wolfeboro and Gilford boats can get to Rattlesnake in shorter time, depending on which part o the island needs help. Maybe Alto should look for a better dock location?

Yes, actually in the summer we'll see three boats sometimes respond to a call, and Wolfeboro gets there before Alton, and around the same time as Gilford. The Alton FD seems very opposed to keeping the boat anywhere other than the bandstand. A few years ago they tested a response time coming out of Minge, and said it was nearly the same as response from the bay given the longer drive from the main station. However, that test had the boat observe the entire Minge Cover no wake zone! In an emergency response, I would hope they would turn on the lights and make up the time like we see in the Weirs Channel in times of emergency. But for whatever reason, this is a non-starter with Fire management.

In the water; training and final fitting going on.

I'm curious as to how a fireboat holds position when a water cannon is throwing a massive stream of water a hundred feet or more onto a fire. That's a rather large force trying to move the boat directly away from the fire. Presumably the boat's engines can be used to counter that force, but precise control would be difficult, particularly as the cannon's operator moves the water stream laterally. Does anyone here know?

A related question, likely not practical in nature, would be whether the trip from dock to fire could be shortened by aiming the water cannon to the rear (and over the crew!) and pumping water full blast.

Come on over now and watch them play with it. Usually a daily occurrence.

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Why-o-why?
 

Always wondered why the fireboat is docked on the west side of the pier, instead of the east side, away from the traffic using the boat launch, or, perhaps, on another pier to the east. 🐻

Wish we had one in Center Harbor.


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Center Harbor has a Boston Whaler, about maybe 15', a mostly open boat which I believe is kept on a trailer at the fire station. Center Harbor has both Big Squam and Winnipesaukee within its town border, plus Center Harbor has a full time, on-duty, professional fire dept.

Gilford now has two (2) Fire Boats ?

I could have sworn I saw the old one at MVYC gassing up and return to Silver Sands.

Is the water cannon aft or forward mounted on the whaler?


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At the dedication ceremony for the new Gilford fire boat on Sunday it was stated that the old boat was officially taken out of service at the end of last season.

Ummmm …. maybe is a portable, gas powered pump with a hose, in the bow ….. probably not the cannon style ….. is a hose ….. (?) is probably easier to aim and use a hand held hose than a cannon bolted to the boat?

The cannons are just used for spray decoration while pulling the fire dept waterski team! …. full spray ahead ….. hit it!

A deck gun is much easier to use. You do not have to hold the weight of the hose and water, or deal with the thrust of the water coming out of the hose which sometimes will take 2 or three men to hold onto. Anything larger than a 1 3/4" line becomes very difficult for one person to hang on to.

The deck guns will swivel 360 degrees and because it is on a fixed mount you can put a larger straight tip or an adjustable nozzle on it and apply a significantly greater GPM flow. The difficulty becomes when the Captain has to maintain the boat's position and compensate for the thrust generated by the stream of water.

Their fire dept website says it is a 17' Boston Whaler. Could not find a photo?

Big enough to tow a single slalom skier, or two on two skis, each ..... but no deluge gun on-board for their July 4, Independence Day, decorative, full spray ahead, water salute ...... Center Harbor totally needs to go git itself a deluge gun for their boat!

Maybe M&M Marine Salvage in Meredith has a used deluge gun for a steal-of-a-deal price? Helloooooo ...... anyone got a deluge gun they want to unload, cheap?

Deluge gun: for fighting fires .... :fire: .... and ceremonial water spray salutes .... :patriot:

Water cannon: for riot control, and the water can be laced with liquid tear gas for stronger impact ....... ouch! ... :mad:

If you're living on an island I don't think the fire boat will be able to save your home.By the time it is reported,a crew is deployed and the boat arrives,there won't be much left to save.
Definitely useful to protect other properties and prevent the fire from spreading

Can it help on an island?
 

Many of the fires that would consume a cottage do not start in the building. They would come from outside, by way of trees or vegetation.

This was a fire, on Bear, that started by downed electrical wires igniting brush and a canoe, and was doused by 5 gallon buckets. Someone happened to be driving by at the time. A fireboat would not have helped here due to the ice, but on a summer it would be a different situation.

….ya know, that looks like a 17' Grumman aluminum canoe with serious flames coming up, all around it.

Probably see it on craigslist as a Grumman with minor surface damage, but still very usable, for just $250 …. $300 with two Grumman paddles … ?

For getting out to an island in the winter to fight a fire, what works good is a canoe like this, dragged and paddled across, and indian pumps ….. backpack, hand carry water-fire pumps ….

Indian 17904-1 galvanized fire pump 5-gallon ……. www.cdnsafety.com/indian-fire-pumps.htm ….. using odds and ends picked from the town transfer station along with a foam noodle for a fire hose, a home made version can be made for very short money! ….. much less expensive than a helicopter with a water drop!