alpha helix

[lizzienewell]

I'm going to make some models based on this ship. I photographed it in the Seward Municiple Harbor and it's owned by The University of Fairbanks. It's a research vessel.

I want to make a science-fiction carrier for my foldable wing WIGS. I'll put davits off the side of a research vessel and get maybe eight or so skips hanging off the sides. To use the WIG crafts you lower them into the water and then take off. So my fictional version, The Amphitrite, will act somewhat like an aircraft carrier.

I may make both some models of this ship "The Alpha Helix" and of the fictional ship "The Amphitrite"

The Alpha Helix carries 15 scientists and 9 crew members. She's 135 feet in length and 31 feet in the beam. I found the statistics on line. I don't know if the length is hull length only or if it includes the davits off the back.

I figure my Amphitrite will carry fewer than than number due to the need to carry the WIG crafts.

Does anyone know more about the Alpha Helix or ships like her?

 

[wunwinglow]

You must be careful with ship dimensions, they can refer to a number of aspects of the shape involved. Length can, for example, be overall, waterline (sometimes called 'Between Perpendiculars'), and perpendicular to frames, wich might be slightly different if the hull 'sits' in the water pitched up or down. These figures and others are related to the hydrodynamic calculations done on hull forms. You really need some good drawings if you can get them; do you know who built her in the first place?

And another thing, when (lets be optimistic here!) you get the plans, be careful measuring directly off the paper. Paper stretches (don't we all know that...) and sometimes modifications to the structure are altered by way of the dimensional notes, while the drawings remain unalterd. They build such things from the dimensional data, not the paper and inklines!

Tim P

 

[Kevin G]

The Alpha Helix was designed by L.R. Glosten and Associates of Seattle, Washington, and built by the Martinac Ship Building Corporation of Tacoma. The Alpha Helix was built in 1966. The UAF took the ship from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1980. This ship has been all over the world including Antarctica, the South Pacific, the Amazon river to name a few.
She has a reinforced hull. As far as I can tell she is also the annual recipient of the Order of the Ancient Albatross. This honor signifies the oldest and longest operating research vessel in the University National Oceanographic Laboratory system.
Here are some links for you that may be of help.
vessel Data and contact information. Maybe you could get some drawings or even some plans from the contact source here if you explain what you want to do, who knows maybe they would want a model of the ship too!
http://www.researchvessels.org/ship_info_display.asp?shipID=71

ALIAS web site with some info on the ship including contact info
http://siempre.arcus.org/4DACTION/wi_alias_fsDrawPage/1/56

The FCC license info for the ship, looks like the license expired last month!
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=1546106

Homepage for the ship
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=1546106

Scripps Institution of Oceanography Archives
http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/archives/siohstry/alphahelix-hist.html

Hope that some of this is helpfull or at least informative!

 

[lizzienewell]

Thank you Kevin and Tim. I'd found the Alias site but those are other good links. I'll see if I can contact someone aboard the vessel through personal contacts. I haven't had much luck with the direct approach to information about vessels. Casual and personal contacts seem to work best.

Also while in Seward I photographed a wonderful Bluewater Schooner and spoke to the owner of the boat. I was in Seward helping a friend winterize his 32 foot Mercator sailboat.

I've started designing the model of the Alpha Helix from the picture. My eye for preportion is good but my methods produce an intepretation of the ship instead of an accurate model. A interpretation my be suitable for my purposes, since I'm going to start from the Alpha Helix but aim to produce a different ship.

I'm too eiger to get to work to wait for accurate plans.

From Kevin's info it seems I've picked a ship with a cool history.
Literally cool.

Lizzie

 

[lizzienewell]

One of those links had the height and length of the rear gantry. I should be able to use those numbers to determine the preportions, so that I can get beam to length relationship right.

Thanks for the link Kevin.

Lizzie