I am retired from the heavy fuel oil (bunkers) business out of Duluth-Superior and know the Great Lakes and their trade patterns pretty well. We operated an 8,000 bbl fueling tanker in the Duluth-Superior harbor and had shore stations at Two Harbors, Silver Bay and Taconite Harbor.
I sold mostly Number 6 and 320/280 CST to the ore carriers. Now, courtesy of the EPA, all those big engines will have to be scrapped and replaced with diesels. There is even talk of moving toward LNG as a fuel.
One trip I'd like to make would be down the Erie Canal. A boat like yours would be perfect.
Interesting....they are very comfortable boats (we are in our late 50’s now and comfort is important). As far as I know, there were only 21-22 of these boats built, and two are here in the northwest.
Many of our charterers have said that it is the most maneuverable boat of its size they have ever chartered.
Our has dual 750 hp turbocharged Detroits. We have her governed a little so top speed is 22-25 knots (don’t want charterers burning up these babies)