Page 31: of Marine News Magazine (January 2026)
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Fire Island Ferries play replacements for Detroit 1271s and Series 60s, allow- is one of the steel hulls, was built in 1976, and she’s still run- ing Fire Island Ferries to retain existing transmissions and ning strong. One of our freight boats was built in 1974, so controls while achieving cleaner emissions, improved fuel they’ve been around a long time, and they’ve been pulling ef? ciency and long-term serviceability. their weight. My philosophy: if it ain’t broke, don’t break it.”
The result: extended vessel life without sacri? cing reliabil- ity. “These boats are in great shape,” Mooney says. “We can Navigating Thin Water, Day and Night repower them and get another 10, 20 years out of them.” Operating in the Great South Bay is challenging with
That philosophy re? ects the pedigree of the builders be- narrow channels, shallow waters and traf? c density that hind the ? eet. Over the decades, Fire Island Ferries has can be intense during peak season. The tradeoff, Mooney worked with Blount Boats, Gladding-Hearn, Derecktor, notes, is that while groundings happen, rocks don’t. “I’ll
Gulf Craft, Lyman-Morse, Munson and Miller Marine, take thin water with no rocks over deep water with rocks yards known for producing rugged, purpose-built vessels. any day,” noting that if a captain strays from the route and
Everybody has built a great boat for us. And I actually touches bottom, they may “bend a wheel or a rudder, but joked with the Blount people, saying, “Part of your problem they won’t put a hole in the boat!” is you build boats that are too good, so they’re around for 30 Technology has transformed the operation over time. or 40 years, and we can repower them and get another 10, Mooney remembers navigating before radar, timing runs 20 years out of them,” which is a compliment to them. But with stopwatches and compass bearings. The introduction these vessels, as a matter of fact, the Fire Island Miss, which of radar was a step change; GPS was revolutionary.
Blount Boats www.marinelink.com MN 31|
