12 hrs on a TUGBOAT - Dangers of a Log Runner

have you ever wondered what it's like on a river tugboat hauling log booms up and down all day well we're doing it we're on a tugboat today we always think about the captain's job but more importantly i'm going to show you the job these guys do to keep it all working i'm michael the channel is downy live that's tyrell we're getting this one started it's currently 5 22 in the morning and today we're gonna ride on a tugboat oh sick thank you cheers everybody meet tyrell he's uh showing us around on the boat today he also has the best last name i think of anyone i know hammer jackson well nice day to be on the water just what's up this is our captain justin and this is home for the next 12 hours yep or more now before every shift captain justin checks the engine oil and turns on the battery this boat has two diesel engines each with about 500 horsepower how do you start a tugboat quite easy push to start like that pretty good for diesel [Music] you ready to rock and roll are you yes yes you ready to rock and roll we're out of here buddy all right [Music] start to a good day this isn't a canadian moment i don't know what it is i gotta say this tuck boat's faster than i expected we're not towing anything so i guess that makes sense so this is a sawmill where they chop up wood but in order for that to work they need wood wood is obviously cut out of the forest it's brought down to rivers put into log booms and then brought down the rivers to here stored on the side of the shore so we are the middleman pull the log booms to the mill [Music] we're coming up on our first mill of the day already tyrell right now is communicating with this tugboat there telling them to push that's great that's great [Music] they're not just pulling random log moons each one is labeled individually and they give you specific instructions about which log boom they want now that we got the boom here we just have to tie it after this so it doesn't float away the day's just started fresh coffee delivery that's right the hammer express special delivery fresh pot on the go we got everyone coming in for the famous hammer coffee here this cafe on the season but now what oh i think we're heading to the jetty or we might get fuel time to fuel up pulling up to the chevron right now here fill up how many tanks do you guys have on this boat we got four on this one two bows two sterns how long is it gonna take to build well if they're empty it should be about 10 minutes here i do not want maybe i do want to know how much it's gonna cost to fill this thing up i don't wanna [Music] just 166 liters i swear there's some pickup trucks that take that what's that uh fill the toilet tank basically now let's do a tugboat tour this is the river rebel this being the back of the boat this is a giant winch cable so when we're towing a long boom that's a no-go zone just in case the cable snaps we don't want to be back here let me show you inside the cabin this is captain justin's face this steers it this makes it go batteries radar maps radios for gps and sounder yeah 14 feet under us i'm shocked at how shallow it is here this part of the river for sure now coming back to the living room slash dining area a little bench a little table hanging out i don't want to call it the nap space it's a workspace it works over here we have the kitchen you have yourself a microwave stove top fridge and a sink back here under the pizza and of course the most important coffee and that's about it but where's the washroom oh it's down there you want to see the way he said ooh i'm impressed it's got water in it so it works avoid that as best we can for emergencies only i think you want to show me the bottom of your boots oh yeah i wish i could say would save you from falling in but i think the smile says it all he's gone in a couple times hammer not the best swimmer no oh no so those booms are ground on the beach yeah i could try to rip it off but the risk first reward it is a river so there's always a constant current however you can see all these log booms are being beached at the moment because the tide is going down basically to deal with these we need to wait for it to get high tide so they're floating again we'll come do that later so what i just learned our logs can't be stored in salt water so right up there is the mouth of the river it's where the ocean meets the freshwater river we're gonna grab the specific log booms we've been sent to pick up and we're gonna haul them up the river for storage or to go straight to the mill because the logs are going to rot in salt water so uh to fresh water they go so you just threw that log boom together for us top end of our tow we're building everything behind this we're gonna it's gonna get much longer way longer that's what i'm talking about all there is to it so we all understand that a tugboat captain drives the boat but tyrell's job as a deckhand is a lot more physical this is one of the most dangerous jobs in canada the risk of tyrell falling in and being crushed or pinned between these logs is ever present and top of mind for him even if he doesn't show it tyrell runs out along the logs to find the tie off points to unhook the log booms from shore but to unhook the boom he needs slack in the chain which is where captain justin comes in he'll drive the tugboat around to the other side to push the logloom upstream enough to give tyrell that slack he needs to get the chain undone this job obviously entirely relies on the tuck boat and the tucked captain but none of this would be possible without the deckhand potentially doing all the work now that the log boom is disconnected from shore they have to connect it to the back of the log boom they'll be towing and they'll keep doing that until they have the log loom all connected and in the right order to start pulling it upstream to them so we're connected there and we're connected here as long as this connects properly that's a happy man 49 sections i think each at 66 feet long that's just about 3 300 feet long which is if you're canadian a full kilometer so justin and i think it all comes down to you now unfortunately ty sits down and now you drive back a little bit and probably clean something if you have time for leaning you have time for cleaning this is the spot rooftop deck oh i see good vantage point make sure we got our clean boom behind us so the reason we waited until this point of the day to hook up all of those log booms and pull them up now is because the tide has switched and the tide is now coming up river so we're we're going with the current and with the current how fast they were going i'd say roughly 1.2 1.5 knots right now yeah not very fast and because the tide is coming now all the tugboat companies are on the same schedule we got two boats there us one two three four five more tugs down there behind us and basically we'll all be in a single file line making our way upstream how far do we have to go at least 10 miles how long do you think that'll take seven to nine hours we'll be towing this for the next seven to nine hours there we go settle in folks chef tyrell about to get started here what do we have chef tyrell a couple cows with roasted potatoes he's got a full cauliflower straight up cooking in here everything okay okay so these two guys were helping us pull but we just broke so they're gonna turn around wrangle up the piece that broke off pull back together basically it's not just attaching a chain if it breaks you have to re-cable it's really important not to panic sometimes it's hard not to panic but i can imagine a long boom this size breaks open in the current in the river you could have them floating all over the place we're not fast we keep pulling yeah you just rip the toe in half and it's really hard to put it back together this looks like they're not under control within seconds yeah price is averted time for him to head back to his side and uh we're going to keep on pulling we got a pizza box is the cutting board yeah your potatoes roasted [Music] coming close i mean i was joking earlier i called it the cafe when he was serving coffee to everyone but he's pretty much running a full restaurant out of this stuff here see how she tastes but now i pull out mine stir fry from last night will be nothing be nothing compared to yours it's not bad lunch with a view it's a little loud but other than that so how did you get into being a deckhand how do you get started in this couple guys here like eric the guy you just met yeah he's a good buddy of mine eric was like yo you should come be a deck candice good job for a guy like you like you get to stay active all day you kind of just followed his steps trained with him and then trained with these guys and sooner or later i got the job so basically your friends roped you into it pretty much very much you're still here three and a half years later yeah would you recommend it to your younger self yeah i would yeah get that kid in shape earlier for sure yeah i say it's for everybody but it's not for everybody you know what i'm saying but if you want good hard work outdoors this is your office view mind you it's a summer day winter i think is a different scenario good lunch but uh some of us are having a post lunch nap this is what happens kids when you work hard you gotta get in those snoozes when you can just as long as justin isn't doing the same thing that's uh you know different yeah well we got the drag race he has about 1800 horsepower while we only have a thousand so it makes sense he decided to pass us it's not exactly quick though is it probably over over excited because it's my first day you know these guys now see everyone comes out to see it it's the only excitement we have hey give me one let's hear it we're getting past on both sides here the slowest ones out here but that's the tug light i think you recognize me that's awesome little tradesies we're coming up to some bridges right now it's a pinch point where obviously it gets significantly narrower between the bridge post so this is where captain justin he'll be standing while driving through because uh he doesn't want to catch the tail end and rip it all apart luckily we have two tongues behind us as we come through the curve and through the bridge they'll be pushing it to make sure it stays off the post [Music] we're coming up to a train bridge actually we've got two drain bridges coming up this one's a straight shot through so it's a little bit on the easier side the next one is around the corner and it's narrower it's the hardest of the day i'm not gonna lie that's not a lot of room on each side and that's exactly why they work in teams now i want to see the next one is still holding good so i'd like to know let me know in the comments if this is a job you think you could do pulling logs for seven hours would you get bored or is this the greatest job in the world and this train crossing is the second one this is the last one of the day before we drop this boom off justin you got this totally go anybody just no straight what do you do do you help spot this at all or you just step here to let him know what's right behind him still there justin she's right behind you buddy is snug going to be tight look there's plenty of room for the tugboat to make it through it's not us i'm worried about it's that we have about 10 feet on that side i'd say eight feet on that side [Music] jesse at the back watching our tail [Music] [Music] that was close tyrell you nailed it up here your suntan looks great i'm gonna say it's no problem at all but you know you got you got within a foot on the right i think it's not fun unless it's tight boys wouldn't let me go out with anyone but the best for safety reasons okay that's funny this is it ty it's your last job of the day make it look good we're all watching oh yeah look at that this is it ty one one more one more this is it see i don't do any of this i might as well coach and cheerleading get that don't leave it in the water you got that almost almost that's the day that's a shift right there here we [Music] oh go it is you're not already following them on tick-tock i've linked them right here the man is worth watching let's go i've learned anything from today that there's a lot of good hard-working people in this world and if you're ever near a river walking along a pier or driving across the bridge and you see a tuck boat give him a wave i guarantee hill way back best time of the day silence that is a day on a tugboat thank you tyrell justin for taking us on board i'm mike and these adventure videos come out every single saturday and i always say i don't know where i'm going next but i know i want you there with me so subscribe if you're new here and if you want to watch another video right now i recommend that one see you next time

Channel: DownieLive

Views: 728,585

Keywords: downielive, downie live, downielive tugboat, downie live tugboat, tugboat, towboat, logboom, log boom, barge, towing logbook, towing barge, river tug, river tugboat, fraser river, vancouver tugboat, vancouver canada

Id: zHakr6ASSBw

Length: 15min 59sec (959 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 11 2021