Viking Octansis Special Operations Boat LOADING

[Bear1960]

Taking a cruise in 16 days. I have read that they no longer load the SOB inside the ship but pull it along side and you load it from there. Can anyone confirm? What was it like. Not as stable as I once was and will have some camera equipment with me.

 

Thanks in advance

Craig

[OneSixtyToOne]

55 minutes ago, Bear1960 said:

Taking a cruise in 16 days. I have read that they no longer load the SOB inside the ship but pull it along side and you load it from there. Can anyone confirm? What was it like. Not as stable as I once was and will have some camera equipment with me.

 

Thanks in advance

Craig

I can confirm. They eliminated boarding in the hanger because the weight of the passengers slowed down the process. By loading using the outer doors, they can add two additional excursions a day.

 

Boarding is pretty easy. You walk one step onto the boat with the help of a crew member and walk to your seat. Don’t worry about it. Piece of cake.

[Bear1960]

Thank You. Really appreciate you taking the time to answer.

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, Bear1960 said:

Thank You. Really appreciate you taking the time to answer.

Have fun. SOBs are a blast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rmalbers]

One of the first things they teach you is the 'sailor grip'.  That helps a lot.  That's strange about boarding time in the hanger. We did it both ways and inside seemed faster to me than boarding outside, it does depend on the people and wave action though I'm sure.  I don't get the weight thing either, the SOB is setting on hydraulically driven tires up/down the ramp.

Edited July 4 by rmalbers

[OneSixtyToOne]

28 minutes ago, rmalbers said:

One of the first things they teach you is the 'sailor grip'.  That helps a lot.  That's strange about boarding time in the hanger. We did it both ways and inside seemed faster to me than boarding outside, it does depend on the people and wave action though I'm sure.  I don't get the weight thing either, the SOB is setting on hydraulically driven tires up/down the ramp.

Passenger weight is what we were told by the crew. The issue seems to be the time it takes going up and down the boat ramp. That is a much longer process than just pulling along side to load/unload.

 

Here is video I shot of the last boat of the day returning. It takes a while. As you can tell it was a sunny, calm day. With any waves this would take even longer.

 

 

Edited July 4 by OneSixtyToOne

[rmalbers]

Ok, ya, that makes since, it does move up the ramp at a slow pace.  Maybe they meant wait, not weight.

Edited July 4 by rmalbers