Shoot the Rapids: "The boats didn't fit the flumes"

Plunge boats don't have pumps; they have valved drains that open on the elevator and/or on the station conveyor. They have to be valved otherwise they would flood the boats.

Most flume boats have drains on the back that dump water out as the boat goes up the lift. THAT system is really simple and works pretty well so long as the drains aren't plugged.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Thanks Dave. Are the valves opened manually or automatically?

Like I said, the guy "seemed" to know what he was talking about. I'm a pretty good BS'r myself. Plus he may not have been bs'ing. He probably actually believed what he was saying.

Photos

He probably was speaking the truth as he understood it, but was mixed up about the difference between a valve and a pump. From (I'm assuming) a different source, I heard pretty much the same thing, except they didn't specify either. What I was told from my lowly source was this: the boats took on water during the course, and drained them in the station, only they were draining too slowly and were therefore accumulating more and more with each run, to the point that the boats were getting swamped.

Which begs the question...why do the boats not drain on the two lifts?

Mike: I think you've got the answer. The point is that whatever mechanism is supposed to remove water from the boats isn't doing a good job of it.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

The boats don't drain on the lifts? Every flume I have ever worked on uses lifts as means for boat drainage, why throw out what is proven to work? How crazy is that?!?!?

It's hard to imagine that you could over-engineer something that worked pretty well in a low-tech way in the 70's, but I'm probably underestimating the Intamin engineers.

The only issue I ever recall having with the "old fashioned" boat drains was when they would get clogged with gunk and not drain at full capacity. Of course being somewhat of a klutz I sank a boat trying to unplugg a drain and the whole thing feel out, lol. You win some and lose some!

The bottom left hand picture shows how "normal" boats bail when going up a lift:
http://www.intaminworldwide.com/iag/docu/Mega%20Splash.pdf

Hard to imagine that the two lifts together couldn't drain enough...makes you wonder if they changed how/where the boats bail (over-engineered) or if the lifts are just faster not allowing enough time for water to bail?

It's been mentioned before that the boats are similar to the Pigrims Plunge boats. I guess the draining mechanism came with them, the difference being that PP has no incline on which to drain, while STR does.

Guess they shouldn't have used that 'custom' technology on a ride for which is was not originally intended. Although that is certainly making some assumptions about Intamin's original intent when designing it.

You know, I heard from a reliable source who worked at the park, a little while before StR was built that it would be very similar to Pilgrims Plunge at Holiday World. The exact stats that I heard was that it would have two elevator lifts, a short one to allow it to drop onto the island, and a much taller on to allow it to drop back near the station.

So perhaps CP decided to change the layout at the last minute, and add traditional lifts to the ride instead of elevator lifts. Maybe the boat design somehow didn't get changed.

Speculation, of course. I don't think we will ever know for sure.

Yeah, those change at the last minute stories always leave us hanging in doubt.

StR was cycling with employees in one boat today. Is that a big deal?

Well, I got to hit them with a water cannon, so yeah. :) After seeing the cannons shoot, I think they will have a small effect on your total wetness. Unless of course you get someone to time it to hit you with all eight. :)

Lord Gonchar said:
StR was cycling with employees in one boat today. Is that a big deal?

Did each one have a bucket with them, and were they bailing out water?

Just thinking now (dangerous, isn't it?), but if the delay in opening the ride is really due to the drainage issue as people are saying, doesn't that make Kinzel's original comment about the boats being too long sound even more dumb now? Funny that we can develop all this new technology, but forget age old concepts like water flows downhill.

I was told there were multiple issues.

http://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Thread/57352.aspx?page=8#808188

The size of the boat had to be corrected before they could find out about the water issue because the boats would have to make it around the course multiple times before they would realize that they weren't draining all the water out.

Lord Gonchar said:
StR was cycling with employees in one boat today. Is that a big deal?

By chance did they hit an iceberg? Was Celine Dion playing in the background? I still think the ride was themed all wrong, it should have been "Titanic:The Ride...A Disastor Awaits!"

Man, you sure are clever.

Raven-Phile said:
Man, you sure are clever.

Wasn't it Bugs Bunny who always said "Ain't I a stinker?"

While I am having fun being sarcastic, you really do have to wonder exactly what is going on between Dick and Sandor that Cedar Fair continues to purchase dysfunctional rides from Intamin. What is the secret love fest between them??? Even more are on the way for crying out loud!

I wouldn't exactly go so far as to call them "dysfunctional". Buggy, sure. Prone to a few bad years as kinks are ironed out, you bet. But considering that after this initial phase most Intamins are more or less operational most of the time, that adjective sounds a wee strident to me.

RideMan said:
Plunge boats don't have pumps

Well aparently Shoot the Rapids' does. Tony Clark just confirmed it.