GUP 4

Here was GUP 3, and here was one GUP-related post since then, about the sale of a peer of the vessel below.  In case you don’t check the links and are wondering what GUP is, it’s my neologism for “gross universal product,” AKA sewage.  I’m doing this post now as a complement to my article in PM magazine.    North River is currently high and dry and getting some paint.  More on that later.

For now, let’s have a look at the fleet carrying the load . . . or loads.

The most recently arrival is Rockaway, in service now nearly a year.

Coming right up on a one-year anniversary of start of service is Port Richmond.  If you are wondering about the names, all three  new boats are named for sewage facilities serving NYC.  Here’s an article about the Port Richmond facility.

And the original of this class is Hunts Point, in service now about 15 months.

Now if you conclude that Rockaway, Port Richmond, and Hunts Point look alike . . . well, they’re virtually identical.

Not true for Red Hook, which has been in service now for over six years.

I compared bows of the current generation with that of Red Hook here about a year ago.

Here’s the most recent photo I’ve taken of North River.  How much service–even back–she has left in her I can’t tell you.

Meanwhile, all hats off to this fleet which keeps sixth boro waters smelling as sweet as they do to us and feeling as hospitable as they do to all the other critters that depend on this habitat.

Valentines, Skiffs, and GUP

With Valentine’s Day only a dozen days away, how about a honey boat for your honey . . . and you?

Click on the image below to find details.  Newtown Creek, the GUP carrier, really can be yours for a mere $235,000, unless someone takes the bid higher.  Click here and here for some of my previously posted photos of NYC GUP carriers.  And for the record, they do NOT take the honey out of the harbor to dump out at sea . . . not since 1991 at least.  The photo of Newtown Creek above I took in October 2011.

Seriously, although you’d have considerable work and expense transforming the above skiff into a vehicle for romance, you would be starting from a vessel with exquisitely sweet lines. This smaller skiff or many of them then could serve as tenders.