Steamship Authority Takes M/V Gay Head Out of Service for Repairs

Courtesy of the Steamship Authority.

FALMOUTH – After the discovery of a four-inch crack in the hull of the M/V Gay Head’s hull, the ship will move to dry dock for emergency repairs in New London, Connecticut.

The vessel will have structural steel replaced after sailing to the Thames Shipyard Monday morning.

The repair work will necessitate a number of changes to the Steamship Authority’s ferry services, which are outlined in the full statement from the Authority.

FALMOUTH (July 29, 2022) – Following the discovery of a small amount of water in the steering gear void of the M/V Gay Head, a survey of the vessel’s hull discovered a 4-inch crack in the hull on the vessel’s aft. Although the crack is above the waterline, the repair will require the vessel to be dry docked at Thames Shipyard in New London, Connecticut, for replacement of the structural steel. The vessel is now at the Authority’s Fairhaven repair facility and will sail to Thames on Monday morning.

As a result, the following service adjustments will be in place:

  • Following the last scheduled round trip of the M/V Sankaty this afternoon, the vessel will leave Woods Hole and arrive in Hyannis before completing one round trip to Nantucket.
  • The M/V Sankaty will service the M/V Gay Head’s trips on the Nantucket route on Saturday and Sunday. The vessel is not scheduled to run on the weekends on the Vineyard route, so no trips will be missed.
  • Sunday evening, the M/V Sankaty will make the M/V Gay Head’s last scheduled departure from Nantucket at 6:45 p.m. but will sail to Woods Hole instead of Hyannis. The vessel will berth in Woods Hole overnight.
  • The M/V Sankaty will run its first two scheduled round-trips on the Vineyard route on Monday morning. The third round-trip, leaving Woods Hole at 11:30 a.m. and leaving Vineyard Haven at 12:45 p.m., will be canceled.
  • Following its scheduled arrival in Woods Hole at 11 a.m., the M/V Sankaty will load the traffic scheduled to take the M/V Gay Head’s 10:45 a.m. trip from Hyannis and depart to Nantucket, leaving at 11:15 a.m.. The Reservation Office will contact those customers scheduled on the 10:45 a.m. trip, which is scheduled as a hazardous materials trip, and tell them to report to Woods Hole.
  • The M/V Sankaty will then run one round-trip between Nantucket and Hyannis, then the scheduled 6:45 p.m. departure from Nantucket to Hyannis will instead depart Nantucket at 8 p.m. and return to Woods Hole.
  • The above schedule will continue until at least Wednesday, August 3, 2022. Decisions on future service will be made when more information is obtained about the timing of the necessary repairs to the M/V Gay Head.

Online reservations are temporarily halted while our Reservation Office works to contact the affected customers and rebook them. Customers with urgent travel needs can call the Reservation Office at (508) 477-8600 for assistance.

About Grady Culhane

Grady Culhane is a Cape Cod native from Eastham. He studied media communications at Cape Cod Community College and joined the CapeCod.com News Center in 2019.



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