Here’s a really cool time-lapse video from Washington State Ferries via Vigor Industrial of the new 144-car ferry Tokitae.

I’m tardy getting around to it. It happened March 5, at Vigor in Seattle. The 270-foot by 80-foot by 45-foot superstructure (the top part) was built at subcontractor Nichols Brothers Boat Builders on Whidbey Island and barged to Vigor on March 2. The 1,100-ton superstructure was too heavy to lift with cranes. Workers put it in a floating dry dock and the 362-foot by 83-foot by 24-foot hull in another. They lined the dry docks up end-to-end, and adjusted the buoyancy of each to align the top of the hull with the bottom of the superstructure. They laid down 600 feet of track to bridge the distance between the hull and the superstructure. The transfer took five hours and it looked like a real ferry boat when they were finished.

Some of you might have noticed the ferry Walla Walla being tugged from Vigor Shipyards to Colman Dock this morning. Through early next week, it’ll be tied up there undergoing tests. If all goes well, it will undergo sea trials and return to service.

The ferry has been out since early November when an accident at Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility led to a drive motor being destroyed. Washington State Ferries has an old one in a warehouse, but had to send it to Anaheim to be refurbished. It’s back in the boat and being put through final paces.