October - November 2007: Installation in New Visitor Center

It was a good thing we had several months to plan how to move the whale from the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center to the brand new Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge visitor center and to figure out how to hang it up from the second story ceiling. Special hardware and cables had to be ordered and fabricated, equipment secured, and people with expertise for this phase of the project had to be identified.

Finally after anxiously waiting for the completion of the new visitor center, I got the go ahead for moving the whale skeleton into its new home on October 27th.

Lee Post arrived on the ferry from Homer on Friday, October 26th and all ready to help on this final stage of the long process.

Luminosity Pictures, an independent film company from New York, returned to catch some footage of moving the whale across town and installing it. Andrew Hall, Sue Peehl and Jeff Baer had previously filmed other phases of the project and are making a film for the visitor center that will explain the story behind the whale skeleton.

We had to make precise measurements where to attach the suspension hardware on the beam from which the whale would be hung. Lee Post and Dave Horn worked from the top of a 25ft. scissor lift to drill the holes in the beam and fix the U-bolts into their final position.

On the morning of the move, Monday Oct. 29th, it was pouring rain so we made a raincoat for the whale out of a 30ft blue tarp before loading it onto the flatbed trailer.
The 12ft. whale cart with 25 feet of the skeleton on it was wheeled onto the trailer from the loading dock at the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center and secured in place. The escort convoy of vehicles in front and behind the whale was quite impressive with flashing lights and beeping horns for the very slow, one-mile precession from Near Island to downtown Kodiak.

We purposely reconstructed the skeleton in 5 pieces so that we could move it more easily and fit it through the doors of the visitor center which was a rather tight squeeze for the main body of the whale even with the ribs off and the doors removed!

Once inside and the raincoat was removed, the ribs were reattached to the steel support apparatus and bolted into place. After that, the scapulas were fixed into position, the bolts were trimmed on the inside and covered with shiny stainless steel acorn nuts.

On Tuesday, Oct. 30th, a second scissor lift was delivered to help raise the main trunk of the whale to the height of the railing on the second floor. At that point, the 7ft. tail section was carried upstairs, inserted into the body pipe, and locked into position. More silicon caulking was used to cover the gap where the tail section was attached.

Three movable 1-ton beam clamps temporarily attached to the ceiling beam came in handy for lifting the whale skeleton to the desired height with the chains and come-alongs before the final cables were connected to the U-bolts and the whale skeleton hardware.

With two scissor lifts and 2 people working from the platform of each with chains and come-alongs, the front of the skeleton was raised inch by inch until we achieved the desired position. The headless, flipperless whale looked stunning glowing under the lights.

The following day was Halloween and while the town was gearing up for trick or treat, we were adding the last pieces, the skull and flippers, to the monstrous whale skeleton.

More rainy weather meant another blue tarp raincoat for the skull and 7 cervical vertebrae that were brought over on their own cart on Dave Horn’s boom truck. Once at the visitor center, the cart was lifted off and wheeled inside. No sweat this time. There was plenty of room to spare going through the doors.

The team went into action preparing the skull for lift-off and reattachment to the rest of the body. Both the hyoid process and jaws had to first be secured to the skull. Once hoisted to the level of the main body, the steel rod supporting the skull and cervical vertebrae was inserted into the body pipe and locked into position.

Late that afternoon, the 7-foot flippers were brought over in the back of a pick-up truck. Since the foyer area that the whale hangs over is so narrow, raising and attaching them to the scapulas without hitting the walls was a bit of a challenge.

The final cable was attached at 7:00pm on Halloween night and the team whooped, cried, hugged, high-fived, and celebrated the whale with a champagne toast! The whale skeleton was once again reunited with all its body parts.

This is truly a World-Class display and gift to the community of Kodiak from the Kodiak Gray Whale Project and the Alaska Conservation Foundation. Never in my wildest dreams over the last seven years did I imagine it would look so spectacular.