Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette The Isle Royale National Park Service’s Ranger III rests at its Houghton Wharf Friday, as repairs were being made to an electrical problem. The ship was repaired, and was back to work Saturday morning.

HOUGHTON — The Isle Royale National Park Service’s Ranger III experienced some technical problems in one of its electrical systems last week that kept it docked in Houghton until repairs could be completed, which did not take long.

On July 6, as the Ranger was preparing to leave Isle Royale, it suffered a mechanical malfunction, said Chris Amidon, supervisory park ranger in Houghton.

“There was some type of electrical problem in one of its systems,” Amidon explained. “We wound up on Friday having to cancel that trip because of that, and try to correct it for that trip.”

Technicians and mechanics working on the problem were able to temporarily bypass the failed system, and the Ranger was able to go back out Saturday “to help catch up.”

“As I said, it was a working solution,” Amidon said. “They thought they’d be able to correct it and keep it going, but when we were out on our Keweenaw Waterway Cruise on Thursday, the same issue happened, and it required further diagnostics, to see exactly what was going on, and to get Coast Guard approval to go.”

Electricians worked on the problem again on Thursday and all day Friday in order to get the Ranger able to go out again, and on Friday the technicians and mechanics succeeded in diagnosing the problem, and corrected it properly.

“We don’t anticipate there will be any other mechanical issues at this point,” said Amidon.

The Ranger III left for Isle Royale on Saturday morning, and returned that evening, leaving at 9 a.m. and returning approximately 12 hours later.

“It’s a full trip to get back on schedule, and make sure we get the folks off the island,” said Amidon.