Blaine City Council discusses next steps for Plover

Blaine City Council held a September 9 study session on the Plover ferry’s repairs after a piece of the stern fell off and exposed rotting wood in late August.

City manager Mike Harmon told council during the meeting that the city hired Greg Berg to run the Plover on August 22. Berg, a former officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, previously worked in the Blaine public works department and now works for Cascade Engineering Group which does contract work for the city.

The new Plover crew was conducting training on August 25 when a plate on the starboard side of the boat came off near Semiahmoo Pier, exposing rotted wood, Berg said.

Shortly after, the Coast Guard issued a no-sail order for the vessel, which had just finished nearly two years of repair work earlier in the summer and was preparing to start rides for the remainder of the season.

Berg said he had hoped the repairs would be minimal and allow the Plover to return to operations quickly, but a shipwright will need to look at the boards needing to be replaced.

“Originally we thought it was a few planks above the water line. You put the planks in, you hammer, man. You do whatever shipwrights do and you’re back operating,” Berg told council.

Berg said there were a few other spots they noticed once they took the Plover out of the water that they wanted inspected. The Coast Guard was scheduled to inspect the boat’s exposed damages on September 11.

City manager Mike Harmon said he wanted council’s direction on the next steps for the Plover. If approved by council, city staff wanted to haul the boat from its current location at Sundance Yacht Sales and Marinas in Blaine Harbor to Bellingham for an assessment from King Fisher Craftsman. However, Harmon said the shipwright had indicated it wouldn’t be until February before the Plover could be assessed.

Berg said costs would be hard to estimate before the assessment, adding that a one-month repair would cost about $20,000. Harmon said later in the meeting that it would cost about $20,000 to fix the known rot, but there was likely other rot in the keel and other areas.

Councilmember Sonia Hurt said she didn’t feel like council could make a decision until after the assessment.

Councilmember Mike Hill suggested the city reach out to a large corporation in Blaine like Starbucks or McDonald’s to see if it would fund the repairs in exchange for recognition. Harmon added the city could accept donations from anyone. 

When asked by Hill for his thoughts, Harmon said he thought it would be a good plan to get the Plover to the shipwright in Bellingham and then for city council to make a decision based on the repair cost.

“Since I started, the most surprising thing was the community,” Berg said. “They’re absolutely in love with the boat. There are people with childhood memories who want their children to ride the boat. I didn’t know that.”