Plover won’t sail for Memorial Day weekend

The Plover ferry did not meet the city of Blaine’s May 15 deadline to finish restoring the boat before the annual first sailing of the season on Memorial Day weekend, but the crew is working to return the boat to the water as soon as possible.

Plover captain Richard Sturgill said the Plover ran out of money on May 15, which is also when the city had required the vessel be seaworthy in its contract with Drayton Harbor Maritime (DHM), the nonprofit repairing and operating the boat. The passenger ferry transports people between Blaine Harbor and Semiahmoo Spit.

In fall 2022, the U.S. Coast Guard discovered problems with the boat that grew to become a restoration.

DHM went over its original $30,000 contract by $17,000 last year and the city subsequently solicited bids to finish the project. DHM bid $82,000 to finish the repairs last fall and the city entered into another agreement with the nonprofit, the sole bidder.

So far, the city has spent nearly $130,000 on the Plover restoration.

Sturgill said repairs will cost about $16,000 more, all of which will go toward paying the crewmembers for the remaining work.

City manager Mike Harmon said the city has a lump sum contract with DHM, meaning the city gave the nonprofit a fixed price to complete the repairs. DHM is contractually obligated to finish the work, he said, adding the city will not provide additional funding.

“DHM needs to finish the work in accordance with the terms of the contract,” Harmon said.

The contract requires the nonprofit to pay the city $100 of liquidated damages per day after May 15. This money will be deducted from the $82,000.

Harmon said the city was informed the work was not finished on May 17, two days after its deadline.

“The city will explore all possible legal remedies to enforce the provisions in the contract,” he said.

Sturgill helmed the Plover’s restoration in the mid ’90s and DHM gave the Plover to the city for $1. The boat was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

“When Drayton Harbor Maritime bid on this boat, Drayton Harbor Maritime didn’t bid on it for a profit like a typical boatyard,” Sturgill said. “Our motive was to save the boat.”

Sturgill said the boat has less than a month left of consistent work until it’s seaworthy, but its deadline is not guaranteed now that the crew is working without pay. A crew of about five is putting on the last eight planks on the boat and then will waterproof and paint the vessel.

The crew members who are working to finish the boat in its home stretch hope there will be future funding to reimburse them, Sturgill said. He said the crew lost time when it waited for funding from the city last summer and fall before bidding on the project, and doesn’t want to lose its rhythm again.

“To let it go now would be a waste of a resource,” Sturgill said.

Sturgill said anyone who wants to donate to DHM can call him at 360/332-5742. Sturgill said the crew members are experienced shipbuilders and cannot accept anyone without that education.

The U.S. Coast Guard was scheduled to inspect the Plover’s repairs on May 22.

“It’s not for not trying,” Sturgill said of not sailing Memorial Day weekend. “If you’re going to do a job with integrity, you have to work expeditiously at the momentum that you can confidently do a job that’s Coast Guard approved and something you can be proud of.”