Luck hasn’t been on the Elkhart River Queen’s side the past two weeks as the 75-year-old cruise ship attempts to make a comeback to the waters of the St. Joseph County River.
Last week, crews found an issue with the port engine that required another week of repairs. On Monday, it was actually the crane that was supposed to lift the River Queen into the water which broke down.
But the setbacks are hopefully only temporary as the historic boat has seen worse throughout the journey to get her back up and running. Speaking to reporters before calling off Monday’s operation, the River Queen’s project manager Tom Shoff said he’s gotten used to not getting ahead of himself.
“I’m confident, but I’m also cautious,” Shoff said Monday.
But Shoff is undeterred and if the crane complies, the River Queen will make it into the river on Tuesday.
The River Queen was built in 1948 and has traveled along the river as a cruise boat for decades. However, The last eight years have been less steady with the nonprofit groupSave the Queen literally saving the boat from the scrapyard in 2015 when the last owner couldn’t find any buyers.
After extensive repairs to the ship's hull, the River Queen was back in the water a year later, but issues with the boat’s original engines led to only intermittent activity in recent years.
“We had mechanical trouble with those engines for seven years straight,” Shoff said. “There were four times last summer when we had the boat full, ready to go and the engine conks out and we can’t fix them.”
So Shoff and his team took the River Queen back out of the water to replace the engines and do more paint work. Despite the issue that cropped up last week, Shoff said he’s confident the boat is now ready to go, it’s just a matter of getting the crane in place too.
A group of a dozen onlookers had gathered Monday near the six span bridge in east Elkhart hoping to see the River Queen get back into the water.
One of the onlookers, Gene Troyer even brought his eight-year-old grandson Memphis up from Middlebury. Though the pair were sad not to see the boat on the river on Monday, they’re planning to take a trip once it’s up and running.
“It’s a done deal,” Troyer said. “We’re going to make a trip this summer for sure. Maybe a couple trips.”
The project has also seen community support in the form of Elkhart Career Center students helping out with some of the ship’s welding. Shoff said he’s been pleasantly surprised at the local enthusiasm for the River Queen and noted it’s an attraction that brings people into Elkhart from far and wide.
“It’s an icon in this community and it’s a tourist attraction,” Shoff said.
Shoff is a longtime Elkhart police officer who now owns a private security company, though he joked Monday that his work as the volunteer project manager for the River Queen will be the first thing mentioned in his obituary.
If everything goes as planned, the Elkhart River Queen will be launched on Tuesday.
