GREENVILLE, Maine — After years of cruising on Moosehead Lake in Greenville, the historic steamboat The Katahdin, fondly known as The Kate, is due for a major preservation effort.
The boat will undergo a five-year-long overhaul by Bristol Marine out of the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard, starting first with replacing the "fantail" or rear upper deck, port and starboard decks, and finally a haul-out to repair what's needed underneath.
"Once this project is complete, and it's a pretty ambitious project, the boat will be good for another 25 years or more," Director of Moosehead Marine Museum Liz McKeil said.
Spearheading the project is McKeil. She said plans for the restoration have been a few years in the making when the team decided to restore a portion of the boat's deck in 2017.
According to McKeil, plans for the restoration aren't due to safety reasons, but as a precaution.
With the boat listed on the national register of historic places, project manager Eric Graves said restoring the woodwork will be a careful operation.
"So we see it all the time: As soon as you have fresh water leaks into the deck or other parts of the hull, that's where rot can start," Graves said. "Each restoration and rebuild is different. We always try to preserve as many components as we can."
As an anchor business for the region, attracting thousands of tourists every summer, McKeil said keeping the steamboat up and running is vital for the area's economy.
"There's an immeasurable economic impact to what we're doing. And all of those people who come to ride the boat spend their money locally," McKeil said.
The team hopes to have the first leg of the restoration done by the summertime.