Bluenose II will be fixed by Spring 2015, says Darrow
Posted Sep 24, 2014 12:25:48 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX — Two and a half years and nearly $20-million later, there may finally be a timeline for when Bluenose II will be ready to leave the dock.
At least, that’s what the man overseeing the schooner’s repairs says.
“When spring comes around next year we’ll be able to hit the water sailing, if you will,” said David Darrow, the premier’s deputy minister.
Darrow said they have all the parts they need to install the ship’s new steel rudder, which, he said, should be put in by late October.
“We will follow that immediately with a steering trial,” he said. “We’ll take the vessel out and trial test the steering and ABS will be on board to certify that it complies with their requirements.”
The cost to fix the steering system, Darrow said, will cost between $300,000 and $350,000.
He said one of the main problems with the whole project was that it was put into the hands the Communities, Culture and Heritage Department, rather than the Transportation Department.
Darrow said Transportation should have been put in charge when the project started because it has extensive engineering experience.
He also said a decision by the previous NDP government to have the famed schooner meet the safety standards of the American Bureau of Shipping was a good idea, but the marine agency should have been brought in when the project started and not almost two years later.
In total, about $19.3-million has been invested in the ship’s repairs — a project that was supposed to be completed in 2012.
