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Do you want to own an old ferryboat? Northwest News Network reports that a retired Washington car ferry is for sale again after the current owner’s many ideas for the boat did not work out.
Florida businessman Gregory Jones bought the decommissioned ferry, Evergreen State, at auction nearly three years ago.
His original plan was to move the 310-foot ship to the Caribbean to use as a car ferry in Grenada. Then he thought about converting it into a floating restaurant or an event center on the Pensacola waterfront.
But Jones said his business priorities have shifted and he has run out of “hours in the day” to make something happen, so he would like someone else to give the ferry “a good home.”
The ferry is now for sale on eBay with a minimum bid of $100,000. As for shipping, the listing offers “free local pickup” at the Port of Olympia.
The Washington State Department of Transportation said Jones’ winning bid on the ferry in 2017 was $300,000. He has since sunk “significant” additional sums into the 66-year-old boat in moorage fees, maintenance and assorted modifications to permit a transit of the Panama Canal. Jones described the ferry Thursday as in “100 percent seaworthy” condition.
While in service, the Evergreen State had a capacity for 87 cars and 854 passengers. The diesel-electric, double-ender was custom built for Washington State Ferries in 1954. Its drive motors were surplus from a World War II destroyer.