Central Ky. Valley View Ferry will close for repairs this winter. Other issues will remain

The Valley View Ferry, a paddlewheel vessel nestled on the Kentucky River that helps people get between Madison, Fayette and Jessamine counties, is set to have major but necessary upgrades take place in the coming months which could disrupt passengers’ commute.

More than $100,000 is budgeted by the Valley View Ferry Authority Board to be spent to replace engines, an air compressor and overhead cables on an eight-year-old vessel, which could take more than a month to complete.

Broken down, the air compressor costs nearly $4,900 and both engines cost $46,498, including the cost of removal and replacement. A bid for the overhead cables was approved in November for a cost of $38,739. Additional costs for the overhead cable replacement project for the cables and other hardware include $16,470 for the cables and $1,818 for the hardware associated with the project.

The ferry board has also budgeted $15,000 in labor for engine removal and replacement.

The authority board is planning for all the upgrades to take place at the same time in December, cutting down on the amount of time the boat will be closed. The board hopes to take the vessel out of the river around the middle of the month, but the date is contingent on logistics of when a contractor can be hired to take the boat out of the water.

Todd Lockhart, the chair of the Valley View Ferry Authority Board, said the boat could be out of commission for four to six weeks. Despite the winter being more of a “downtime” for the ferry and its riders, the shutdown timeline could be extended with the holidays.

“We want to do both of these projects at the same time, so we minimize our downtime and the impact on everybody,” Lockhart said.

The ferry board has been working for two years to secure grants and equipment for the new repairs.

“We have a plan to move on everything we have identified as needing help right now,” said Steve Cox, a Jessamine County representative of the ferry board. “ ... I see this as very positive right now. A plan for all pieces of it. For as long as I have been on this board, everyone has had an opportunity to talk about something the boats need and identifying things.

“I am seeing a plan right now that we have never had.”

The Valley View Ferry Authority Board is made up of seven representatives from Fayette, Jessamine and Madison Counties. There are two members from Fayette County, two members from Jessamine County, and three from Madison County. Each volunteer member is appointed and serves a four year term. The ferry is funded partially by all three counties.

An electrician said the boat had some issues that were documented in a marine survey, including blistering that causes stress cracks and incorrect wiring.

“I didn’t feel the boat was unsafe or needed to be removed from the water, but I found things that need to be addressed at the next maintenance level,” said William Padgett, a certified electrician with the American Boat and Yacht Council.

Padgett also said while some wiring isn’t up to current standards, the conditions could have been the standards required just a few years ago, because the standards of the Coast Guard and American Boat and Yacht Council change constantly.

Valley View boat will still have a glaring problem

Despite these necessary upgrades, the boat will still have one major flaw after it reopens: it was built backwards.

The boat’s hull frame was allegedly built backwards when it was placed in the water almost a decade ago with a price tag of $675,540. It is unclear if the boat was designed that way before it was built.

At an August board meeting, it came as a shock to some of the board members in the room when senior captain Clayton Embly told them the boat was built the wrong way.

“It is clearly backwards, there is nowhere for the water to go,” Embly said. “The fact that it was built backwards causes many problems,” Embly said in his captain’s report.

He first noticed it when a member of the towboat committee, a subcommittee of the ferry, gave Embly the plans to look over and address other issues.

Lockhart confirmed after it was brought to his attention at a board meeting that the boat does appear to be built backward – although he stated he is not an expert in the field.

“That was news to me as well as everyone else in the meeting,” Lockhart said.

Valley View’s current boat, named the John Craig II, was placed into the water on Dec. 2, 2014, and built by the Grandview Welding Company of Tompkinsville. Designs executed by Grandview Welding were submitted from Marine Design, Inc., of Gulf Breeze, Fla.

The boat was purchased with a $600,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration, plus $100,000 in local funds. Each county provided $25,000 toward purchase of the John Craig II, and another $25,000 was made from the John Craig, its predecessor. The ferry was founded in 1780, and is regarded as Kentucky’s oldest operating business.

Instead of purchasing a new boat, the board plans to continue with making the upgrades outlined now. They will use Ferry Boat Program grant money to pay for at least a portion of the new equipment.

But continuing to run with a backwards boat can cause additional problems, Embly said. These problems can cause the boat to break down in other areas, and result in higher fuel costs to operate the vessel.

Embly said there were several options to address the issue, including cutting a section from the stern or buying a new boat.

“Of course one of the options is to do nothing, but my observation watching it or being on it when I am riding on it is that it is definitely not riding right and it is a matter of the water not being diverted in the correct way,” Cox said. “You can repair that. It will be costly, but you can repair it.”

Lockhart said the ferry board plans to go ahead with the repairs despite the boat’s overarching issue because buying a new boat could take years and they’d still need to have a boat in the water during that time.

Concerns raised over cost of the ferry

Anita Day, a representative of Nicholasville on the board, asked if the nearly $700,000 price was the common price for a boat – especially one that is designed backwards.

According to Embly, boats similar to the John Craig II, go for the prices of around $200,000 to $250,000.

When the Herald-Leader contacted Grandview Welding, secretary Sandra Guffey said the company’s owner was not available to answer questions and deferred to the ferry authority for comment regarding any issues with the boat or the price of the boat.

With the go ahead for the new engines, air compressor and overhead cables, the board hopes all of the work will be able to take place around the same time in December. The ferry will be closed while maintenance is in progress.

About 200 people travel the ferry daily, according to Embly. The ferry makes their commute faster by avoiding big highways. Some also just enjoy a nostalgic ride across the river.

According to Embly, around 60 to 70% of the travelers are “regulars,” with most coming from the Madison County side of the river.

The ferry’s shutdown could add an hour to commuters’ journeys, resulting in extra gas costs, Embly said.

The boat’s deckhands will still be paid while the boat is out of the water for repairs and they will have other tasks to handle during boat repairs. The board has also voted to spend $6,000 send the deckhands to take sea school standardization training. The training will give the deckhands additional safety expertise.

Embly said the training is important because the crew on one of the country’s oldest vessels should be well trained.

“This will be the single best thing we can do for our guys,” Embly said. “Not to mention, it lets our guys know, we are putting a significant investment in you, because we appreciate you.”