Andy Schwab says he hasn’t given up on his plans to set up a new home for the Fintry Queen in Penticton.
“I still fully intend to go to Penticton,” said Schwab. “The ship is going to Penticton, no question.”
Schwab, who bought the boat out of receivership in 2012, got Penticton City Council’s support for his plans to build a $300,000 dock next to the Kiwanis walking pier to moor the boat in 2013. But last week, Schwab issued a press release stating he had submitted a request to City of Kelowna’s Mayor Colin Basran and councillors to consider a landing site for the ship in Kelowna’s City Park.
“I thought I would give Kelowna a shake,” said Schwab, adding that a previous request had been turned down, and he wasn’t able to make an application through that city’s regular process.
“I was attempting to reopen the door. Any project that is located on this waterfront, it is likely a five-year proposition, by the time you go through all the pieces,” said Schwab.
“In the meantime, this ship can be operated in Penticton for the next five years, doing the South Okanagan. Then it gets opened up and it can go between the two cities,” he continued. “I want to open up the whole lake. Summerland, Peachland and Naramata, go everywhere with it, that is kind of the master plan.”
Schwab’s attempt to sway Kelowna City Council failed. On Monday, they met to discuss Schwab’s latest proposal, a plan Basran described as being the same as the one rejected in 2012 when the Fintry Queen was pushed out of its traditional moorage off Kerry Park at the foot of Bernard Avenue.
Kelowna Council unanimously rejected Schwab’s proposal.
In his release, Schwab details that he needs to raise $500,000 to get the Fintry Queen re-started: $100,000 to bring the ship’s certificates up to date, $100,000 for renovations and $300,000 for the new dock in Kelowna — in 2013, he also estimated the cost of a dock next to Penticton’s Kiwanis walking pier at $300,000.
The Fintry Queen, a converted car ferry with an imitation paddle wheel, started operating as a tourist vessel out of Kelowna in 1965, but has been out of service and at anchor since 2009. Schwab said it is still in great shape, having undergone a refit in 2006.
“It needs paint, and it needs a cleanup on the outside. It’s not leaking any water anywhere,” said Schwab. “There have been divers underneath it, and hull testing that went on this summer.”
Though it has been difficult to find the investors he needs, Schwab said he is not ready to give up on the Fintry Queen.
“This has been a dream for me, this has been almost a 20-year quest for me,” said Schwab, who was also involved in an attempt to save another historic boat, the Pentowna, from being cut up for scrap metal in 2005 after it had sat rusting for nearly a decade beside a Kelowna golf club.
