A boat taking on water is never great. It’s a lot worse when that boat is also a popular wedding venue with a summer’s worth of receptions booked. That’s the situation in Seattle this week, where a historic ferry turned event space nearly sank at its dock. No one was hurt, but more than a few couples now have their big days up in the air.
The MV Skansonia is a 165-foot retired ferry that’s been docked on Lake Union for years, repurposed as a floating venue, People reported. Early Monday, it started taking on water fast. A maintenance crew caught it in time and called for help, and Seattle firefighters rushed to the scene to pump the water out. By midmorning, they’d stabilized the boat, and no injuries were reported.
It came surprisingly close to going under, however. Owner Ed Ehler said the old ferry had been reinforced with a steel hull and flotation buoys, and that’s largely what kept it from sinking outright. Fire crews helped to pump out roughly 1,500 gallons a minute, more than ten times what the boat’s own pumps could handle. The cause is still under investigation, though Ehler suspects an electrical failure knocked out the pump system that normally keeps the water out.
But future bookings are in jeopardy. Skansonia is booked solid for the season, so the flooding threw a wrench into a string of upcoming weddings. One bride was less than two weeks out from her date. She described the news as a worst-case scenario, with family already booked to fly in. The owner sounded determined to fix the issue, acknowledging there would be “some unhappy brides,” but he added that he was hoping to turn the repairs around fast.
How Does a Docked Boat Just Sink?
A boat sitting quietly at a dock doesn’t seem like it should be at much risk. The thing is, most vessels are slowly taking on a little water all the time, through seams, fittings, and the hull itself. Bilge pumps are what push the water that enters back out. When those pumps fail, the water has nowhere to go but up and into the boat, causing situations like this one.
The Skansonia is quite old as well, and that doesn’t help the situation. It’s closing in on 100 years old, and older wooden hulls need constant attention to stay watertight. That’s why it had already been reinforced with a steel hull and flotation. Without that backup, a leak and a dead pump could have turned into a very different morning.
What Happens to the Weddings?
Before it ever hosted a first dance, the Skansonia spent decades as a working ferry. It carried cars and passengers across Puget Sound after it was built in 1929. Now, it’s one of the more sought-after wedding spots in the area, which is exactly why the timing stung. Several couples with receptions booked in the coming weeks suddenly had to come up with a plan B.
The good news is that the event company that books the boat wasn’t starting from scratch. It runs eight other venues around Seattle and has already moved one couple’s reception to a spot a couple of miles away. Repairs to the Skansonia could still take a few weeks, right in the heart of wedding season. For the couples who had their hearts set on getting married on the water, here’s hoping the old ferry floats back into service in time.