The payoff after extensive maintenance and rehabilitation work to get the ferry up to standards following multiple state inspections could come later this year.

“It’s going to float again,” said Robert Yates, North Harmony town supervisor.

Most recently, the ferry has been sitting in dry-dock in Mayville. The ferry, used for more than two centuries to transport people and vehicles between Bemus Point and Stow, must be inspected every year, with 2018 including a survey underneath the vessel.

Volunteers in the summer of 2018 had to contend with the ferry’s half-dozen frame rails that were found to be decomposing. The rails are used to support the deck of the ferry, which has been out of service since then.

Sea Lion Project Ltd., which owns and operates the ferry, has provided frequent updates. Over the last two summers, Sea Lion officials said the ferry has received new I-beams; has been welded closed along its whole perimeter; and has been covered in a sturdy, long-lasting paint job. All places where rain, waves and melting snow got into the bilges are closed as well.

There are also new pumps in all the bilges with alarms, and the bilges are painted for weather and rust protection. Three of the hatches down into the bilges are new and all hatches are fitted with new, tightly sealed covers. There are new supports for the paddle wheels on both sides. There is also a plan to do the cosmetic touches to the buildings and covers to the paddle wheels.

Locals used to seeing the ferry in operation are hoping for its return.

“I would like to see us pass inspection and be operating by the Fourth of July,” said John Weise, a member of the Bemus Point-Stow Ferry Board. “I hope that’s not overly optimistic.”

With space needed in Mayville for the Chautauqua Belle, North Harmony town officials agreed in January to have the ferry transported back to Stow where additional repairs are scheduled this spring. Yates said the ferry will be lifted out of the water using a crane and placed in the parking lot next to the Stow Ferry landing where workers can gain access to the vessel.

“The plan is to bring it out of the water right on the spot and make the repairs right there in the parking lot,” Yates said, noting that he’s optimistic the ferry will pass final inspection and be back in service by late spring or early summer. “We’re really hoping this will be it.”

Among updates planned once the weather turns warm is the replacement of the ferry’s aging wooden deck. The wood has already been removed, though members of the ferry board had considered turning the wood over and using the other side which is not as weathered.

Chris Flanders, Sea Lion Project Ltd. secretary, said cosmetic work took place last summer while reconstruction of the wooden deck and welding repaired have been planned this year.

“We want everything on the ferry to be 100%, with no places missed,” Flanders said last summer.

A COLORFUL HISTORY

The history of the ferry predates the Civil War by 50 years when President James Madison was in office. It was then that local resident Thomas Bemus, the son of the founder of Bemus Point, fashioned a wooden flat-bottomed raft.

Bemus used oars to propel his craft across the 1,000 feet wide narrows of the lake in June of 1811.

The raft was initially used to move household possessions of one of Bemus’ friends across the lake. When others saw the raft in operation, the idea caught on. Bemus soon thereafter began the ferry business; he obtained a license to operate the ferry during the first session of Chautauqua County Court.

Each year since 1811, a ferry has crossed Chautauqua Lake between Bemus Point and Stow during the summer months.

Later innovations made the ferry easier to operate and more reliable. They include a rope extended across the water used to pull the craft along. Later, a horse on a treadmill was used, and eventually, internal combustion engines propelled the craft along, guided by submerged wire cables.

In August 2006, the county turned over a plot of land to the town to make way for a park.

VOLUNTEER EFFORT

The task of getting the ferry back into service has been a team effort, town officials and Sea Lion volunteers say. However, most agree little would have been accomplished the last two summers without the help of David Hohl of Hohl Industrial Services in Tonawanda and the two workers he has provided.

“He’s really stepped up to the plate,” Yates said of Hohl. “He’s really been taking care of the ferry.”

Hohl, who has property near the lake, said he first became involved with the ferry during the vessel’s 200th anniversary. His company was contracted to perform work on the landings in Stow and Bemus Point.

“The job worked out well for us,” Hohl said. “I knew that the ferry had been out of the water for the last two summers. I talked to some of the guys, who were really struggling with the New York state-obligated inspections.”

Realizing the cost to make some of the required repairs, Hohl said he made available two workers while taking on the role, of sorts, as project manager. He estimates his company has donated about $30,000 worth of labor.

“There’s a lot of work still to be done,” said Hohl, noting he plans to be in Stow in the spring once work resumes. “I think we all agree, get the ferry back in the water. … We have a plan, and we know what the plans are at this time. The big unknown is what the state determines after the next round of repairs. First they say to fix this, then we do it. Then they can come in and say fix that. It’s been ongoing the list of repairs they keep coming up with.”

He added: “I believe if things go well, and we have a pretty good handle with the state, it will get in the water by the summer.”