Published: June 03, 2009 11:19 pm      

Ahoy The Delphi

Replica canal boat set to receive passengers

Braving heavy rain, onlookers waited nervously Wednesday morning as a crane slowly lowered the Wabash Canal’s new replica canal boat into the water.

The Delphi, constructed over the past two years by Scarano Brothers Boat Builders in Albany, N.Y., traveled 800 miles by truck to reach its new home at the Wabash and Erie Canal Interpretive Center in Delphi.

Go back 135 years and the yellow-and-red boat would have taken a different route — the canal itself.

Watching the boat’s delivery was an exhilarating experience for Dan McCain, president of the Wabash and Erie Canal Association. He’s waited 30 years to see the boat on the canal.

“For years, people have been asking us when we are going to have a boat,” McCain said. “We always said we were going to have a boat at some time, now we know when.”

Delphi’s new boat is one of 14 replica canal boats in the United States, and one of two in Indiana. Weighing 20 tons and measuring 54 feet in length and 10 1/2 feet across, the replica is two thirds of the size of an original canal boat. It has capacity for 40 passengers and two crew. The Delphi is powered by two electric motors, one to steer the boat and the other to power it along the one-mile stretch of canal.

The boat, along with an already completed storage warehouse, and a dock, which will be constructed this fall, were funded by a $1.1-million Indiana Department of Transportation grant for a historic transportation museum.

McCain said the addition of the warehouse is important for the long-term preservation of the vessel.

“We will be able to raise it up out of the water during the winter to protect it when the water freezes,” he said.

McCain estimates the boat will attract two to three times more visitors to the canal center in the coming years, adding that it has a variety of potential uses.

“People can hold wine and cheese evenings, senior citizen outings, club meetings and business meetings all on the boat,” he said, adding that the boat will be open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays and for private hire at other times.

The official unveiling of the boat is set for June 20 in a special day of activities, which will include free public rides.

McCain hopes the event will draw Gov. Mitch Daniels and other local officials as VIP passengers on the boat’s maiden public voyage.

He added the boat has the potential to have a large impact on the community as a whole.

“We are all very excited about it because it will add a new dimension to what we have,” he said. “It is definitely going to be a draw, especially now that we’re beginning the summer season.”

• Kevin Smith is a staff writer at the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at (574) 732-5148 or kevin.smith@pharostribune.com



Want to go?

What: Official unveiling of the Wabash and Erie Canal Association’s new replica canal boat

When: 10 a.m., June 20

Where: Wabash and Erie Canal Interpretive Center, Delphi

The canal boat will be available for public rides on Saturdays at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and on Sundays at 2 p.m. throughout the summer.

A 35-minute ride on the canal boat costs $5 for adults, $4 for senior citizens and school children, $2 for pre-school children.