If you’ve run out of space to park your collection and happen to live near a deep body of water, this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy a genuine Washington State ferry may be worth a look. The boat, originally known to locals as the MV Evergreen State and later re-christened “The Dream,” has been extensively rebuilt and features 45,000 square feet of space, ideal for anything from a floating casino to housing all of the cars and trucks you don’t want your spouse to find out about. Even better, it’s listed at no reserve here on eBay, where bidding is currently over $110,000.
I’ve been on one of the car ferries that runs between Seattle and Bainbridge Island, and it’s a lovely way to step out from behind the wheel and see some gorgeous landscapes while cruising back to the mainland. Car ferries of this size are like the Buick of the high seas, muting nearly all of the vibrations and other intrusions that might cause a private vessel to rock back and forth. My family and I usually take at least one or two trips per year out to Martha’s Vineyard, also by car ferry, and the process by which they load large vehicles like 18-wheelers and heavy equipment is always fascinating to watch.
These vessels can swallow an insane amount of cargo, all the while up above passengers can relax and finish the crossword puzzle or sunbathe (with their clothes on) on one of the many decks. A fully stocked cafe provides you with the usual assortment of fast-prep food, so while it’s not exactly fine dining, it’s still nice to have the option. The ferry that runs out to Block Island has a generous inventory of cold beer in addition to snacks, which always makes the ride to a summertime spot all the more enjoyable. The seller notes The Dream originally built in 1954, and then rebuilt “…from the super structure up” in 1988.
It’s currently registered as the largest private yacht in the U.S., which makes me curious as to the seller’s original intent when they purchased it from a local government agency. Were there plans to gut the insides and create a floating party palace, before the scale and cost of the project sunk in? The seller does point out that the scrap value alone is north of $1 million, which I’m sure is in the back of his mind if bidding doesn’t clear a certain number. While the novelty factor is through the roof, what’s a more likely outcome – continued use as a car ferry by another major U.S. city, or conversion into a private pleasure craft?
Oh yeah, now you’re talkin’! Nice one, Jeff! $110,000 is cheaper than a big, really nice garage, plus a person could live on that thing.. hmmm.. (scratching gray chin hairs…)..
LOL Scotty! Go halves? Scratching my chrome chin hairs myself. Kind of think we could get some members in on this. A little big for the river I live on, but I could adjust. Roll the bones to see who is the Skipper of the day? Great find Jeff. Nice to see it here. Almost enough room to have a small drag strip down the center. Great find!
I’m in Mike. Always wanted my own ferry. With your money we could turn it into a B&B. I’ll cook breakfast………and bartend of course………………I actually live next to the last free ferry in Wisconsin, the Merrimac Ferry. It runs about 8 months a year, between ice-up on Lake Wisconsin, owned and funded by the Wisconsin DOT. We watch it out the kitchen window. Cool deal, folks love it and there are Ice Cream shacks on both sides. My buddy, an ex Mercury Marine mechanic works for the DOT and keeps it running. It’s actually cable operated with 2 huge diesels pulling it back and forth. It now has historic status. In the summer the lines to drive on are 2 city blocks long. No one cares and it’s fun…………good times.
I knew I could count on you Gregg! Surpised you did not mention the Saloon on the other side. And you being a Biker, not sure, but the last time I was on 2 wheels up there they would let scooters sneak in on the side. Always a fun boat trip. Thanks for the post card, take care, Mike.
The saloon has the best food around, We walk over and ride the ferry across for awesome burgers and homemade soup! The ferry and the gin mill are a bikers hangout. Good times. You gotta make it up here in the next month, the house here sold and we’re moving to Madison. Retired folks on a fixed income you know.
Terrific find, Jeff! Never see anything like this for sale around here in the Great Basin unless it shows up in the Black Rock Desert at Burning Man….or Lake Tahoe!!
Good idea, leiniedude-BF readers could buy a share with a Premier Membership and we’d have pit bike drags down on the parking galley with all contestants signing “recognition of potential hazard” declarations then being issued life preservers should they run out of runoff area..😳
This really would be a fun inland waterway ship provided we had the wherewithal to maintain, repair &/or afford the upkeep!
Perfect for burning man! (or mono lake?) It’d be a hull of a lot of fun! Shipping might be a problem…
As would the Sierra Club be a problem if it got onto Mono Lake…and LA Power would find a means to put a tax on it!
And It’s not weird enough for Burning Man without a LOT of work…😝
My Riv could do the quarterdeck in 4 seconds, straight into the Puget Sound!
Very interesting. Not something I would have expected to see on Barn Finds, but it is cool to read about and ponder what one could do with it. There is a short write-up about its history on Wikipedia.
That’s actually rather cool. It would make for a killer house boat but I’m not familiar with what the monthly moorage fees would be for something that big or if one could purchase a permanent spot along river or another large water way. No matter because who ever buys it also gets the prize for most money spent to fill the tanks on that beast.
Ahoy, matey. Well, I was the one that said, let’s see it all, but you have to admit, this is a bit of a stretch. Ferries used to be very common, one in Wisconsin still runs, but I think operating costs, and possibly insurance, all but kills these things. It’s an impressive unit, but at a million in scrap value, I hear a lot of torches firing up.
Shout out for the SS Badger from Ludington, MI to Manitowoc, WI. Last coal fired steam ship in the US. We did the “crossing” in 2007 to get to the family cottage in Door County, WI. Fun and different…beer/brats as opposed to tea and crumpets.
Patronize these when can as well as excursion trains. We lost our local historic train in Central Indiana. Back in the day they ran a coal/steam locomotive, diesel/electric and electric trolley. It was great fun when our son was young.
Love the Badger and the “Vomit Comet” (high speed ferry from Milwaukee to Muskegon)
If you bought this, what you don’t want to do is invite your buddies over for a tour and a cookout. After a few beers, you know somebody’s going to say, “Let’s take this baby out for a spin, I want to see how she handles!” And not wanting to be a wet blanket, you would probably agree and also let your buddies take turns playing “captain.” Nothing good will come of this, I guarantee it.
That would be followed by “Hey! Let’s go out on a Three Hour Tour!”…and some of us remember how THAT trip turned out.
Ya, Living on a deserted island with Marianne. That would be a trip. A unforgettable very good trip.
45,000 square feet? It’s a lot bigger than it looks.
A car guy’s dream! Ultimate car storage, bathrooms, a galley. Plenty of room for toys like a lift, spray room . .. OMG, the possibilities. Way cheaper than building anything 1/100th of its (1/1000th?) size. Plus, you can move it. The Seattle area is a hotbed of old car enthusiasm. Lots of money up that way. I can see it being purchased, and then rented out to Clubs, or even sectioned off for private storage. So many possibilities!
It will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in maintenance just to keep it afloat. They are working vessels that have dedicated crews. You don’t just let them sit because they will start quickly deteriorating.
They require a dedicated slip to load vehicles. There is several million more dollars to build. Plus finding a place that will allow you to build such. You can’t just park this at any dock. It’s big enough that you’ll have to find a commercial berth and that will also be very expensive.
It’s a cool thing to dream about, but reality hits back with a hammer.
Never before even thought about owning a ferry but I am truly enjoying the sensation, Greg
I’m glad someone has a level head here. Nobody seems to notice that it requires over three tons of paint to do a topside paint job, $5 large/day for haulout plus the A/C and A/F bottom coatings, and a ton of zinc anodes. The “Stork” main engines have no head gaskets, the heads are hand lapped to the cylinders (are you sure you want to go there?). The ferry is a US Coast Guard inspected passenger vessel with a current COI, and as such requires a CG licensed crew to be in revenue service.
And “Nadine”, the port main engine, likes to be petted occasionally because she feels insecure now.
All the venues aforementioned have been tried before with other ferries, and have had mixed successes.
One thing that seems to be overlooked is where do you keep it? Not exactly what you can just tie up anywhere? Of course for a few $$$ you could build your own moorage? I know I am being spoiledsport since I haven’t taken the proper pharmaceuticals to dream up a good idea that might sense for this project?
Park in in the middle of town as a parking garage!! Bury the hull up to the first deck!! It’s got a kitchen chairs and plenty of parking!! Then have concerts on board!!
Weld a ramp on one end and done. Any beach or roadway near the water and you’re in and out before the meter maids can ticket her. Your wife will sail it away before anybody can get a ticket under the wiper.
Anchored it in a nice quiet bay away from prying eyes, tie up your small boat to the side, it should have it’s own power and heating etc. rent out rooms, and put in a bar and dance floor ? boggles the mind what could become of it.
Awesome find! Before the Mackinac Bridge was built our family would take the car ferries across the Straits every summer. Long waits in the staging lots and always the hope that you got to ride on the Vacationland, the queen of the fleet.
The last ferry trip I took was on the combined rail/auto ferry from Ludington to Kewaunee across Lake Michigan on a motorcycle jaunt. The last ferry I heard of that was for sale was a rail ferry in Frankfort, Michigan. It was laid up due to a broken crankshaft. Imagine the bill for that repair.
The floating dragstrip is the best idea I’ve heard in a long time. People would pay to sit on the deck above the runoff area.
That’s moored just down the hill from my house in Olympia, WA. Originally the rumor was it was going to be taken down to “the protected waters of the southern Caribbean” but the owner ran out of $.Been parked there since April 2018. Nice looking ship from across the bay.
It is a very good ship. It had been updated to the latest SOLAS requirements prior to being surplussed. It would serve as the relief vessel for the Elwha on the international run.
Washington State has a huge fleet of ferries and they get replaced fairly frequently. There are lot of former ferries available for sale, so this is not unique. The sizes vary, and I remember the Evergreen quite well when I used to ride onboard.
While $110,000 sounds cheap, and it is, these vessels need constant upkeep and repair. They leak. They creak. They sag and weep. They have character and soul to them. But they also need a dedicated maintenance crew and that will easily cost you more than $100K a year in upkeep. The absolute worst thing you can do is just park it at a dock and let it sit. If you are a billionaire, then this is a neat toy to have. If you don’t have at least $50 million or more in the bank, then don’t even bother bidding. Boats are money pits, and this one will be a canyon.
Still, they are very cool and I’d love to see a well done conversion, but the costs are just too prohibitive unless you get it on shore permanently instead.
Does it being a former ferry make it a ‘DOCK FIND’?
Click through the photos on the EBay listing. If the ones showing the engine room, and the spare parts, don’t send shivers down your spine and make you scream out loud “Yikes, get me out of here!” then enjoy your new ferry. This thing is a very complex, floating money pit. Oh my!
I have been on this very ferry dozens of times. And Jeff is right on when he says “…it’s a lovely way to step out from behind the wheel and see some gorgeous landscapes while cruising back to the mainland.” The Washington State Ferry system is the cheapest way to go on a boat cruise. Drive on or walk on it’s a lovely way to spend time on Puget Sound with some gorgeous scenery.
I would hate to see this one scrapped. I have so many great memories riding these ferries
Current bid:US $117,250.00
[ 41 bids ] with a day and half to go.
Now THIS makes me wanna move to Melbourne with the kids!! Just think of
the music venue you could have!! I can see it now! A place to hear some great music and park the customer’s cars too!
Only thing is, you’d have to have someone
sail it there for you. As my SIL’s new man
would say, this thing’s totally off the chain man!
If anybody wants to pitch in buy this, let me know! We can do the captain of the day and take turns being the skipper. My Uncle Gilligan taught me all about sailing and I think….maybe…..uh oh, I’m out.
A screaming bargain when one considers the insane real estate prices in the Northwest. Plus you get the best waterfront property in the planet!
Got a spot in mind to tie up at?
Install a fresh water maker and an overboard sanitary system, and just swing on the hook (port charges may apply). Tiny Tankers can bring you fuel.
Doubt many in this audience knows her as well as I because I crewed on her.
Where’s the barn this was found in?????
Same place as Noah’s Ark…
Like I always say on these crazy deals I, for one, will only charge you a service fee of 50% of the costs that you will lose if you engage this deal and sign on the dotted line.
Save your money so that you can spend it on more useful financial advice that will net you savings in the final analysis.
Dream Ferry is actually Financial Nightmare disguised as ‘Dream Ferry’.
Car Rule #1 is never buy rust.
Car Rule #2 is refer to Rule #1 when in doubt.
Dream Ferry does not compute on the Car Rule #1 therefore Rule #1 is still applicable and ‘Dream Ferry’ cannot compute in the mind of anyone searching for a Barn Find.
Dream Ferry will never fit into any barn.
Logic will set you free.
Bob
I grew up with a ferry schedule in my pocket. I was born in 53′ and ended up riding this old girl and many like her. I always liked this class of boat better then say the super ferry’s they built in the early 70’s Sad as it is this boat will be scraped. But its better than letting her sit somewhere and go to rot, then scrap her anyway. We call them boats but they are really ships. She’s to big and old to serve anywhere else. Price, crew, upkeep, slip fee’s, fuel ect. ect. would be over whelming but just wait for the insurance quote from Lloyds! Later………………………….JIMMY
And that’s some deep ship to get into!
IMHO,..Another potential possible scam. Almost got tripped in last week’s advertised 68 E-Type roadster tipped off Barnfinds. Then last Tuesday Another bargain showed up on eBay.de – a 63 Jag from California without reserve which sold for 32,000€.
Now this??
They might get more bids if they offered free shipping.
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat”
Could be the comment of the day Jeffro! After reading some of the later comments, I will not be going to bed with this vessel as my fantasy. Sad. So as Haig had mentioned Mary Ann, I am changing fantasies. Good night to all.
Drain all the fuel and other liquids and sink in somewhere nice for an artificial reef and diving destination
It’s not “no reserve” when a $100k opening bid is required.
What a blow hardy auction description and most of the pictures are from when it was in service. Almost all of the main deck is essentially just a covered carport. Where are you going to park it? How much is it going to cost to putter it around? You’ll need a crew, etc… They tried to save the MV Kalakala 20 years ago and it didn’t pan out. It was scrapped in 2015. The only people that can afford it would be the government or a quirky billionaire.
Well , not bad, although I would whip out those slow revving engines and replace them with a 351 Chevy engine, check for rust, not sure if they put salt on the water up there, seats could do with a spruce up . Paint would need work , a few dents from poor parking , fit a decent steering wheel , grill and side trim seem to be missing . Where are the doors? I thought earthen floors were bad for storage but this takes it to another level. I will check with my council regarding street parking before I bid.
A 351 Chevy ha ha
A 351 Chebby. Lmao. That wouldn’t even turn on the lights.
As Mike metioned, the MV Kalakala was one of the first things that came to my mind when I saw this.
I have lived in the foothills of Seattle all my life. Rode on many of the ferries throughout that time. As much as it hurts to say it, unless the seller finds another government agency to acquire this, the seller may as well take the scrap price. Sad.
W/ all the money in Seattle, it still breaks my heart that the MV Kalakala was not saved. What an awesome looking machine it was. It also needed a S-ton of work & restoration. Still seems like a sad waste of beautiful history, again, especially given the ridiculous amount of disposable money some seem to have in the Seattle area. When it was finally cut up for scrap, some of the more decorative aspects, among other pieces, of it were saved & sold off. Those pieces themselves sold for far more than I could have ever paid. Oh, to dream!
By the way, neat ride. GLWS!
I could not agree more. I was on the board of directors for the Kalakala Foundation when Peter Bevis was at the helm. I did a lot of work on her and was heartbroken when she was broken up. glad i have a few souvenirs. The E-State is still a viable vessel but no private enterprise will save it from the breakers.
There used to be an old farry down at the river were I fish ,he was a very nice girl ,I no bad joke👎
At 100K I’m surprised it isn’t headed up to Nome AK, to have the superstructure partially removed, an excavator and shaker deck added, and put to work mining offshore gold.
With that interior you could just live on it and mine 24 hrs a day, better than any barge.
Mr. Gold, are you watching?
I’d be all over this if they included a trailer.
Love these ferries! My wife travels everyday on the WA state ferries and I use them often. My favorite is the one from Anacortes to Sidney B.C. that travels through the San Juan Islands.
So what would I do with it? It would be a floating cars and coffee meet every Sat morning traveling through the Puget Sound and I would have a go kart track on it as well.
The best part for those Barn Find members that keep posting about how this car or that car will put you upside down before the car is finished. The owner of this ferry paid $300,000 for it at auction. Current bid is $125,500 so yeah that is a bad case of capsizing.
Buy it and move it to Southern California. Run a ferry service bypassing Los Angeles traffic. Ferry cars from Ventura to Point Dana. Would be full every trip.
Calling Nantucket Steamship Authority. Those guys have plenty of headaches – they need something to augment their fleet.
Totally left field,and I like it! I see an off-shoot to Barn Finds, how about Boat House Finds?
What? No “Put an LS in it!” comments or did I miss that one…
Put an LS in it!
😝
Wouldn’t even turn on the lights.
Disneyworld should buy this thing & use it to lessen the wait for those already in use to the Magic Kingdom!
I literally rode on that exact ferry…
I literally worked on that ferry. Yes, they paid me to ride on it.
What a deal! Cruisin’ the beautiful Washington Pacific Coast and getting paid for it-there obviously was paperwork of some kind involved, but it had to take a serious second seat(literally?) to the calm of the water lapping against the hull, the wind bringing in the salt air, and the sun in the face..
You’re a lucky man to have had a great job like that, BR, but then you obviously made a choice to enjoy it, just as many of the others on this forum made their choices for the professions they chose.
@Nevadahalfrack
Hahaha. Sounds easy doesn’t it. If only it were like that. At your leisure check out what you have to do to become a US Merchant Marine Chief Engineer.
There is a need for a ferry between panama and Colombia. All of the thousands of drivers and riders that take the trip from North to South America would go on this if given the chance. . If I had the money, I would try to make a go of it.
I learned a very long time ago that a boat (ship) is just a (in this case a very large )hole in the water that you throw money into,
OK a little reality here. This is plain STUPID. BF just went really downhill.
Judging by the number of replies (a record?), it may be “stupid”, but certainly caught the interest of one heckuva lot of folks. OTOH, safe-to-say, the car hobby is primarily populated by people, who are, perhaps . . . . . . . …… Love the diversity. You can only read about so many Camaros, Mustangs, old trucks and people ripping on VWs and Porsches!
This vessel weighs about 2,000 tons or 4 million pounds so it’s scrap value at today’s prices is around $ 400,000 not north of a million as advertised. The main engines, generators and gear boxes may hold some value but are most likely tier 0 emission and in need of total rebuild.
We got such a deal before – sold four Steelies for $200,000.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/four-aging-washington-state-ferries-sold-for-scrap/
Based on scrap steel prices from 2009, the nadir of the economic recession.Catch up man! It’s 2020!
built like a steakhouse, but handles like a bistro. Ill take it
YOU CAN ALWAYS TURN IT INTO A RESTAURANT, SIMILAR TO THIS THAT WAS ON THE HUDSON RIVER IN NEW JERSEY OPPOSITE N.Y.C. just south of the George Washington Bridge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binghamton_(ferryboat).
Any clue how many $$$ it would cost to convert and could it be paid for in this century?
The Stork main engines are obsolete and replacement parts are prohibitively expensive.
The owner is trying to recoup all of his costs associated with the vessel, good luck with that, plus his broadcasting business has flushed down the toilet. I’m expecting the US Marshall to place the vessel under arrest eventually.
The people quipping on this are totally ignorant, and have absolutely no clue what it takes to operate and maintain a vessel like this. This post is just wasted space. It belongs in Boats & Harbors, not here.
There’s a good reason these old boats go overseas to be scrapped, it’s called the DEC. I’m for making it an artificial reef, sink it in 100′ of water.
1989 San Francisco Chronicle earthquake headline reads..
“Earthquake starts Ferries running”!
Sold for $205,100.00. As they say, well bought and well sold.
if IT IS NOT GOING FOR SCRAP AND SOMEONE HAS IDEAS ON REPURPOSING THEY HAVE PLENTY OF PLAY MONEY IN THEIR POCKET BECAUSE IT WILL BE NEEDED.
It would make a great pot farm.
Cross Sound Ferry (Orient / New London) retired the LSTs (Landing Ship Tank) a while back. More comfortable, more amenities, faster but for soul it’s been all downhill since. For a kid a December storm riding a slab side shallow draft anachronism through the edge of the Race for Christmas with New England family was magic.
What Kind of draft would this thing have? Our town has just built a berm with dredge & giving us 20 ft depth. Would love to anchor it permanently to soak the 5 to 10 ft waves on Lake Erie & put in a restaurant/bar as a tourist draw.
There was a wooden ferry converted to a floating restaurant docked at the base of the rt 35 bridge that goes over the Manasquan River in New Jersey. Great food and atmosphere. Rotten wood took over and it was cut up. The time line was in the fifty’s and sixty’s. Long time ago.
That’s because the restaurateur’s didn’t know, or care, about maintaining wooden vessels.
I’ve been toying with the idea of a booze cruise on the Magdalena river in Colombia. A lot of wind and strong currents. This exactly what need. Only question is how I get it to the Caribbean coast of Colombia. 😮
“Only question is how I get it to the Caribbean coast of Colombia.”
You have three options.
1) Drive it down there yourself, in which case you and your inept crew will likely perish.
2) Hire a competent crew so you can armchair the voyage from your living room. Don’t forget to compensate the line handlers when transiting the Panama Canal – they don’t like to be shunned.
3) Have another drink, and rethink the “booze cruise”.
Options 2&3 are the only viable ones. Well, actually #3. My wife caught wind of my project and well……… you know. 🤨
https://www.thurstontalk.com/2020/09/16/retired-evergreen-state-ferry-arrested-by-the-port-of-olympia/
Thanks for the heads up Sarah. It would be a great time to swoop in and strike a deal.
This is how Fitzcarraldo got started.There is no doubt someone out there is feeling “empowered” by their “passion” to fulfill their “visionary dream” to sail this thing up the Columbia River and then enslave the local residents to push and pull it over the mountains in order to turn it into an opera house and bring culture to the otherwise inaccessible land where they have set up an unregulated “resource extraction venture” on Bureau of Land Management acreage.
Are you that visionary man and or woman? Don’t hesitate! Act now! Operators are standing by! Quantities are limited.
Y’all are a hoot!
No one in this audience can afford to purchase it, let alone operate it, not to mention HOW to operate it.
Since there is talk about WSF divesting and privatizing the Anacortes/Sidney run, I’ll speculate that private equity will take it over and return it to that run. It would be a true bargain compared to outfitting a used vessel or even a newbuild to meet SOLAS regulations. The only other logical scenario would be a tow down to Mexico to be with the Steel Electrics.