PENTICTON – A historic tugboat got a new electrical generator Friday with the help of a helicopter.
The Canadian National Tug No. 6 has been docked at the SS Sicamous Heritage Park in Penticton for nearly a decade, where a group of tugboat enthusiasts have been restoring the vessel. The latest upgrade is a refurbished generator, which means the tugboat will now have functioning lights and operating boards.
The group disassembled the broken generator to remove it from the boat, but now that it’s fixed, it can’t be taken apart. So, they decided to bring in some help from the sky.
“A helicopter is being used to bring the DC generator onto the stern of the ship so we can get it back down into the engine room,” says Raymond Belanger of the CN Restoration Committee. “It’s a very heavy piece of equipment. Putting a long line on it with a helicopter just makes it that much easier.”
With the generator back in the boat, the Restoration Committee is that much closer to their ultimate hope for the tugboat.
“Our goal would be to see it cruise down the lake one day, as a refurbished, redone ship.”
CN Tug No. 6 is the last ship of its kind to cruise Okanagan Lake. It was commissioned in 1948 to transport railway barges between Kelowna and Penticton. It made its final passage in 1973.