You could own old Seattle fireboat
Feb 28, 2013, 11:27 AM | Updated: Mar 1, 2013, 11:56 am
Seatttle fireboats Chief Seattle, left, and Alki, lead a parade of tug boats past the downtown skyline. (AP Photo/Cheryl Hatch)
(AP Photo/Cheryl Hatch)
A vintage Seattle fireboat is going up for auction on Monday.
The Seattle Times reports Bidadoo.com will begin accepting bids on the 86-year-old watercraft, the Alki, beginning around 7 p.m. Monday evening.
The Alki was built in 1928 and retired after a 2003 levy made way for the purchase of a couple of new boats.
Those familiar with the boat say this wouldn’t be a purchase for just your average boater.
“If you want to keep this boat working, it will take daily care and attention. You can’t just fire it up and take off,” Dick Chester, senior engineer for the city’s fireboat fleet, tells The Seattle Times.
Another retired Seattle fireboat, a few decades older, now sits in need of $5 million in repairs. An amount it’s owners tell the Times will be a difficult to come up with.
The Alki also reportedly has its own problems, and parts for the old vessel are hard to find.
But those interested in the challenge will have their chance to step up Monday.
More information on the boat with images and video will go live when the auction starts at bidadoo.com 7 p.m. Monday.
