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July 26, 2016
It was a tight fit, but on Monday morning the ferry Sealth made it through the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard on its way to Lake Union Drydock Co. for $1.5 million in maintenance and repairs.
How tight was it? The ferry had 1 foot and 4 inches of clearance inside the 80-foot-wide locks.
The 3,310-ton Sealth will be in drydock for nine weeks. Workers will repair the steel vehicle's deck, fix sprinkler system pipes, renew windows, install a security system, refinish restrooms on the passenger deck, and improve the passenger decks, picklefork decks and bridge decks.
Western Towing was in charge of moving the ship from the Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility, through the locks, under the Fremont Bridge and to the drydock in Lake Union. Western used the West Point tugboat to tow the ferry and Westrac II tugboat to push it.
A Washington State Ferries representative said the average age of the fleet is just over 31 years, requiring constant maintenance to keep ferries operating properly and maintain their Coast Guard certification.