El Primero

[Carey]

I found this lovely steel (likely wrought iron) vessel in its current rather sad state in Blaine, Wa. this summer. I can only hope that a restoration will occur real soon, as it would be a shame to lose this piece of history. Why is it that the folks who can truly afford a boat like this generally don't appreciate them enough to choose them over ugly new tupperware boats?

-- Edited by Carey at 12:58, 2007-10-23

 

[Brent Hodges]

Wow, cool boat. It looks in the pics to be 150 feet long! I'm sure it's not, but it is a monster. Was someone living aboard? Looks inhabited at least.

 

[Carey]

Brent
*** She appears to be 125-150'. I imagine that someone was living aboard. We couldn't walk that dock, as it is gated.
*** ** ** ** ** ** Carey

 

[Jay N]

EL PRIMERO was moored for many years (70's through 80's) at the S entrance to Meydenbauer Bay, E Lake Washington (near Seattle) for many years. A restoration was underway then, but I lost track of her 20+ years ago. The main drawback (besides the riveted steel construction), was her extremely narrow beam. Jay

 

[Carey]

Jay
*** ** Yes, she is definitely narrow. My memory says no more than twelve feet. But that would make her relatively fast under light power. She's a piece of history that should be saved.

 

[Penta]

I often wondered what happened to her. She was in the charter / cruise business her in BC some years back and there were several articles about her and her owners problems in keeping her in top shape. I seem to remember that she was docked for a while in the Inner Harbor here in Victoria and that a big blow to the owners was when she was forced to leave due to harbor developments. That was about the time I lost track of her.
I believe she is 135 ft with a narrow beam of something like 12 - 15 feet. She used to be in all the annual Victoria Classic Boat shows and at that time was quite stunning for a vessel that was about 100 years old at the time.
Sorry to see her in such sad shape but just maybe someone will come along and do her right.

John Tones "Penta"
Sidney, BC