Breathing new life into an old boat that was once a ferry on Okanagan Lake

Once the first bridge was built in 1958, The Fintry Queen became an entertainment venue but the vessel has encountered some rough waters in recent years falling into disrepair.

Max Standen and his team have already put in hundreds of hours and will put in hundreds more into a project they say will help revive a piece of Kelowna, B.C.’s history.

“Blood, sweat and tears has been an understatement of what’s gone into the project,” said Max Standed, who owns the Okanagan Luxury Boat Club.

Standen along with some investors jumped at the opportunity to buy the historic Fintry Queen earlier this year.

The nearly 80-year-old boat was once a  ferry that,  prior to Kelowna’s original floating bridge, would transport people between Kelowna and West Kelowna.

Once the first bridge was built in 1958, the Fintry Queen became an entertainment venue but the vessel has encountered some rough waters in recent years, falling into disrepair.

“Our main goal is to bring it back to its former glory,” Standen  told Global News. “It’s funny, you know someone my age to be interested in something of this age but growing up, coming to the lake every summer, some of my best childhood memories my entire life have been, you know, made up on this lake. And this is one of the significant landmarks of this lake.”

Standen has quite a vision for the vessel including re-doing the entire onboard diming room and creating a fully licensed restaurant and event space.

But the plans go well beyond that.