When the National Museum of the Great Lakes formally puts the tug Ohio on display next spring, it plans to make the 115-year-old vessel look as it did during the 1970s, a peak period for tugboat operations on the lakes.
But today, it looks as if it has spent the past two years moored downwind from a salt mine — which is, in fact, the case.
The widespread rust on the Ohio’s exposed metal surfaces will be plain to see by people who take up the museum’s offer of prerestoration tours this weekend, as will be the emptiness of its crew quarters and the absence from its pilot house of the brass ship’s wheel, which has already been taken out for restoration.
“We have had such a significant demand for people to see the tug right away, we came up with a program to make that possible — The Tug Ohio: Before and After Experience,” said Christopher Gillcrist, the museum’s executive director.
Tours will be available every 45 minutes, starting at 9:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday, with each day’s last tour starting at 4:15 p.m. Tickets are free for museum members and $15 for nonmembers, with the latter including museum admission for that day.
Ticketholders “will be invited back to see the tug prior to her public grand opening once the restoration is complete,” the museum said in its announcement of the before-and-after tours.
During the “before” tours, docents escorting participants will discuss the histories of the Ohio and its operator, Great Lakes Towing; issues related to tugboats and towing in general; and the museum’s restoration plans.
As of Monday morning, Mr. Gillcrist said, more than 200 people had obtained tickets.
The maximum for each tour is 40 people, and while walk-up admissions will be allowed, it will be on a space-available basis, the museum director said. Tour times closest to midday Saturday, when the museum is holding a Christmas-tree event, are filling up fastest and may not be available for walk-up reservations, he said.
The tugboat’s slippery walking conditions mean tour participants should wear “sensible shoes and clothing,” the museum cautioned.
Overall, the museum is in the midst of a $70,000 campaign, both in cash and in-kind donations, to restore the tug, which was donated to the museum last summer by Great Lakes Towing.
Paul LaMarre III, who as chairman of the Great Lakes Historical Society’s vessel committee is overseeing the tug’s restoration, said repairs to the Ohio’s hull that included sealing two through-hull fittings for engine-cooling water were completed before the Ohio was towed to the museum site Oct. 18.
Solomon Diving of Monroe donated “a significant portion” of its work on the hull, Mr. LaMarre said, while George Gradel Co. donated towing and labor and materials for the installation of mooring bollards for the Ohio’s mooring at the museum.
Since then, he said, volunteers — including former Ohio crew members — have removed deteriorated deck gear and debris, installed bilge monitors and alarms, sealed deck leaks, and begun other housekeeping.
Mid-American Group of Newport, Mich., has been enlisted to water-blast the tug’s topsides with abrasive garnet donated by Barton International to strip away paint and rust. Following any repair needs revealed by the blasting, Mr. LaMarre said, the tug will be repainted with coatings donated by Sherwin-Williams.
The Gradel company, meanwhile, is also providing use of a tugboat for the museum’s Christmas-tree delivery, for which 5 p.m. Tuesday is the deadline to order a tree.
The trees, which will range between 5 and 7 feet tall, cost $45 and will be delivered to the museum at noon Saturday by a tug with Santa Claus on board. A reception with refreshments will follow.
Trees also may be purchased on behalf of a needy family, with recipients chosen by the East Toledo Family Center.
Tree orders and tugboat tour reservations both may be placed by contacting the museum at 419-214-5000, ext. 200, or through links on the museum’s website, inlandseas.org.
First Published November 27, 2018, 1:24 a.m.