The Bluenose II is nearly shipshape and could be ready to welcome visitors by early July.
That was the message delivered to Nova Scotia’s transportation minister when he toured the replica of the famed schooner in Lunenburg on Tuesday.
The province’s check-list started at 25, but now it’s down to six items before the ship is ready.
“Really what it's about now is the final certifications from both the American Bureau of Shipping and Transport Canada,” said Transportation Minister Geoff MacLellan.
It was his third visit to the vessel since taking over the portfolio, but his first time meeting the crew.
They took to the water on Friday morning for a training exercise, and the quality of their performance is part of the reason why Bluenose II Capt. Phil Watson is confident the ship will be ready for summer.
“That was the biggest grin you could possibly imagine for me. It just it went so well,” Watson said.
“You know, in your mind the night before when you're not sleeping you come up with all the things that could possibly go wrong and they just didn't,” he said.
Watson said the crew needs more training, which he hopes will start in early June, but the ship handles well.
As for when the ship will be ready to welcome visitors, Watson said his “best guess” is early July.
“And that again is weather-dependent and crew training-dependent,” he said.
That’s not very long considering how many years it took for the Bluenose II to get to this point.
The restoration project started in 2008 and is now nearly three years overdue.
It’s also about $5 million over-budget.
So far the province has put $15 million into the project, while the federal government has contributed $5 million.
“You have to get the planning right when you change scope, when you change degrees and different components of a tender then things go off track and that certainly happened here from the very get go,” MacLellan said.
MacLellan said he doesn’t anticipate any increases in cost.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jacqueline Foster
