Turner Joy seeks public’s help with unanticipated repair costs

Photo: Additional repairs to the underwater portion of the Turner Joy’s 418 foot-long hull added to a small cost overrun. — Contributed photo

BREMERTON — The Turner Joy has come home, following a month-long refit at the Lake Union Dry Dock. Due to what have been called unforeseeable circumstances, the unofficial estimate is that the project cost about $27,000 more than the budgeted $800,000.

“Three-percent overage on a $800,000 job is pretty good,” said John Hanson, president of the Bremerton Historic Ships Association that owns the ship. The Turner Joy undergoes this kind of dry docking, hull repair and painting every 15 years.

One part of that overrun was the cost of the paint job, Hanson said. The starboard side required extra sandblasting and the port side needed more steel work than anticipated, he said. Hanson estimated those two items alone added about $13,000 to the final cost.

The final cost of the project will be announced in the next several weeks, Hanson said.

In the meantime, a Go Fund Me account has been established to raise funds to cover the additional repair costs. For more information or to donate to the fund, contact the Bremerton Historic Ships Association 300 Washington Beach Ave., Bremerton, WA, call 360-792-2457 or go to www.ussturnerjoy.org.

Terryl Asla is a reporter for the Kitsap News Group. You can reach him at tasla@soundpublishing.com.