Two retired Washington State Ferries sit unused at the Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility on Bainbridge Island, deteriorating while occupying valuable repair space as state officials search for buyers willing to shoulder the enormous costs of restoration or disposal.
The Klahowya and the Hyak, former workhorses of the nation’s largest ferry system, now attract only seagulls and pigeons to their railings. Algae stains cover the decks and rust spreads across aging steel as the vessels await uncertain futures.
Washington State Ferries Assistant Secretary and Deputy Executive Director John Vezina said Eagle Harbor is normally the agency’s most vital space for repairs and preservation work, but retired ferries are blocking critical capacity.
“We are in the best ferry place that we have, Eagle Harbor, where we maintain and preserve our boats,” Vezina said. “We’re on purgatory, I would say.”
The ferry system operates 21 vessels. Two, the Klahowya and the Hyak, have been formally decommissioned. Both occupy two of Eagle Harbor’s six repair slots, reducing capacity by one-third.
“We really need them out of here so we can have more space to do maintenance and preservation work,” Vezina stated.
Inside, the vessels are dark, musty, and stripped of critical equipment. Flashlights illuminate corrosion, peeling paint, and gutted engine rooms during rare tours conducted only for serious potential buyers.
“It is a weird feeling,” Vezina said while walking through the silent hallways. “We’re not cleaning it up, we’re not keeping it in any sort of shape.”
Vezina said only “serious buyers” are allowed onboard because the ferries need extensive and expensive rehabilitation that the state cannot justify funding.
“When they get to 60 years, they’re ready to go,” he explained. “There’s nobody else who wants them, so it wouldn’t make sense to take money we need to maintain our other vessels to paint and keep these in shape.”
Anyone who does purchase one should prepare for staggering costs. Vezina estimated it could take tens of millions of dollars, potentially up to $40 million, to bring one back into service for Washington State Ferries.
The system’s oldest vessels, including the 66-year-old Tillikum, continue operating past expected lifespans as the state pursues funding and new construction contracts.
“We’re not going to get a new boat for five years and that boat’s going to be 71,” Vezina said of the Tillikum. “We are working with the governor and elected officials in the legislature for the money and the preservation we need to keep them going far past what we originally would have expected.”
Interest arrives from curious would-be ferry owners including lakefront homeowners, business operators, and maritime enthusiasts, but most lack understanding of what they’re undertaking.
“We have people that want to build a restaurant, want to build an office, and some people have done those things,” Vezina said. “We have a responsibility to the environment and to the taxpayers of Washington not to let them go somewhere where they’ll sit and decay.”
Recycling options have proven complicated. A previous attempt in 2024 to tow two vessels to a recycling facility in Ecuador failed shortly after the boats left Bainbridge Island.
“They set up a tow plan, and they didn’t make it far,” Vezina said. “So we’re not going to sell them to South America.”
Another potential recycling site exists in Texas, but the cost to transport a ferry there through the Panama Canal could reach $1 to $2 million. Meanwhile, British Columbia faces similar struggles with its retired ferries. Vezina said there is discussion of opening a new recycling facility in the region to address the growing problem.
For many residents, ferries represent more than just transportation. These floating relics carry nostalgia and memories spanning generations.
“For a long time and still, we refer to vessels as ‘she,'” Vezina said. “She served us well.”
“In the past, people had high school proms on the boats and people get married on the boats,” he continued. “These boats are like people’s family.”
Not all ferry stories end in decay. The legendary art deco Kalakala, the “Silver Slug” launched in 1935, once captivated passengers on Elliott Bay.
“That was an amazing art deco boat ahead of its time,” said Eagle Harbor Facility General Manager Tim Clancy.
Vezina recalled that people were so attached to the Kalakala they purchased it after retirement but then couldn’t determine what to do with it.
“It just goes until someone buys it, and it just decays,” he said, describing the vessel’s eventual fate.
Other vessels have found more successful second lives. The smaller Hiyu now operates as a tiki bar on Lake Washington, and the Elwha has been converted into office space at Everett Ship Repair.
The Klahowya and Hyak will remain at Eagle Harbor until new owners or a salvage solution emerges.
“We need to surplus them,” explained Clancy. “We need to move them out of our facility and transfer ownership.”
Though their working days are finished, Clancy believes the fleet is aging gracefully. Washington State Ferries is preparing for new hybrid-electric vessels, which he called really exciting new projects representing the next generation of the system.
Still, the abandoned ferries on Bainbridge Island stand as a stark reminder of the system’s challenges balancing aging infrastructure, limited maintenance capacity, and the enormous costs of vessel replacement.
