CHELAN

CLASS: Issaquah

BUILT/REBUILT: 1981/2004, Seattle, WA. 

OFFICIAL NUMBER: 643291 CALL SIGN: WRA9001

L/B/D: 328 x 79 x 16 GROSS/NET TONS: 2477/1941

PASSENGERS/AUTOS: 1090 international, 1200 domestic/124

PROPULSION: 2 GE 7 FMD-12 Diesels.  SPEED: 16 knots

NAME TRANSLATION: From the Chelan language: Tsill-ane, meaning “deep water.” The tribe lived along Lake Chelan, which has a maximum depth of 1,486 feet. A city, county and river also bear the name.

FINAL DISPOSITION: In service, 2024. 

HISTORY

The Chelan’s early career was spent on the Kingston-Edmonds run, where she worked alongside the Yakima. For many years the pairing worked well, but traffic on the route steadily built up and finally the Chelan could no longer handle the traffic and a second Super Class was added.

Cut free from Kingston, the Chelan was often used as the “spare” Issaquah while the others in the class went into the yard for being overhauled and having the upper car deck added to increase capacity. Summers would most often find her working in the San Juan Islands.

When it became apparent that the Evergreen State was nearing retirement, and a replacement ferry would need to be upgraded to SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) standards to work the international route between Anacortes and Sidney, British Columbia, the ferry system looked within the fleet to replace it. The popular tourist route has been operating since 1922, and was generally handled by the Elwha, but the larger Super Class is very uneconomical to run.  A downward turn in the number of passengers (a trend that has since reversed) also suggested that upgrading a smaller vessel (nixing the Kaleetan, which had originally been considered for the

SOLAS upgrades) seemed to be the wisest move.

The Chelan was chosen to fill the role. The first step in the SOLAS upgrade was to expand her to carry 130 cars (with the addition of more safety equipment, revised to 124.)  She emerged from the yard in 2001 with gleaming white paint and the expanded car deck.

Four years later, after the Sidney run was reduced to 9-month service in 2003, the Chelan went in for the conversion work. At the same time as the additional safety equipment was added, the passenger cabin was totally refurbished. She emerged from the yard and, like the Kitsap, she retained some of her original “rainbow” color—in this case orange. Added to the palette were teal, black and a powder blue. Historic prints of Lake Chelan brand apple labels adorn the walls, along with historic and contemporary photos of the Lake Chelan area, and quilt artwork by Erika Carter.

After the conversions were done, the Chelan was scheduled to take over the International run in the fall of 2006.  However, on April 7th, 2006 the Elwha suffered a catastrophic failure of a drive motor and would spend the next 15 months out of service.  The next day the Chelan was hurriedly moved up to Anacortes to take over the route.

The Chelan spent the winter schedule of 09/10 at Todd Shipyard. Part of her annual maintenance included her first paint job since 2001. The rust that had become an embarrassment has been erased and the ferry looks sparkly new and ready to serve the Anacortes-Sidney run for the spring and summer months.

With the retirement of the Elwha, the Chelan is now the only ferry able to run on the Ancortes-Sidney run.