NORTH WEBSTER — A slew of volunteers armed with crowbars and sledgehammers descended on the Dixie Sternwheeler in North Webster Saturday morning to rip out the historic boat’s lower floor.

A callout on Facebook was made last week in hopes of attracting people to do some of the demolition work. Within 20 minutes, the snack bar and concession stand as well as part of the floor were gone.

[caption id="attachment_104687" align="alignright" width="340"] Rick Owens, director of maintenance for the Dixie, stands in the lower level as volunteers work to dismantle the floor Saturday. News Now Warsaw photo by Dan Spalding.[/caption]

Rick Owens, director of maintenance for the Dixie, stood on the floor surrounded by men who looked as if they were on a timer.

He was impressed.

"Great turnout! Owens said. "For a little while, I didn't even think they'd need crowbars. I just thought they'd just rip it out with their bare hands."

"We expected it to take most of the day, but they're making fast work of it, I'll tell you that," he said.

The floor had to be removed to access the hull and repair structural problems in the 95-year-old boat.

The vessel had been taking on some water in recent years, but the biggest problem was that the back end of the boat was "sagging."

[caption id="attachment_104690" align="alignright" width="310"] There was no shortage of volunteers Saturday morning in North Webster needed to remove the lower floor of the Dixie. News Now Warsaw photo by Dan Spalding.[/caption]

Some welding will be required as the Dixie undergoes a process called hog tying in which chains and pulls will be used to tighten it up the frame.

They're using a Warsaw firm to do that work. The most time-consuming part, Owens said, is the design.

"It's been sagging pretty good and we need to stop that," he said.

Owens said they hope the new floor will be more easily removed for future repairs.

"This was all nailed down and obviously, we had to destroy everything to get to the underneath," Owens said.

Owens has been with the Dixie for four years and recently replaced Rob Erb who had served as the maintenance director for a long time.

"The deal was when it came out of the water, it was mine," Owens said.

Owens said that as a result of repairs, the lower floor level will be redesigned.

The project is being covered with ticket sales.

The post Volunteers quickly remove lower floor of the Dixie Sternwheeler appeared first on News Now Warsaw.