'Pretty Lady' floats again
<p>Nancy Barnes walks along the dock before embarking onto the 42-foot sport fishing boat made by her father in the early 1980s.</p>
<p>Photos of Melvin Owens, the builder and skipper of "Pretty Lady," and his wife Cecil adorn a wall of the cabin of the Barnes' boat.</p>
<p>Tom Barnes, top, prepares to set the mast while his son Nick, left, and marine electrician Don Ammon support the base Wednesday after launching "Pretty Lady" into Lake Pend Orielle in Bayiew.</p>
The Pretty Lady returned to the water Wednesday.
She liked it.
"It's been a long time," said Nancy Owens Barnes.
The 47-foot boat was built by her father, Melvin Owens, in the 1980s when he lived in Ketchikan, Alaska, his home of 25 years before he passed away in 2006. The Pretty Lady sat, waiting for someone to make her seaworthy again.
Owens Barnes decided it was up to her.
In 2008, it was taken by barge from Alaska to Seattle, and from there, by truck to Coeur d'Alene, where crews at Expert Marine Technology carried out repairs and renovations.
It took three years.
Their efforts included a new shaft, new steering to replace the old chain and cable system, cleaning out the old diesel tank, new electrical system, rudder changes and the addition of bilge pumps, holding tank, motor work and even a toilet system.
In December Owens Barnes and husband Tom and son Nick took the Pretty Lady back to their home in Priest River, where they detailed her, finishing the painting, the wood work, replacing the stove and making her shine - most important, seaworthy.
Owens Barnes and family launched the Pretty Lady into Lake Pend Oreille at Bayview on Wednesday afternoon.
It completed a long journey for Owens Barnes.
She wrote a book about her father, "South to Alaska: From the Heartland of America to the Heart of Dream," in 2007.
"He started his dream of doing this when he was 10 years old. He saw a photo in his geography book in the fourth grade of a place in Alaska. He started dreaming about Alaska," she said in a previous Press article. "He just kind of aimed his life that way."
Melvin Owens later worked for shipyards in Seattle during World War II, where he learned to build boats.
"My dad spent his whole life with his goal to build boats and get to Alaska," his daughter said.
Nearly 50 years later, Melvin Owens built a boat of steel, "Red Dog," in Hartford, Ark., and cruised it to Alaska - a mere 10,000 miles.
He later sold the Red Dog, and then built the Pretty Lady, his lasting legacy.
Pretty Lady can fit six, has sleeping and sitting accommodations and will be a wonderful pleasure boat.
"It's a real comfortable boat to just kind of cruise around on," she said.
Owens Barnes, who lived in Alaska two years, treasures memories of her father.
She was thrilled to see it back in the water.
"It means a lot," she said. "I think dad would be really pleased that his work is going to be enjoyed by the children, the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren."