Bidding ends Wednesday, Jan. 31 for the Ames C. Echols, a 1982 passenger ferry in Norfolk, Virginia. She has been placed in auction by Hampton Roads Transit. The bid at this writing was $23,300.
The auctioneer is the People’s Online Auction House. Go here for more information.
The Echols is built of steel. She’s 60 feet excluding the decorative paddlewheel and displaces 50 gross tons. Her beam is 20 feet and she draws six. She is powered by twin Detroit 671 Diesels, turning 28-inch props. The engines were installed in 2010, and there are more than 18,000 hours on each. Cruising speed and top speed is 8 knots with the tide, 6 at slack tide and 5 against the tide with a fuel burn rate of 4.8 gallons per hour.
Watch the Echols dock:
Electrical and navigational equipment include an inverter to power the wheelhouse-top air conditioner, two VHF radios, a SIMRAD AIS, two Furuno radars and a single trumpet air horn. The general condition of the vessel is good.
Anyone passing through Norfolk may have seen the Echols during its run to the Waterside complex.
