Martha Lewis racing to April relaunch

Initially pulled from the water for routine repairs in Baltimore, the 50-year-old oyster dredger-turned-touring classroom needed far more extensive and expensive work. That led to a massive fundraising drive by the Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy, which owns the Martha Lewis.

Donors covering the estimated $35,000 in repairs ranged from a few people who wrote checks of more than $1,000 to a 7-year-old who had cruised aboard the Martha Lewis last summer and sent the entire contents of his piggy bank, $1.53, Conservancy Director Cindy Beane said.

“He matters just as much to us as the people who gave $1,000,” Beane said.

Though the Conservancy was short about $20,000 at the beginning of February, donations and a line of credit from Bay First Bank cut the bill down to about $8,000, she said. If the remaining repairs go according to schedule, the Martha Lewis will return to the water April 10 and give her first tour to 25 North Bend Elementary third-graders on April 16.

“We might be slapping paint on her while she's in the sling, but she has to be in the water on the 16th,” Beane said. “We don't want to tell a bunch of third-graders they'll have to go to school that day.”

Repairs to the bottom of the boat are expected to finish this week, Captain Greg Shinn said. Crews will cover the bottom in barnacle-resistant paint, then every available worker will help the following week to put the 32-foot-long, 400-pound sideboards into place.

Even once the structural work is done, the vessel must be in the water by April 12 in order to allow its outer hull to soak up water. Designed almost 100 years ago without any seals between the planks, skipjacks rely on the wood's natural swelling to make the vessel watertight, Shinn said.

“We're certainly going to be finishing under the gun,” Shinn said.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com