Lorena Inspection

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – A visit to Riverside Park will offer a sight that is seldom seen, as the Sternwheeler Lorena is sitting drydock awaiting inspection.

Lorena Captain Scott Huskey explained how the cruise boat must undergo a 5-year hull inspection to comply with federal regulations.  

“It’s out of the water because it needs to be inspected every five years. We actually had an extra year granted to us so this would be 6 years. It’s important because the Coast Guard needs to inspect it and the inspection’s all about safety, right. The safety of the vessel, the safety of the crew, the safety of the passengers that ride it. And even once it’s back in the water, safety is our number one target on the vessel,” Huskey said.

Getting the boat out of the water was no easy feat as navigating the current and constructing a trailer large enough to handle the job took considerable effort.

“So they’re going to inspect pretty much the entire vessel. They’ll be checking out the paddle, the powerplant, the hull will be a… they’ll pay a lot of attention to the hull as the vessel is 77 years old. And then again they’ll also look at the upper deck, which we’d already planned on replacing. So we already have a lot of things we already know we need to do. We’re just making sure that nothing else is added to the list,” Huskey said.

2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the Lorena’s arrival in Zanesville and once the repairs are made and the inspections are finished, it will return to hauling guests up and down the Muskingum River.