(Radio Iowa) – An excursion boat that’s been sailing in West Okoboji Lake since 1986 is being restored. Jon Pausley is C-E-O of Arnolds Park Amusement Park, where people buy the tickets for an hour-long, narrated cruise around the lake on the Queen Two. Pausley says the boat has been showing her age. “One of the engines just went out completely and we knew we had to do some work to replace it,” Pausley says. The boat was recently inspected. “To find out if there was still life left in the hull and making sure everything was good enough to make some restorations,” Pausley says, “and decided instead of replacing the Queen, we should restore her and get another generation down the road.”

The diesel-powered boat was lifted out of the water earlier this week. Pausley says the Queen should be back on the water by Memorial Day. “Going to get new engines, new generators, new electrical and finish out the windows project, then try to get ahead a little bit on some of the interior beautification of the boat,” Pausley says. That phase of the project might have to wait until after the 2024 sailing season. Pausley says they did consider replacing the boat. An anonymous donor — who was married on the Queen Two — is financing the restoration — at an estimated cost of up to a million dollars

“People love the Queen 2 and there’s a lot of nostalgia and a lot of history and a lot of love for this boat,” Pausley says. “The decision to go ahead and just restore her and make her what she once was again as best we can for a 38 year old vessel…we decided to go that direction.”

The Queen Two has an open air upper deck and an enclosed lower deck. The original Queen sailed the Iowa Great Lakes for 89 years until it was retired in 1973.