EVA
The EVA is a wooden gill-netter built in 1937. She is powered by an original two cylinder Easthope engine. Easthope was a local company that manufactured some of the first gasoline engines used to power the West Coast fishing fleet and became a legend in the industry.
The EVA is showing her age and needs some TLC. We want to make sure this piece of history does not disappear. She was built from very good quality materials - Western Red Cedar, Yellow Cedar and Douglas Fir to name a few.
She is probably the only vessel in existence to have been exchanged for an exact replica of herself. In 1997, Al Mason, a former resident made an interesting trade with Gus Jacobson, a Finnish fisher with long ties to Finn Slough. Al agreed to trade a working scale model (29.5 inches) of the EVA for the real thing (29.5 feet). Gus had been looking for a good home for the boat ever since he transferred the EVA's fishing license to his present gill-netter because of a change in the fishing regulations around 1993 when area fishing was set up on the West Coast. Gus knew that if a wooden boat is left unused it will deteriorate. Al, a shipwright who had repaired EVA in the past, had his eye on the boat for years and jumped at the chance to take ownership. When Al moved away from the Slough he made sure the EVA went to the Finn Slough Heritage and Wetlands Society. Kevin, another Finn Slough resident has upgraded her moorings among many other things.
This is why the Finn Slough Heritage and Wetland Society and the Village and residents of Finn Slough would like to preserve the Eva. This beautiful old lady of the Fraser River needs our help to survive and continue to be a photographer's and historian's inspiration in this idyllic historic Richmond location.
Funds will be needed to undertake the following:
1. Full professional assessment of repairs needed, removal from the water so repairs can happen.
2. Hiring professional boat builders and shipwrights.
3. Renting covered dry dock space to work on her.
4. Materials to repair and restore the boat.
5. Work and repairs on the Easthope engine.
If you wish to donate you can send an E-transfer to "helpsavetheeva@gmail.com". Or you can send a cheque to FSHWS, 9480 Dyke Road, Richmond, B.C. V7A 2L4. Please make the cheque out to FSHWS (Finn Slough Heritage and Wetland Society) with "Save the EVA" in the memo area. Sorry we cannot give out tax receipts as we do not have charitable organisation status.
Thank you for helping to save the EVA!
In the photo below Bob is loading a gillnet onto the EVA in 1994. The nets are stored and repaired on racks in the net-shed to the right. Perhaps difficult to see, just below the second porthole is the exhaust for the EASTHOPE two cylinder gas engine. The distinctive pop-pop-pop is a sound from the past. The first power plant in this boat was the 8-12 horsepower model weighing in at 400 pounds. In the nineteen-forty's it was switched to a 10-18 HP model weighing almost twice as much. This engine is still in use today.
EVA moves through the drawbridge:
Photos by Ulrich Gaede