At a starting price of $50,000, less than a luxury car, you could potentially be the owner of a former Washington State Ferry. One of them might be very familiar to you. The M.V. Evergreen State which served on the route between Vashon, Southworth and Fauntleroy for many years

State of Washington Surplus Operations, in cooperation with the Washington State Department of Transportation Ferries Division, currently has two car/passenger ferries up for online auction on GovDeals.com.

The Evergreen State is 296 feet long. It was built in 1954 by the Puget Sound Bridge and Drydock Company in Seattle, WA. In 1988, Washington State Ferries (WSF) rebuilt the vessel with new machinery and refurbished superstructure.

The M.V. Evergreen State most recently operated on the Point Defiance / Tahlequah ferry route between north Tacoma and south Vashon Island, Washington. WSF retired the Evergreen State on June 29, 2014. The Evergreen State is currently at WSF’s Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility on Bainbridge Island, Washington, a thirty-minute ferry ride from downtown Seattle.

The second ferry is a 150 ft. car/passenger ferry named the M.V Hiyu. It was built in 1967 by Gunderson Brothers Engineering Corporation in Portland, OR. The Hiyu is Chinook dialect meaning “large or plenty”, a humorous selection given the small size of the ferry. The HiYu only has room for 199 passengers and just 34 vehicles. It lacks access for persons with disabilities and has no bathrooms. Any new owner would have to deal with high maintenance costs. The HiYu was mothballed in the late 1990s, but then returned to service as a backup vessel making its last sailing in July of 2015.

The most recent assigned route for the Evergreen State was the Fauntleroy/Vashon Island/Southworth (triangle) ferry route. The most recent assigned route for the Hiyu was the Vashon Island/Southworth segment of the triangle ferry route. Both ferries have been owned and operated by WSF since construction.

Tim McGuigan, WSF’s Director of Contracts & Legal Services, said the proceeds from the sale of both ferries will be deposited into the Puget Sound Ferry Operations Account to support WSF operations.

Extensive photos and complete valuation reports, along with more detailed information, can be found on the auction page for each ferry.

Bidding for each ferry begins at $50,000, with an undisclosed reserve amount set for each. The auctions can be bid on now until Wednesday December 14, 2016.

Interested buyers can visit the online auction page for more information including photos, preview, registration and bidding information at https://www.govdeals.com/WASurplus