Boat Dock Hardware

Riverboat launch in St. Charles signals start of cruise season

In the spring, when river swallows migrate to their summer home on the Fox River, the 65-foot Fox River Queen paddleboat also returns to the river.

The Queen spends her winters in dry-dock on a boat trailer at St. Charles’ Pottawatomie Park. To launch the Queen, Captain Rich Anderson hires tow truck driver Dennis Beckman of Chuck’s Garage — “Broke Truck, Call Chuck” — in Batavia and Jason Cropsey, who has crewed for Anderson over the years and is now a clinical educator at Provena Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin.

“Every spring, I expect to get a call from Rich to help launch,” Cropsey said. 

With this year’s launch, Anderson begins his 25th year on the river as captain.

Anderson’s father Chet started Paddlewheel Riverboat Cruises in 1945 when he was a concessionaire at Pottawatomie Park and decided boat rides would be a good attraction. 

The 100-passenger aluminum-hulled Fox River Queen was built by a custom boat builder in Kentucky in 1987. Rich Anderson took possession of the new boat and piloted her down the Ohio River and up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers to Morris, where a truck hauled it to its new home in St. Charles.

“Those rivers are industrial, not very scenic,” said Anderson — not like the Fox, where Anderson and his passengers on his two paddleboats often see wildlife such as waterfowl, deer and raccoons. 

To prepare the Queen for launch, tow truck driver Beck used his hydraulic lift to raise up the tongue of the boat trailer to remove the supporting timbers underneath. Next he hooked heavy link chains to the boat trailer tongue and pulled the boat up the hill to line it up with the ramp.

As Beckman backed slowly to the river, the Queen’s weight shifted slightly and she let out several groans at returning to work after a long winter’s nap.

“Launching is easier than hauling out in the fall,” Anderson said. “Then it’s an uphill pull.”

The Queen’s stern entered the water. Beckman stopped backing to let Anderson climb aboard. Cropsey unhooked the hardware securing the boat to the trailer and also climbed aboard.

Beckman backed the trailer deeper until the boat began to float off the trailer.

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