Join 13 News Meteorologist Bryan Hughes on the Katie H for a month-long “Katie Kruise.”
Bryan will be at the helm of the Katie H sternwheeler from Aug. 28 to Sept. 25, and we will track his trip along the Kanawha and Ohio rivers right here on wowktv.com.
Keep track of Bryan’s journey below:
Daily Forecast
The Katie H was built in 1932 at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, by Eddie Erlbacher. Christened as the “Owassa” and later named CIS-5, she worked the Pittsburgh area rivers as a commercial tow boat for U. S. Steel, Clarion Works until 1960.
Vince Hammill purchased the boat in 1962 and reconstructed her into a sternwheel boat and named it after his mother. Bryan Hughes is now the owner and captain of the Katie H and purchased her from Vinnie in 2019.
The Katie H is 82 feet long with a beam of 17 feet. The wheel is 15 x 10 feet and has a draft of 4.5 feet. She is powered by a General Motors 6-71 Detroit Diesel engine with 212hp. She has a full-size bath with tub, galley, and bar area along with a Texas cabin and is a full-time live aboard. Recent remodeling has also added water-making capabilities and wireless internet.
In 1984 the Katie H was in the movie “Mrs. Soffel” with Diane Keaton and in 1985 she appeared in “Silent Witness” with Valerie Bertinelli. The Katie H currently resides at mile marker 61 on the Kanawha River in Charleston, WV.
