Regular touring hours have begun for the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw museum. A $50,000 challenge grant, initiated by an anonymous donor, has been exceeded, enabling the board of directors to increase advertising and touring opportunities on the historic vessel. (Photograph by Sandy Planisek) On a warm summer morning in 2006, village historian Dick Moehl awoke in stateroom 16 of the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, a ship floating in tranquil retirement near the shore of Mackinaw City.

For the next three weeks, the 5,252-ton decommissioned vessel would be his home as he familiarized himself with the boat, in detail.

"I roamed the ship," he said. "Every night, I picked an area to become acquainted with. Pretty soon I knew every nook and cranny. Everything is meaningful to a tour guide."

"I thought about staying in the captain's quarters," he added. "But I just couldn't do it. I had too much reverence for the captain, I guess you could say."

Two years later, after its first successful season as a nonprofit venture, things are looking promising for the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum.

In fall 2007, an anonymous donor offered $50,000 for the museum effort. The museum had to match the offer, and over the next six months, donations flowed in from throughout Michigan and the Great Lakes region. The match was exceeded in early May, and donations continue to come in.

"Our coffers are filling," Mr. Moehl said. "Matching is the kind of thing that really works. It is a wonderful way to get the community to participate, and it gives respect to the work that is being done. It is a real honor. This is absolutely the kind of thing that a nonprofit needs to have happen."

The money will be used to offer educational programs, pay for advertising, and to maintain and improve the facility, including the dock, Mr. Moehl said.

Donations have averaged about $500. There have been several $1,000 donations, and the museum received a $5,000 grant from CMS Energy to study and design the ship's utility needs.

Before opening for regular touring hours this year, the museum hosted several private tours. The Mackinaw opened for regular hours on Memorial Day weekend.

The eight-member board of directors, more than 30 volunteers, and 10 staff members are looking forward to a second season of offering private and public tours.

The ship's enormous machinery draws interest easily, Mr. Moehl said.

Visitors are particularly fond of Jake, one of the ship's three, 10- cylinder, vertically-opposed diesel engines. Attached to electrical gen- erators, each 10,000-horsepower engine helped propel the ship through both calm waters and thick ice.

In marked contrast to the machinery, tourists are also fond of the simple comfort of the captain's quarters, a spacious room complete with porthole windows on the starboard side of the ship.

"Who would have thought, when the ship was launched in 1944, it would spend the second phase of its life at its namesake: Mackinaw City"? Mr. Moehl said. "It took 62 years to get here."

In the mess deck, a plaque states that the vessel is named for the village, although the Mackinaw's home base was Cheboygan during its active period.

Walking the deck and exploring the historic vessel is gratifying, Mr. Moehl said.

"That is the reward. To really be there," he said. "There are all kinds of nostalgic things that matter to a lot of people, and we want to accommodate them."

Recently, the Coast Guard raised a flag over the Mackinaw. It was delivered to Lieutenant Commander John Comar and used at his Coast Guard retirement ceremony in Cheboygan Thursday, May 29. It is like raising a flag over the White House and then using it for a similar ceremony, Mr. Moehl explained.

Mackinaw crew members have held reunions on the vessel for decades, and the museum is preparing for the 65th crew reunion in 2009.

The board is pleased that the ship ended up on the Straits of Mackinac. In the 1980s, community members sought to host the historic railroad ferry Chief Wawatam, once a common sight on the shores of Mackinaw City. The village was unable to get the vessel.

"I thought, 'We can't let [the Mackinaw] get away like the Wawatam got away,'" Mr. Moehl said.

The Mackinaw now floats at the Wawatam's old dock, and the old railroad ferry has been cut up. Parts are in use as a barge in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and the engine is expected to be a showpiece in St. Ignace.

Boy Scout Troop 4 of Ann Arbor, which recently toured the ship, has taken a special interest in Mackinaw's future. The boys are putting together a report detailing what will be needed for overnight stays on the vessel. They are following the lead of a similar effort in Muskegon, where the Great Lakes Naval Memorial and Museum offers an overnight encampment program on the Coast Guard Cutter McLane and the USS Silversides, a World War II submarine.

A local version of the popular encampment program would in - crease opportunities on the ship, and increase revenue for maintenance of the Mackinaw, Mr. Moehl said.

The board is offering use of the ship for conventions, corporate retreats, and even weddings. The vessel has space to accommodate about 40 people at desks, and it has the facilities to prepare food.

Profitable touring seasons, increased opportunities, and continuing donations will help the board pay off debts incurred when the ship arrived in the village. Running electricity to the ship cost $30,000. Winterizing it cost $100,000. Noting that the ship made a profit in its first year, even without much advertising, Mr. Moehl expects the ship's debt to be erased within five years, or sooner, he told The St. Ignace News.

The group plans to hire a fulltime executive director. Running the museum is a year-around operation. The director will take charge of planning activities on the vessel and promoting the Mackinaw outside the area, at conventions, for example.

Billboards promoting the museum are on I-75 and on the northern outskirts of Petoskey. Another will be placed aside US-23, between Cheboygan and Mackinaw City. A sign directing visitors to the vessel's driveway will be placed on Huron Avenue.

The board plans to augment its ship store to further increase revenue, Mr. Moehl said. Featured at the store is a book about the ship, entitled "Icebreaker Mackinaw: WAGB 83 1944-2006," written by Mackinaw City historian Sandra Planisek.

Mr. Moehl collaborated on the book. A revision is underway to include a new ending explaining how the community achieved the goal of making the icebreaker's permanent home on the Straits of Mackinac.