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FENCL ATTEMPTS
RAMUNDA LAUNCH
The Ramunda was a 92-foot all-steel ship that was hand built by Czechoslovakian immigrants Olderich and Marie Fencl. After constructing ship parts at his home in Illinois, in 1973 Olderich Fencl purchased an empty lot in Carol Beach and began assembling the ship. He completed it in 1976.
On the first attempt at launching the Ramunda, three cranes failed to lift the 60-ton boat. This photo was taken by Al Fredrickson the following day, on August 31, 1976, when a flotation device was used to aid the process. The ship still refused to budge.
It ended up requiring a 150-ton crane, two smaller cranes, a dump truck of dirt for additional counterweight, and tugboats from the Kenosha Harbor to set the Ramunda free. Fencl spent $50,000 to construct the boat and another $10,000 to launch it. Adjusted for inflation, that would be approximately $330,000 today.
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