Hard-luck vessel restored; seiner converted for research. (West)

National Fisherman, June, 2003 by Michael Crowley

It seemed a humiliating end for the Sleep Robber, a well-known Canadian seiner and halibut boat that hit the beach near Prince Rupert, British Columbia, in 2001, sunk and then rolled over. To make a bad thing worse, when she was salvaged, the Sleep Robber was dropped on the ways.

The insurance company declared her a total loss. That's when Brad Scott bought her. Though he is well known for restoring wooden fishing boats that are in terrible shape, he admits ,the "boat was pretty well doomed," and he was going to cut her up and scrap it. "Then ...