Some extensive maintenance work awaits the U.S. Brig Niagara following a successful summer season of sail-training voyages and appearances at seven of nine Great Lakes tall ships festivals.

The Niagara was scheduled to leave Erie Sunday morning and sail to Great Lakes Towing Co. in Cleveland, where shipyard crews there will perform three weeks of maintenance on Erie's flagship.

As a sailing school vessel under U.S. Coast Guard inspection, the Niagara is required to be inspected out of the water twice in a five-year period, with no inspection interval exceeding three years.�

The Niagara's last such inspection was in the fall of 2013.�

The maintenance inspection will cost $135,000, according to Niagara Capt. Billy Sabatini.�

"We're actually doing a destructive survey,'' Sabatini said. "We're going to intentionally take perfectly good planks off the ship so we can look behind them and see how the internal structure of the ship is doing. We don't know if there is any rot, and that is what we're opening up to find out. We'll get a good sense of where the whole ship is by looking at the internal structure.''

Sabatini said shipyard crews will remove six planks ��three on each side of the vessel�� and look for where rot could potentially develop.

"The whole goal is to have a really good understanding of where the ship is at right now so we're ready for the mid-life refit whenever that happens,'' Sabatini said.

In May 2014, former Gov. Tom Corbett announced the ship would get a $4.8 million, state-funded overhaul that would make the vessel seaworthy for another 25 years. Construction will include a complete rebuild of the hull.

Work on that project isn't expected to begin until the fall of 2018 at the earliest, Sabatini said.�

"This survey is the first step toward the refit,'' he said.�

The Niagara is expected to remain in dry dock on the Cuyahoga River at the Cleveland shipyard for three weeks. The ship is scheduled to leave Cleveland Oct. 28.�

"The revenue we generated from Tall Ships Erie goes to things like this,'' Sabatini said. "The same thing happened in 2013. We had a really great Tall Ships Erie festival and right away we spent over $100,000 on going to the shipyard. It's great that we have Tall Ships Erie as a fundraiser for us because we spend it. It doesn't sit in the bank.''

The Flagship Niagara League organized and hosted the Tall Ships Erie festival Sept. 8-11 along the downtown Erie bayfront. The event featured appearances by nine tall ships, including the Spanish vessel El Galeon, and The World's Largest Rubber Duck, an inflatable yellow duck that towers more than six stories.

The four-day Erie festival attracted about 90,000 festivalgoers and raised $320,000 for the Flagship Niagara League, according to Flagship Niagara League Executive Director Shawn Waskiewicz.

Another Tall Ships Erie festival is scheduled for September 2019.�

When the Niagara left Erie Sunday morning, a crew of about 25 accompanied Sabatini to Cleveland.

Sabatini will spend three weeks at the shipyard evaluating work as project manager.

"I can't say I'm looking forward to it because after you're gone for an entire summer, I'd rather be home with my wife,'' Sabatini said. "My dog doesn't understand why I have to leave again. My wife gets it. She knows why I have to leave, but my dog doesn't understand.''�

Sabatini and a veteran crew took the Niagara on seven sail-training voyages throughout four of the five Great Lakes this summer, most of which coincided with the vessel's Tall Ships festival visits.�

The Niagara sailed more than 5,000 miles this summer. Port visits included Chicago; Duluth, Minnesota; Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Bay City, Michigan.

The vessel also offered the Erie community 12 public-day sails and four school-day sails.

"The ship, in terms of trainees and the students who sail with us, we were pretty much full the entire summer, which is a goal we've been working toward,'' Sabatini said. "We've doubled enrollment two years in a row. That's pretty good growth.''

Ron Leonardi can be reached at 870-1680 or by e-mail. Follow him on twitter at twitter.com/ETNleonardi.