Riverview Boat Store Buys Mv. I.J. Russo

Riverview Boat Store Inc., Belleview, Iowa, has purchased the mv. I.J. Russo, a 65-foot, 1,200 hp. towboat from Russo Marine LLC, Chauvin, La. The boat is being rehabbed before heading north, said Julie Putnam of Riverview Boat Store.

“We renamed it the mv. Clifford H. Galley after an 80-or-so-year-old gentleman we first saw sitting on a bench just watching the river. We grew to be friends,” she said. “He loves the river and the boats so much,  it seemed great to name the boat for him.” The boat was built in 1979 by Rayco Shipbuilders & Repair, Bourg, La.

Riverview Boat Store will use the newly-acquired vessel to assist tows at one of the locks it services on the Upper Mississippi River and to do fleet work, Putnam said. Last year, the company bought the mv. Cajun Pride and renamed it Mrs. P, which along with the Capt. Terry and River Rat, does lock assist work. The firm’s three custom aluminum crew boats are what Riverview uses to deliver groceries and supplies, which it does from its Belleview location at Mile 557.