IT takes a heavy tow truck, a series of inflatable “sausage” airbags used as rollers and wooden chocks about the size of railway sleepers to drag a 127-year-old workhorse paddlesteamer out of the Murray River.

Every three years PS Pyap has to be hauled out of the river at Murray Downs marina near Swan Hill for a certification check-up.

Pioneer Settlement marketing co-ordi...