After more than 25 months of reconstruction, the partially completed hull of "Bluenose II" was relaunched into Lunenburg Harbor on 29 September 2012 from the Lunenburg marine railway followed by festivities at the nearby Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, however due to repairs not completed, the vessel was pulled back onto land for more work. The vessel was returned to the water on 6 September 2013 to undergo dock and sea trials before being handed over to the province for tourist duty. Retrofit costs had risen to $19 million and the vessel still required modifications to its steering mechanism which proved unreliable and difficult to operate.