McBarge has floated without purpose or

use for decades, but it certainly hasn't

existed without notoriety. The former

floating McDonald's restaurant built for

Vancouver's Expo 86 was a star

attraction, a small icon in its own

right. Though it was one that would

later become infamous for its lack of

purpose and sheer oddity as an abandoned

floating eyesore. But despite promise

and hope for change just a few years

ago, unfortunately this 2026 update

video is a little sad. Not only have

plans changed, but the condition of

McBarge, well, let's just go take a

look. This is the 2026 update of

McBarge.

So, McBarge has already been through a

lot. The floating restaurant was first

constructed in 1986, just in time for

Vancouver's World Exposition in the same

year. McBarge, or Friendship 500 as it

was officially called, was the casual

restaurant sponsor of the Expo.

McDonald's as a corporation was not only

celebrating their 500th location, but

was also showing off an innovative

design and concept. It was a McDonald's

restaurant which in theory could be

operated from anywhere with a dock and

power. Of course, that's not what ended

up happening. Despite McBarge being very

popular at the Expo itself, it closed

along with the rest of the fair in

October of the same year. Once Expo 86

was dismantled, the restaurant sat there

closed and unused. Vancouver City

Council denied permission for it to

reopen in the same spot with city

councilors wanting the restaurant gone

and at a False Creek. It had already

been costing McDonald's around $150,000

a year just in upkeep and security. So

they were also wanting something done

with it. From the councilors'

perspective, it was thought to be too

much of an eyesore with the city slating

the land it was docked at to be

redeveloped under an enormous master

plan. Ultimately, the shuttered

restaurant had its gangways removed and

was towed out of the False Creek site

where the property would now be

redeveloped. McBarge was brought up the

coastline and anchored offshore in the

Burrard Inlet, and it was left there

completely abandoned. This is where the

floating restaurant would live in

infamy. Decades would pass since its

move in 1981, and while its original

Maureen location had now been completely

transformed, McBarge would sit almost

exactly as it was since it was first

built, completely abandoned. It was this

remarkable condition and sheer oddity

that caught my attention. And if you

want a more in-depth recap of its

history, I did make a full abandoned

episode on it a few years back. All in

all though, it was a pretty amazing

spectacle, one which would transition

through various owners and failed

proposals, ultimately ending up with a

man named Howard Meakin. He was a local

developer responsible for helping

revitalize Vancouver's historic Gastown

district. He would purchase the

restaurant in 1999, but he saw it more

as an icon or landmark and had really no

concrete plans for redevelopment. So, as

McBarge sat abandoned and gained

notoriety, Howard would propose various

concepts like a floating restaurant.

However, those plans were thwarted by a

different local city council. More

significant progress would be made in

December of 2015, when the former

restaurant was towed out of the inlet

and down the Fraser River. It was docked

along a work yard in the town of Maple

Ridge. It was here where the former

McDonald's interiors were ripped out and

scrapped, bringing the entire complex to

just a shell. In 2017, it was announced

that the official plan for McBarge was

to turn it into the Deep Ocean Discovery

Centre, a museum attraction that would

partner with Canadian deep ocean

scientist Phil Nott. The multi-million

dollar makeover was set to return the

barge back to False Creek. And following

the announcements, the plan was to

launch a crowdfunding campaign to drive

corporate sponsors and public interest.

This event never happened though, and

through the years, McBarge continued to

sit idle. This is around the time when I

was first contacted by the development

team. Howard Meakin himself reached out

to me shortly after I made my abandoned

episode. He asked for my opinion on the

crowdfunding campaign and sent over the

publicly available promotional video

that they produced. One which would

ultimately serve no purpose though, as

the agreement they made with their

crowdfunding partners had apparently

fallen through. I would ultimately reach

back out a few years later and arrange a

site visit where I would produce my 2021

update video. By that point, McBarge was

still in sort of a limbo. The developers

had still planned for a redevelopment

into the deep sea museum concept. Though

actual work on this project was slow.

During my on-camera interview and

walk-through with Howard, which you can

find in both my 2021 update video as

well as the full interview on my

personal channel, he claimed that the

hang-up for the barge had always been

contingent on finding the right site. He

said that multiple people had approached

him to turn the barge into something

more commercial or industrial. But I

think Howard's approach had always been

wanting to find a real civic or landmark

use for it. It was becoming evident that

finding the right plot of land as well

as the partners with the appetite for

such a development was harder than

anticipated. So just waiting it out

until the right deal came along was

seemingly the plan. There was also an

effort underway to designate the barge

as a site of historical significance,

which would grant it more rights and

possibly open more doors for historic

preservation opportunities. However,

this effort was never granted by the

government. And frankly, public

petitions were rather lacking. McBarge

was just a 15,000 square foot floating

shell. I remember when I was on board

touring the bones of this former

restaurant, I could definitely see the

potential there. It was a vast, rather

scenic space with large windows and

unique architectural features. Small

hints to its former use would be found

throughout, like the tiling for the

kitchens, the rail lightings on the

ceiling, or even the original railings

around the balconies and staircase. At

the same time though, the sheet metal

roof was rusting through with water

pooling underneath and windows cracked

or missing. It was certainly in need of

a lot of work. Though, I honestly felt

that the development team behind it

seemed to have the fundamentals in

place. When I visited, I actually signed

an NDA over to the development plans

that Howard and their team had been

working on. While I'm fairly sure the

grounds of that NDA are likely now

voided with respect to the existing

team, I'll err on the side of caution.

Howard did however end our conversation

on camera by saying that the future

museum would be part of a much larger

development incorporating other

waterfront structures as a unified

experience. This was seemingly the

frontrunner plan for the structure

moving forward. [music] The barge was

going to be moved to this brand new

site. And when we parted ways in 2021,

the developers claimed that progress

should be moving forward within the next

2 years. Unfortunately, fate would have

other plans. As years passed, it seemed

like the project and the developers had

been teasing never followed through.

Phil Nutton, the project's deep sea

inspiration, had passed away in 2023. No

public announcements on the museum had

been made after. McBarge continued to

float there aimlessly, seemingly without

any act of work or even the prospect of

development getting started. This was

reaffirmed when my friend Lord Explorers

visited the barge both on shore and

above with a drone. This was in January

2025. By this point, the structure was

in extremely rough condition. The newly

painted exterior from 2015, which was in

pretty good condition when I last saw it

in 2021, had now fully succumbed to the

harsh and wet Vancouver weather. Mold

and mildew had now covered the large

exterior panels while doors and windows

were either left open or missing

altogether. On the water side of the

barge, it It that some of the exterior

window

had also come loose. Really, it looked

almost as bad as it had once did when it

was sitting at anchor back in the

Burrard Inlet. But, most concerning of

all here was its list. McBarge was now

listing a few degrees to her port side.

This obviously wasn't great. And while

there have been very unconfirmed

anecdotal reports that every once in a

while a maintenance team would have to

go on board and pump her air tanks,

clearly some water was getting in and no

one was addressing the stability issues.

Just a few months later on March 26,

2025, quietly overnight, McBarge had

suddenly taken on water and partially

capsized. The morning light revealed the

former floating McDonald's restaurant

now half submerged. Half of the vessel

resting on the bottom of the Fraser

River and the other half still buoyant.

The barge was now a wreck, a massive

structure which was now mostly beneath

the surface. This obviously made local

and national news, even bringing on a

familiar face to talk about it on CBC.

Meanwhile, Transport Canada, the

government body which has authority over

transportation-related matters, told the

press that they'd been attempting to get

in contact with the owners, but were

unsuccessful in doing so. Sadly, just 15

days after the sinking, Howard Meakin

had passed away. While celebrated for

all of his achievements in the city, it

seems that McBarge's redevelopment was

the one that got away. The Canadian

Coast Guard told the local press that

the sinking didn't pose any

environmental or navigational hazards.

An evaluation had already been conducted

in 2023 and concluded the vessel

contained no harmful substances. And

since it sank on the riverbanks, it was

mostly out of the way from everything

else, essentially taking up the same

footprint it had already occupied. So,

recently I made a trip out to see

McBarge once again. I traveled down to

Maple Ridge and launched a drone just

outside of the industrial businesses

which occupy the immediate coastline. A

half-submerged McBarge certainly stands

out amongst the river. During my

afternoon there, paired both by the high

tide and by the fact that the structure

has settled further into the sediments,

it was overall laying lower in the

water. Today, it rests partially

capsized with just around 30% or so of

the structure above water. Even though

it has been over a year since it first

took on water, McBarge relatively

remains the same. Large glass window

housings have since come loose under the

weight of gravity and fallen out.

Exterior railings just poke out of the

river while the murky water hides much

of the structure laying just beneath.

Looking through the broken glass and

into the interior, it is kind of creepy.

It's certainly triggering my

submechanophobia. The staircases, for

example, are still clearly in place

while water sloshes around in what

little air pockets are left. Updates

since the sinking have been slow.

Obviously, McBarge is still here,

half-submerged. Shortly after the

sinking, the mayor of Maple Ridge came

out and said that basically they have no

jurisdiction over it since it sank in a

federally controlled river. Transport

Canada has already deemed the sinking as

not an immediate cause for concern. So,

the process to actually have this

cleaned up will be lengthy. I have been

told by sources who are privy to the

original development that following the

death of Howard Meakin, that the barge

now has no official owner and that the

project they had planned with it was now

officially cancelled. That leaves the

half-sunken barge in a weird legal dead

zone. The city wants it gone and local

businesses want it gone so they can

expand. But, at the same time, it will

seemingly be a lengthy legal process to

have it removed and to find out who's

responsible for paying for it. McBarge

will likely never be refloated. So, So,

is a total loss and it will probably be

an expensive task to remove it from the

river. While all of this is really just

a big shame, at the same time, it is

pretty incredible that it lasted here

this long and hadn't been torn up or

destroyed long ago. Remember, this was

built in 1986. I mean, it's over 40

years old. Incredibly though, it was

only open to the public as a restaurant

for just a few months. I mean, it's

truly incredible. In a world where every

monotonous experience like a McDonald's

has only gotten more average, bland, and

characterless over time, I think McBarge

was just a quirky, lingering reminder of

what used to be. The fact that there

even was a long-lost, abandoned,

floating McDonald's, it captivated a lot

of people, myself included. But, at the

same time, this was never going to be an

easy redevelopment project. No matter

how many times developers had claimed

that it was built to last 100 years and

that it was very capable of being

preserved and reused, it was always

going to be a tall order. I think Howard

Meakin really was a great developer who

had a clear vision that would have

preserved and celebrated its history.

That's all while it was actually going

to be a genuine public benefit. That is

an effort that truly should be

commended. However, there were enormous

obstacles for him to overcome. Vancouver

waterfront real estate is some of the

most expensive and restrictive in all of

North America, if not the world. It

turns out that even with the funding and

vision, he just needed time to wait and

find a deal. Time that sadly ran out for

both him and the McBarge. For however

long it now has left, half submerged in

the Fraser River, it will at least

partially remain as a notable piece of

weird urban exploration in Canadian

history.

Thanks for watching this 2026 update for

the McBarge. You may recall that a few

years back at this point, we did some

merch featuring McBarge. Well, while

we're developing some new stuff, I just

released a new sticker pack with all of

your favorite anthropomorphized

abandoned locations and logos. You can

also pick up the classic logo t-shirts,

and my favorite are corduroy hats, which

I do wear all the time. You can find a

link to it in the description below, or

go to shop.brightonfilms.com.

Anyway, guys, my name is Jake, and thank

you very much for watching.