Owl was named the "Louise Idaho" when she was originally launched by the McKenzie Barge and Derrick Company in North Vancouver, BC in 1942. Her first owners were Leo and Louise Towell of New Westminster, BC, and she worked as an inland tug until 1964. The boat was repowered from a steam engine to a 240 HP diesel engine in 1948.

Louise Towell sold the Louise Idaho to Nelson Pomeroy of Bainbridge Island in 1964, who renamed the boat "Owl" and oversaw the tug's two-year conversion to a pleasure yacht at the Weldcraft Steel and Marine Boatyard in Bellingham. PNW naval architect Edwin Monk designed Owl's conversion, which included an entirely new house with a flybridge along with a redesigned lower deck with three cabins and two heads. To make room for the cabins below, Monk moved the engine room and tankage aft. Owl's new equipment included the Caterpillar engine, an Onan generator, propane cabin heaters, an oil stove in the galley, a Deca radar, Wood Freeman autopilot, Ideal windlass, Wagner hydraulic steering, Sailor VHF radio, and a Bendix air compressor for the whistle. Much of this equipment is still functioning today. Owl's interior design of painted bulkheads with mahogany accents, teak doors, and brass fittings remains as well. The Pomeroy family cruised Owl to Canada and sometimes as far as Alaska every summer for the next 19 years, usually with a tin boat and sailboat on the cabin top and a ski boat in tow.

In 1985, Pomeroy sold Owl to Frank and Carol Didier of Bellevue, WA and Ketchikan, AK. The Didiers kept Owl in Ketchikan for at least some of the time when they owned the tug.

In 1990, The Didiers sold Owl to Harriett Stimson Bullitt, who moved her to her current berth in Seattle's Lake Union. Harriett Bullitt and her husband Alex Voronin cruised the Salish Sea with their family on Owl for the next 18 years, continuing Owl's tradition of being a family boat that explores the Pacific Northwest. Under their care, Owl became somewhat of an institution on Seattle's waterfront, used by rowers and sailors alike as a mark for their courses across Lake Union. Major updates to Owl during this time included an aluminum bulwark, a new Kohler generator, modernized appliances, a new crane, and ongoing maintenance and preservation of her hull and woodwork. 

In 2008, Harriett Bullitt sold Owl to Seattleites Sue Donaldson and Paul Fletcher, who continued Owl's tradition of being a family cruiser. Donaldson and Fletcher oversaw several extensive renovations to Owl's timbers and hull planking at the Jensen Motor Boat shipyard in Seattle, ensuring that the tug continues to have a solid structural foundation for the foreseeable future.

In 2021, Donaldson and Fletcher sold Owl to Jenna Miller and James Utzschneider, the tug's current owners who spotted a "For Sale by Owner" sign in Owl's window while kayaking in Lake Union one month after completing a nine-year circumnavigation on their catamaran Sophie. Experienced sailors, Miller and Utzschneider currently live on Owl with their family and look forward to cruising Owl to Alaska on her 100th birthday in 2042. They view themselves as stewards of a Pacific Northwest institution and will continue to honor and preserve her past while actively cruising her up and down the Salish Sea.