ku3kyc
Member
So I was visiting Hawaii on vacation and came across Hydroptere after a tourist booze cruise. Since I followed this boat for years I decided to come back when I was sober and take some pictures. What I found was an Abandoned Vessel notice. The boat was obviously not in use and not being kept up.
After I took pictures I found the Harbor Master and he told me the story from his perspective.
The boat arrived around TransPac and had no planned berth. They were denied by many harbors including this one. But after begging and promising to be out at the next record attempt, they are granted permission. The crew docked, tied up, and left. That was the last contact the Harbor Master ever had with anyone involved in the boat. No money ever showed up and all attempts to contact the owner(s) went unanswered. He even tried calling the sponsors who refused to have anything more to do with the boat.
So the Abandoned Vessel notice went up months ago. The rigger and crane are scheduled to pull the boat, dismantle it and place all the parts on the hard, out of the way of upcoming events.
Abandoned vessels cannot be sold as boats because there is no title. However the harbor has the right to dismantle the boat and sell it for parts and scrap the rest. This is the plan. He hopes to recover his legal, rigger, crane, back storage, etc. by selling the hydraulics and mast. Everything else is probably too unique to be of value. The crane is scheduled. This should happen soon.
So I asked how much he was hoping to get, how much he would take if someone walked up to him today with cash? If someone walked up with $20,000 today the boat and all its legal issues would be theirs as long as it left the harbor.
Is this how boats die? It's so sad.
After I took pictures I found the Harbor Master and he told me the story from his perspective.
The boat arrived around TransPac and had no planned berth. They were denied by many harbors including this one. But after begging and promising to be out at the next record attempt, they are granted permission. The crew docked, tied up, and left. That was the last contact the Harbor Master ever had with anyone involved in the boat. No money ever showed up and all attempts to contact the owner(s) went unanswered. He even tried calling the sponsors who refused to have anything more to do with the boat.
So the Abandoned Vessel notice went up months ago. The rigger and crane are scheduled to pull the boat, dismantle it and place all the parts on the hard, out of the way of upcoming events.
Abandoned vessels cannot be sold as boats because there is no title. However the harbor has the right to dismantle the boat and sell it for parts and scrap the rest. This is the plan. He hopes to recover his legal, rigger, crane, back storage, etc. by selling the hydraulics and mast. Everything else is probably too unique to be of value. The crane is scheduled. This should happen soon.
So I asked how much he was hoping to get, how much he would take if someone walked up to him today with cash? If someone walked up with $20,000 today the boat and all its legal issues would be theirs as long as it left the harbor.
Is this how boats die? It's so sad.
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