The popular old David Letterman gag “Will It Sink or Will It Float?” could use an abandoned Arrowsic boat as a case study.
The derelict vessel in this case ain’t floating – it’s up to its gunwales in frigid, icy sea water.
In fact, it’s not only sunken, but it’s angering neighbors who consider it an eyesore and environmental risk.
“That boat has been there for a couple weeks,” longtime local Arrowsic riverfront taxpayer Bob Caton told The Maine Wire. “I can’t believe they can just leave it there.”
“At some point it will float down the river and become a hazard,” added Caton, a veteran mariner.
Neighbors have been calling on authorities to try to force the owner to remove the abandoned boat.
But the sheriff’s office told WGME the owner has no legal responsibility to remove it from the water.
“No rules like NO rules,” Caton lamented.
The sheriff says the owner of the fishing boat, and his friends, had been living on the “Hook, Line and Sinker” most of last summer and fall.
“At some point he just abandoned it. And it went adrift and wound up getting grounded over there on the beach in Arrowsic,” Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Sergeant Matt Sharpe said.
The officer says attempts were made to find an agency to remove the boat, but nothing came of it.
“Maine DEP has been involved. Marine Patrol. Coast Guard. Sea Tow. I mean, we’ve had resources out there looking at it. Unfortunately, nobody wants to deal with it,” Sharpe said.
Cops say the boat owner broke no laws.
“Neither Woolwich or Arrowsic have a harbormaster. So there’s no laws pertaining to where they can anchor the boat,” Sharpe said.
He says without local boating laws, it’s as if the boat’s owner did nothing wrong.”
The town of Arrowsic is trying to figure out how to remove the vessel, which has holes in its keel and hull.
A boat-towing company said it would cost around $25,000 to dispose of the boat.
Harbormasters in Maine say derelict boats are a growing problem in coastal communities, costing as much as $3,000 to tow and scrap them, according to Brad Rogers of WGME.
