Niska III

by Neal E.
(Saratoga Springs, NY)

I am a real estate agent in Upstate NY.

My listing, a 16+ acre estate on the Mohawk River went under contract in June of 2013.

Per the contract all items around the property needed to be removed prior to closing.

There was a WWII bulldozer, a 1930's pickup truck, snowmobiles, an antique fire truck, etc.

All of those items were removed except for one large item in a barn.

A 40foot 1965 Owens Tahitian.

The boat was commissioned to be built exclusively for the original owner of this property.

In its' heyday the boat had sailed to Tampa Florida, twice and "around the loop", Hudson River to Lake Champlain to the St. Lawrence, Lake Ontario then back up the Erie Canal.

The owners dream was to retire and live on the boat in Florida but when his wife took ill this never happened.

In 1987 the boat was pulled out of the Mohawk River into a barn and that's where she sits today.

Now, back to how I ended up her owner...

The closing date was only a few days away.

The homeowner didn't want to remove the boat, and the new owner wanted it out of there.

We were at an impass.

Both parties were going to walk away from the deal- it was going to fall apart.

Oy! I did NOT want that to happen.

Long story short...

I ended up the owner of the boat.

I have been given until May 2014 to get it out of there.

Easy job you might think.

Oh no.

It cannot be removed over land without MAJOR effort and expense due to trees, power lines, etc.

So why not just roll her back into the river?

Well, in the 25 years the boat has been dry docked the back bay has filled with weeds and silt and it only about 12" deep.

I need at least 2' 8" to float her.

I need to wait for higher water levels which will not occur until the Spring runn-off...

But I can't do it too soon because of strong currents and icebergs (recall: Titanic).

Having been sitting for so long she would leak and sink while taking up- and it would still keep leaking for a while.

Here is my solution:

I am going to re-do the bottom and seal her up.

I have researched the best method for me.

It is a 4-step process which starts with soda blasting the bottom paint off.

Fortunately she is in a barn and undercover for the Winter so I can be mostly out of the elements.

I will post on this forum from time-to-time.

It is a daunting task without an assured outcome.

And the clock is ticking.....