Marooned motor yacht still beached on Beer Can Island as fines mount

Twin Cities Suburbs

The city of Hudson is fining the owner $1,400 a day. The owner has told city officials that his lawyer advised him to leave the boat where it sits.

By Matt McKinney

The owner of a 54′ motorboat beached on Hudson’s Beer Can Island has not moved the sinking yacht, even as Hudson officials began issuing fines last week of $100 per day plus court costs.

The daily fines have now risen to $1,400 for the abandoned vessel — the maximum $1,000 fine allowed under Hudson’s new city ordinance plus $400 in court costs — but city officials say owner Grayson McNew of Afton hasn’t made plans to remove it.

“That guy out there got advice from his attorney not to touch it,” City Administrator Brentt Michalek said. “That’s pretty poor advice from an attorney. If that’s all true, we don’t know.”

McNew did not respond to a call seeking comment this week.

The city estimated that it would cost about $6,000 to remove the 54′ Bluewater Intercoastal from its perch, a cost that would cover putting a crane on a barge and floating it out to the island, lifting the boat out of the water to let it drain, repairing its leak and then floating it back to a marina to be lifted out of the river and taken to storage.

It’s become something of an annual nuisance for Hudson. The impound lot already has three boats pulled from the river in the past few years after owners tried to abandon them. The City Council in September said it had had enough and passed a new ordinance calling for daily fines.

The 26-year-old McNew said earlier this month that his first boat became a nightmare after it sprung a leak this summer while beached on the popular island. It’s now half sunk, with beach chairs still sitting on its rooftop deck. The boat apparently doesn’t have insurance, and McNew has been left to cover the cost of its removal. He said his neighbors have harassed him about the boat, and he claimed to have received death threats.

McNew previously said he sold the boat, but Police Chief Geoff Willems determined that McNew is still the owner.

Michalek said if McNew doesn’t remove the boat, the fines will continue to rack up until they reach a level that qualifies for collections court, where the city expects it would win a judgment.

The city has no desire for a fourth boat in its impound lot, Willems said. The three boats already in storage might be put up for auction if the owners don’t claim them.

A spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said the boat remains a local issue. In most situations, the DNR doesn’t get that involved with abandoned boats until they sink and need to be removed, or if there is a spill.

Twin Cities

“More times than not, we provide guidance to local agencies who are having court orders issued for removal,” spokesperson Zachary Wood said. He added that Wisconsin DNR wardens visited the boat and didn’t see evidence of a spill.

The DNR checked the boat last on Oct. 15 and didn’t see evidence of any fuel leaks.

A second boat can be seen beached on Beer Can Island to the north of McNew’s vessel; city officials said it, too, will need to be removed after its engines failed. That owner has been in contact with the city and with his insurance company and plans to have it taken care of soon, the city said.

Matt McKinney is a reporter on the Star Tribune's state team. In 15 years at the Star Tribune, he has covered business, agriculture and crime.

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The city of Hudson is fining the owner $1,400 a day. The owner has told city officials that his lawyer advised him to leave the boat where it sits.