Anonymous donor will pay to remove abandoned boat, work underway
By James Stratton
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MILWAUKEE, WIsconsin (WISN) — A monthslong heavyweight fight may be nearing an end.
“Deep Thought,” the abandoned boat stuck deep into the sand for months along the lakefront in Milwaukee on one side. On the other, Jerry Guyer and his crew from Jerry’s Silo Marina, battling to free the boat.
“This is not our first rodeo,” Guyer said Wednesday.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson announced Wednesday morning an anonymous donor contacted him and will pay to remove the boat.
“I’m very grateful for them stepping up to make sure that we’re able to remove this nuisance,” Johnson said.
For most of the day Wednesday, Guyer’s crew worked to free the boat by pumping out water and sand from inside and trying to pull on the boat with a winch on an anchored barge.
“The concept is you lighten the boat,” Guyer said. “We also have an air compressor running, you can hear that in the background, that pumps air under the boat to hopefully break the suction.”
Guyer said his crew has invested roughly 100 man-hours of work and spent roughly $25,000, costs the anonymous donor will cover.
The owners, who live in Mississippi, are still not answering calls and texts from WISN 12 News. In an interview in December, they said they don’t have the money to move the boat.
Milwaukee County previously said the county will pay for the removal, because the boat is on county property.
“This may be a county park, but it’s in the city of Milwaukee,” Johnson said. “So, we want to bring that collaborative approach to this as well.”
Guyer’s group has tried to remove the boat four previous times. The fifth trip Wednesday was also unsuccessful, but workers plan to be back Thursday to try again.
County Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman tells WISN 12 News the county does have a contingency plan to use county workers to remove the boat should Guyer be unsuccessful.
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