LYNN — It doesn’t take much imagination to picture “Seas the Day” floating in the balmy Caribbean instead of sitting high and dry in the city’s Commercial Street extension work yard.
The 42-foot “Bestway” cabin cruiser isn’t exactly a ghost ship, but it is a ship without a port since city officials ordered it moved more than a year ago from Seaport Marina.
“The harbormaster declared the boat to be in really poor condition and said it was basically going to sink,” said city Solicitor George Markopolous.
Markopoulos said “Seas the Day” owner Kathryn Kobelski owes the city Community Development department $6,132.09 in past-due slip fees. Community Development owns and manages Seaport Marina, and boaters pay slip fees to dock there.
The overdue fees date back almost 10 years, and Markopoulos said the city and Kobelski at one point agreed on a payment plan for the fees that never produced payments.
“We’ve sent numerous letters but the owner has been unresponsive,” Markopoulos said.
The city sent a certified letter in April to Kobelski’s Clearwater, Fla., address and warned her “Seas the Day” was in a state of “great disrepair.”
“She signed for the letter but did not respond in any way,” Markopoulos said.
Attempts to reach Kobelski for comment by phone on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Marooned in limbo on Commercial Street extension yards away from Lynn Water and Sewer Commission’s sewage treatment plant, “Seas the Day” has become the butt of jokes.
Commission workers say the boat blocks their view and Public Works employees christened the boat “The Good Ship Lollipop.”
“They had to use brooms to hold up the power lines when they brought it into the yard. It was a spectacle,” said Public Works Commissioner Andrew Hall. A boat lover and builder, Hall has taken pity on “Seas the Day” with its mussel-encrusted hull, scarred and pitted propellers, and tarnished cleats and metal work.
“This was a nice boat 20 years ago. My guess is it’s going to get thrown in the garbage,” Hall said.
Not so fast, said Markopoulos. The city Law Department filed an “abstract of title” with the United States Coast Guard paving the way for the city to attempt to recover the overdue slip fees, plus the $932 cost of pulling “Seas the Day” out of the water and towing it to the Public Works yard.
Hall says the city can assess a daily storage charge for the boat with $35-a-day the minimum fee.
An abstract of title paves the way for the city to go to Superior Court to try to recover costs associated with the delinquent boat.
Plenty of people owe the city money for many reasons. But Markopoulos said he can’t remember the city attempting to recoup costs associated with an abandoned boat.
