PORT ANGELES — The economy is tough, and it’s showing in boat auctions at the Port of Port Angeles.
In the past few years, more boats have been confiscated and auctioned to the highest bidder because their owners have been unable or unwilling to pay moorage fees.
For years, the port auctioned a boat every few months.
Three years ago, the port began to see an increase in the number of boat auctions, port Budget Manager Jerry Ludke said.
“Lately, it’s been about two a month,” he said.
In June, port commissioners approved the sale of four boats and a boathouse.
Port Executive Director Jeff Robb said he hates to sell the boats — some of which have been in families for generations — but there isn’t much choice.
“Our obligation is to taxpayers as well,” Robb said. “Those services and facilities are owned by taxpayers.”
To keep a balance between boat ownership rights and the port’s requirement to collect fees for services, there is a long process set in place
by state law.
It takes about eight months from the time fees are first delinquent to the seizure of a boat, giving boat owners several chances to save their property Ludke said.
Once the process has begun, some boat owners do retrieve their boats.
“It does happen,” Ludke said. “It’s not common, but not infrequent either.”
One of the boats scheduled for a July 21 auction is the Luard, a 70-year-old, 38-foot salmon trawler.
The Luard’s owner, Hubert Kerton, 69, who lives in Ohio, said he plans to pay the bill before the auction.
Kerton, a long-haul trucker who specialized in transporting cranes from Ohio to the Pacific Northwest, purchased the Luard five years ago to use as a second home during long layovers.
He planned to convert the fish hold to a cabin for longer stays during his retirement and to explore Puget Sound and the Inner Passage.
“Two years ago, I was laid off,” Kerton said.
Since then, Kerton has been able to find enough independent trucking jobs to keep his Ohio life afloat, but the boat has become a second priority.
“I keep thinking I’ll get a load [to haul] out there,” he said.
Kerton said he expects to pay off the fees he currently owes before the auction but may put the boat up for sale.
“I’ve got more in it in marina fees than the boat is worth,” he said.
The Luard doesn’t look like much from the outside but went through a shipyard refit several years ago and is a sound, seaworthy vessel, he said.
Kerton may get to keep his boat for now, but many other owners aren’t able to gather the funds to unchain their vessels.
The owner’s loss is often an alert boat buyer’s gain. The highest price one of the confiscated boats has sold for in the past 18 months is about $200, Ludke said.
The starting price at auction depends on the condition of the boat and how much the owner owes the port.
Sometimes no one shows up to auctions, Robb said. If there are no bids on a boat, they are often broken up and disposed of.
But the boat owners are still not off the hook: A bill for the cost of the disposal and the fees owed to the port are sent to a collection agency.
Most boat owners owe the port less than $3,000 in back moorage fees, often far less than the value of their boat, according to the port.
However, it is not usually the nicer boats that are seized.
“People who can afford the nice boats can generally scrape up enough money to pay if they really have to,” Robb said.
Some boats that are seized are literally sinking at their moorages or have been removed from the water because they were sinking, he said.
The worst of them are broken up and disposed of, some are good for parts or as a handyman’s hobby, while others are in decent to good condition, he said.
Buyers must be prepared to immediately remove the boat from the marina or sign a contract for moorage.
The moorage fee for a 30-foot boat at John Wayne Marina in Sequim would be about $213 per month, plus tax, while a similar boat at Boat Haven in Port Angeles would cost $170 per month.
One of the items on the July 27 auction block is a boathouse.
The boathouse is not up to code and needs to be improved or removed by the owner immediately, Robb said.
There are two auctions coming up, this Thursday and July 27, that may include a sailboat, two motorboats, the Luard and the boathouse.
Auctions are held on the dock or in the boatyard where the boat is located.
More information on port boat auctions can be found at http://tinyurl.com/portauction.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.