With the circumstances surrounding its arrival a mystery, a well-worn, trash-filled boat suddenly appeared in Raymond’s Mill Street ball field parking lot three or four weeks ago.
Although at some point the boat may have been loved by some fisherman or outdoorsman somewhere, its condition as it stood beached in its dirt parking space could be called no better than extremely poor. In fact, it brought new meaning to the term shipwrecked.
The fiberglass exterior was weathered and peeling, an old tire wrapping a rear corner like a bandage on an elbow. The bow held a bedraggled mattress and, the stern, an old Kenmore dryer, with a tattered cover shielding a mere fraction of its contents. And the boat itself was tied securely to a tree, so it wouldn’t float away on waves of dust.
But perhaps the strangest thing of all was that someone had seen fit to scrawl the name, Mike Carrier, along with his phone number, on nearly every available surface of the boat and its contents.
Raymond Public Works Director Nathan White has tried to solve the mystery of this boat-out-of-water.
According to White, it looked like someone just backed their vehicle up to the spot, tied the boat to a tree and drove off, causing the boat to slide off its trailer or out of a truck bed and onto the ground.
White called Carrier repeatedly at the number listed on the boat. When he finally reached him, Carrier’s explanation was vague.
After initially denying ownership, Carrier told White the boat was supposed to be at Sebago Canvas Works for repairs and that somebody must have stolen it.
“The whole thing’s a little shady,” White said.
Numerous phone calls to Carrier by this paper were not returned.
White told Carrier to come pick up the boat. But day after day, it continued to sit in the parking lot.
The town finally gave Carrier an ultimatum: remove the boat by Friday, Oct. 21 or face legal action.
“It’s an expense to get rid of it,” said Raymond Town Manager Don Willard. “They used to take boats at the bulky waste.”
White said the town was checking into their legal options for removing the boat. One idea was to load it up, dump it in Carrier’s yard and present him with a bill.
But at the last hour, White watched while a man he assumed to be the elusive Carrier (White didn’t bother asking for I.D.) drove up and carted the boat away.
Now everything is shipshape once again.
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