MILWAUKEE, Wis. – A public auction for the abandoned Milwaukee boat “Deep Thought” is not drawing the amount of bids one Milwaukee County leader had hoped to see.
Now, he’s sounding the alarm with just days remaining to make offers.
3rd District Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman acknowledged in a newsletter sent out Friday that bidding for the decaying boat “isn’t going as well as planned.” As of midday, the top bid was $1,125; that bid was placed on July 24th, the only bid on the boat not to be placed on the opening day of the public auction July 22nd.
“Let’s be honest, we didn’t ask for this boat,” said Wasserman in an official news release Friday. “She was abandoned near McKinley Marina, landed in the County’s lap through a legal headache, and now we just want her off the books. While she’ll probably never float again, she still deserves a second life.”
The County is hoping for a $20,000 bid in order to cover the remaining cost to remove the boat May 6th. All-City Towing, which is hosting the boat on their Milwaukee lot during the auction process, charged $50,000 to remove the boat, which County leaders say was a discounted rate.
When Milwaukee County Parks Executive Director Guy Smith and County Executive David Crowley were asked by WTMJ if they believed the boat was worth the $20,000 they were hoping to receive, Smith replied he believed the boat was “priceless”.
The boat, which earned considerable attention from the public and the media following its arrival on the lakefront in October of 2024, has sat on the All-City lot since its removal in May. The boat is in a state of disrepair, and it’s unclear if the vessel can be repaired to the point of usability as watercraft.
Still, Wasserman has some suggestions for possible use of the boat for the winning bidder.
“She’s ripe for reinvention: unique art installation? Boutique bar? Milwaukee’s strangest Airbnb?” pondered Wasserman. Previous rumors that the Milwaukee Art Museum had been one of the donors helping pay for the removal process were refuted by museum leaders earlier this year.
“Deep Thought” is being sold as-is instead of in pieces, though bits of the boat were being sold by Milwaukee Area Technical College student Magnus Bonde on removal day at $10 a piece. Milwaukee 11th District Alderman Peter Burgelis also told WTMJ’s “What’s On Tap” he had a piece of the boat as well.
One final piece of advice from Supervisor Wasserman for potential boat bidders:
“Bring your creativity and maybe a crane.”
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