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Freeport man in legal stalemate with the town over self-built steel ship
It is 81-year-old Harold Arndt's dream to see his 113 foot steel schooner, the Island Rover, set sail 







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					Updated: 8:00 PM EDT Oct 17, 2024
				
















Freeport man in legal stalemate with the town over self-built steel ship
It is 81-year-old Harold Arndt's dream to see his 113 foot steel schooner, the Island Rover, set sail 







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					Updated: 8:00 PM EDT Oct 17, 2024
				









													AUNT’S 80 TON HOMEMADE SCHOONER MADE OF NAVY SURPLUS STEEL, HAS BEEN STUCK IN THE WOODS FOR DECADES, MAROONED IN A RISING TIDE OF UPSCALE HOMES AND TANGLED IN LITIGATION WITH THE TOWN OF FREEPORT, MAINE. STILL, HAROLD ISN’T ABOUT TO ABANDON SHIP. OUR SHOW’S ABOUT MAGNIFICENT OBSESSIONS, IF YOU WILL, PEOPLE WHO ARE HAVE SORT OF OUTSIZED DREAMS AND PURSUE THEM AGAINST ALL ODDS. WOULD WOULD THAT DESCRIBE YOU, HAROLD? PERFECTLY. I’VE ALSO BEEN CALLED AN ECCENTRIC OLD MAN. ECCENTRIC, PERHAPS, BUT HAROLD AUNT IS NOT CRAZY. A MARINE BIOLOGIST BY TRAINING, HE HAS WORKED AT BOWDOIN COLLEGE AND BATH IRON WORKS. THE DESIGN AND INNOVATIVE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ISLAND ROVER IS WIDELY ADMIRED AMONG LOCAL WATERMEN, WITH NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE, HAROLD CREATED STEEL BENDING TECHNIQUES. EXPERTS THOUGHT IMPOSSIBLE. MY BOAT DESIGNER BRINGS STUDENTS OUT HERE TO SHOW THEM THAT EVERYTHING THAT’S IN THE TEXTBOOKS MAY NOT BE CORRECT. AMONG THOSE IMPRESSED BY HAROLD’S SKILL AND VISION, CARTER BECKER I’VE NEVER SEEN A STEEL VESSEL, SO FAIR, SO WELL BUILT WITH SUCH CLASSIC DESIGNS AND LINES. THAT’S THE THING THAT BROUGHT ME INTO THE PROJECT. BECKER, A MARINE CONTRACTOR, WAS BROUGHT IN TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO MOVE THE SHIP, BUT HE ENDED UP HELPING HAROLD FINISH THE HULL. HE ALSO BOUGHT A PIECE OF PROPERTY LESS THAN HALF A MILE AWAY. HE DEEMS PERFECT FOR LAUNCHING THE BOAT. IN RETURN, BECKER HAS BEEN GIVEN PART OWNERSHIP OF THE ISLAND ROVER, THE PLAN TO FLOAT THE BOAT OUT ON A HIGH TIDE AND COMPLETE ITS CONSTRUCTION AT A NEARBY BOATYARD. IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE AROUND THE WORLD, THINGS LIKE THIS ARE DONE ON A DAILY BASIS, BUT NEIGHBORS HAVE PROTESTED, FEARING THE POSSIBILITY OF A RUSTING OLD HULK STUCK IN THE MUDFLATS OF THEIR PRISTINE BAY. THE TOWN HAS REFUSED TO ALLOW THE LAUNCH. THEY’RE AFRAID OF A CANOE THAT GOT TOO BIG MIGHT TIP OVER AND STAY IN THEIR VIEW CORRIDOR. WELL, THIS IS A WEEBLE THAT WILL WOBBLE, BUT IT WON’T FALL DOWN. A REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION FROM FREEPORT’S COASTAL WATERS COMMISSION WENT UNANSWERED. BECKER MAINTAINS THAT HIS PROPOSAL IS QUITE ROUTINE AND NOT RISKY IN THE LEAST. IN THIS TOWN, THE CHEMISTRY HAS CHANGED TO WHERE THEY DON’T RECOGNIZE THAT THIS IS AN EVERYDAY OCCURRENCE. WE’RE DEALING WITH THE FEAR FACTOR BECAUSE THEY DON’T SEE IT EVERY DAY. WELL, SOME OF US DO. AS A MARINE CONTRACTOR, I DEAL WITH THIS, BUT THE SITUATION REMAINS IN A LEGAL STALEMATE. SOME OF HAROLD’S SUPPORTERS WORRY THAT THE LONGER THE ISLAND ROVER REMAINS STUCK IN THE WOODS, THE MORE LIKELY IT WILL END UP IN A SCRAP HEAP. THE GREAT SADNESS WOULD BE IT COULD BE CUT UP IN A FEW DAYS. SO 30 YEARS OF EFFORT AND WORKMANSHIP AND QUALITY TO BUILD SOMETHING THAT’S SO CLOSE TO BEING DONE, TO THEN DESTROY IT. WHAT A WASTE. WHAT A SAD WASTE OF SO MUCH GREAT CREATIVE EFFORT. TIME DOES MARCH ON AS WE KNOW IN YOUR HEART OF HEARTS. DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING TO GET THROUGH THIS TOWN DIFFICULTY AND YOU’RE GOING TO GET A CHANCE TO SEE THIS FLOAT WITH THOSE GUYS BEHIND ME? I AM VERY, VERY SURE THAT WE WILL GET THIS IN THE WATER. WILL I LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO SEE IT? TOTALLY OUTFITTED UNDER FULL SAIL? I HOPE I DO, BUT I DON’T KNOW. I’M 81. IT WOULD BE A SHAME IN THE SENSE THAT ALL HAROLD’S DREAM IS IN THAT IN THAT BOAT. THAT BOAT ITSELF IS AWE INSPIRING. YOU CAN’T WALK IN THOSE WOODS AND SEE THAT BOAT AND BE A MARITIME OR EVEN A MAINE COASTAL PERSON, AND NOT BE IMPRESSED BY ITS SIZE, STATURE. FORMER TOWN COUNCILMAN ED BRADLEY WORKED FOR YEARS TO FIND A SOLUTION TO HAROLD’S BOAT PROBLEM, BUT CONCEDES HE COULDN’T GET IT DONE. STILL, HE IS KEEPING THE FAITH. I BELIEVE IN ME, BUT I DON’T THINK MAINE WILL PUNISH HAROLD. I THINK MAINE WILL LET HAROLD LAUNCH HIS DRE
											






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Freeport man in legal stalemate with the town over self-built steel ship
It is 81-year-old Harold Arndt's dream to see his 113 foot steel schooner, the Island Rover, set sail 







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					Updated: 8:00 PM EDT Oct 17, 2024
				












						The Island Rover (Harold’s Boat Problem), a documentary by Jordan Meeder, offers an artful and comprehensive account of Harold Arndt’s project and its complicated relationship with the town of Freeport, Maine.Arndt started the project in the late 80s, and more than 30 years later, his backyard project has turned into an 80-ton, 100-foot steel schooner. It remains unfinished, marooned in the Freeport woods.Over the years, million-dollar waterfront homes and an increasingly suburbanized neighborhood grew to surround Arndt, blocking the Island Rover's passage to the sea. New neighbors have grumbled about the noise and mess, and Arndt's project came to a dead halt, fetched up on the shoals of litigation and zoning violations.Amidst the legal roadblocks, it is physically possible to get the Island Rover to sea. There is a plan proposed to float the boat out on a high tide and complete its construction at a nearby boatyard. While the situation is in a legal stalemate, 81-year-old Arndt is hopeful that he will see his dream come to fruition during his lifetime.
					

FREEPORT, Maine — The Island Rover (Harold’s Boat Problem), a documentary by Jordan Meeder, offers an artful and comprehensive account of Harold Arndt’s project and its complicated relationship with the town of Freeport, Maine.Arndt started the project in the late 80s, and more than 30 years later, his backyard project has turned into an 80-ton, 100-foot steel schooner. It remains unfinished, marooned in the Freeport woods.






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Over the years, million-dollar waterfront homes and an increasingly suburbanized neighborhood grew to surround Arndt, blocking the Island Rover's passage to the sea. New neighbors have grumbled about the noise and mess, and Arndt's project came to a dead halt, fetched up on the shoals of litigation and zoning violations.Amidst the legal roadblocks, it is physically possible to get the Island Rover to sea. There is a plan proposed to float the boat out on a high tide and complete its construction at a nearby boatyard. While the situation is in a legal stalemate, 81-year-old Arndt is hopeful that he will see his dream come to fruition during his lifetime.







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