By RICHARD D. OXLEY
roxley@northktisapherald.com
and KIPP ROBERTSON
krobertson@northkitsapherald.com

POULSBO — The boathouse that drifted in Liberty Bay Oct. 20 may have been the talk of local marinas that day, but the incident is the latest in a saga involving the Port of Poulsbo and its attempt to evict a tenant.

John Zetty’s boat and boathouse were evicted from the port marina in 2012 for repeated late moorage payments. On Oct. 16, after nearly two years of legal battles over the matter, he moved his boat out of the marina. On Oct. 20, he moved the boathouse but, eventually, the boathouse was moving on its own.

“We had to get out,” Zetty said. “The port was forcing us.”

Zetty argues the port forced him to move the boathouse that day, when the winds were gusting at around 13 miles per hour in Liberty Bay. The port argues differently.

“There’s some misconception about why he moved out on [Oct. 20], because it wasn’t a nice day to be moving the boathouse out of here,” Port Manager Brad Miller said three days later. “There’s some perception that the port gave him that deadline and forced him to move it on that day.”

“We don’t have the power to force someone out of the marina during a storm,” Miller said.

Miller said the port had nothing to do with the deadline. The port went to Kitsap County Superior Court on Oct. 17, asking for legal permission to immediately seize Zetty’s boat and boathouse. The port intended to destroy the boathouse and sell or destroy the boat. The court, Miller said, gave Zetty one last opportunity to move his property — until Oct. 20 at 5 p.m.

“I went before the judge  … I asked the judge is there any way that we could negotiate up to the last second, because we got bad weather,” Zetty said.

The judge gave Zetty the weekend.

Miller said the port made sure on Oct. 17 that the boathouse was disconnected from the dock’s electrical system so Zetty could move it over the weekend.

“Saturday was a beautiful calm day,” Miller said. “It was a beautiful day to move it out, but he didn’t.”

The weather on Oct. 18 was 67 degrees and no rain, with winds from 1-7 mph. On Oct. 19, winds were worse, ranging up to 15 mph.

Zetty said he chose not to move the boathouse those days because he couldn’t get enough friends to help.

Zetty and a handful of helpers moved the boat out on the morning of Oct. 20. He intended to tow the boathouse to a friend’s dock in Gamble Bay with his 43-foot powerboat.

The boathouse towed fine when protected from the wind.

“We pull out the thing,” Zetty said. “It’s working and I’m feeling confident. Once we get out past the boathouses, the wind takes it and pushed it into another boat and rips a hole in the side of the boathouse.”

The collision with a boat ripped a cleat off of the marina’s dock and damaged a beam that the tow lines were secured to, breaking the connection.

“When he was moving it out of the marina, the boathouse made contact with a couple of tenant boats and a boathouse,” Miller said.

Port employee Richard Stice followed the boathouse on its journey out, attempting to protect other boats. Stice intervened from a dinghy whenever the boathouse came too close to other watercraft.

“I think I did a pretty good job,” Stice said Oct. 20.

Once out in the open bay, with only one tow line still attached, Zetty attempted to connect more. But shortly before 11 a.m., the connection was lost and the boathouse went rogue, blowing with the wind and threatening other boats anchored in the bay.

“As soon as we let the tension off the line, it dropped in the water and the boathouse was free with the wind blowing,” Zetty said.

To make matters worse, a tow chain dropped off of Zetty’s stern and fouled one of two propellers.

Zetty called 911 and asked Poulsbo police to assist with its boat. The boathouse was secured with police help. Zetty anchored it in Liberty Bay, where it remained as of Oct. 24. With the assistance of a diver, he was able to remove the chain from his propeller.

Zetty faced similar problems on Oct. 16 when he moved his wooden 37-foot Owens powerboat. The engine died while en route to a marina in Port Orchard. He didn’t make it out of Liberty Bay.

“Turns out the fuel is so old that it basically lacquered up,” he said.

Zetty said he was lucky and the wind blew him to a nearby marina, where the boat remains.

Meanwhile, the boathouse was given a temporary OK by the state Department of Natural Resources to anchor in the bay, according to Joe Smillie, the department’s public information officer.

“We did not press the issue because we did not want the boathouse to be in transit during severe storms that have swept through the area, which might have worsened the situation,” Smillie wrote to the North Kitsap Herald.

Zetty informed the department that the boathouse needed repairs before it could be moved. The department has since asked Zetty to remove the boat house “promptly,” according to Smillie.

The boathouse was floating in the bay as of Oct. 23.