possession is 9/10th's of the law - it was left on your property - it's
yours. Or decide to sell it back to him for your estimate of storage
fees.

I'm assumin it's fiberglass. I assume you can fix it, but I have no
idea how you would. Know any know-it-all handy men? Ask them for
suggestions of fixing materials.

What's so funny dude - with my post - why don't you explain it to
us - ****ing dickhead! Can't stand assholes like you.

Well, you gotta admit that "possession is 9/10th's of the law"
(properly expressed there is no apostrophe in "9/10ths") is not
codified in any lawbook in the United States of America, and that
quoting a schoolyard homily like that to a lawyer or a judge is a good
way to make a minor legal issue into a major one.

Then there is the matter of your assumption. It is dead wrong. It is
not fiberglass. The way she described the material, it is almost
certainly ABS; this was clear to me before I read riverman's post, or
any other beyond the original.

Then there is your next assumption, and the "solution" that goes with
it: "I assume you can fix it, but I have no idea how you would." That
is just a monument to non-information. If you don't know, then why
would you waste everyone's time by typing so much nothing?

And finally, there is your suggestion that she ask a "know-it-all handy
m[a]n." Dude, she went to people who know all about canoes, and asked
us! Many of us have done exactly this kind of repair to our own boats.
Why on earth should she go to a handyman? To avail herself of his
expertise in sheet-rock hanging, plumbing, and carpentry?

Think about it. You chimed in and provided (A) very BAD legal advice,
and (B) utterly useless boat-repair advice. No wonder riverman thought
it was funny!


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--

================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================

You know what - sorry for even trying to help - but then agian, what's
with riverman being such a dick - to actually post an insult - that's
my problem - I only responded to that. But ccome on - the dude legally
owns it - who could even say otherwise - excuse my use of a cliche
phrase.

Whatever, sorry Chris for chiming in.

Kernix wrote:
You know what - sorry for even trying to help - but then agian, what's
with riverman being such a dick - to actually post an insult - that's
my problem - I only responded to that. But ccome on - the dude legally
owns it - who could even say otherwise - excuse my use of a cliche
phrase.

Whatever, sorry Chris for chiming in.

You sure have your opinion about people ready soon, don't you?
Considering riverman's behaviour throughout the years on this forum, I
have yet to see him act like a dick. You, on the other hand, have
managed to act like one almost from the beginning, which is only a
couple of days.

Accusing someone of being something they aren't just because he points
out that you made a fool of yourself only serves to make you look like
an even bigger fool.


--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

"Wilko" wrote in message
...
Kernix wrote:
You know what - sorry for even trying to help - but then agian, what's
with riverman being such a dick - to actually post an insult - that's
my problem - I only responded to that. But ccome on - the dude legally
owns it - who could even say otherwise - excuse my use of a cliche
phrase.

Whatever, sorry Chris for chiming in.

You sure have your opinion about people ready soon, don't you?
Considering riverman's behaviour throughout the years on this forum, I
have yet to see him act like a dick. You, on the other hand, have
managed to act like one almost from the beginning, which is only a
couple of days.

Accusing someone of being something they aren't just because he points
out that you made a fool of yourself only serves to make you look like
an even bigger fool.


The original poster (OP) should look at this site
http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/s...1_258.htm#s251
It talks about abandoned ('mislaid' in this case) property in New York
state. I find reading these legal documents quite tedious, so I might have
missed some details, but a quick perusal gives me the sense that they can
lay claim to the boat, but there are a couple of hoops to go through. They
must report to the police that this boat has been mislaid (left with the
intention to reclaim, but not reclaimed) and then the police are supposed to
take possession of it. Based on the value of the boat, they will have
possession of it for between one and three years, and after that time if the
original owner has not come forth to claim it (I'm not sure what the law
says about the police or the OP attempting to find the original owners),
then the police will award ownership to the OP.

There are certainly some mitigating factors: first of all, it appears that
boats can be a slightly tricky item, as NY has specific laws about
abandonded boats. We have run into that before here, in our discussions
about flotsam and jetsam and pulling other people's canoes off of rocks and
wanting to keep them. Secondly, the OP was not the owner of the property
when the boat was abandoned there, therefore he might not be the person who
gets to claim the boat. Thirdly, the maximum waiting time of 3 years has
already passed, so the police might waive the technicality of them being in
possession, and go ahead and award the boat to the OP anyway.

My advice to the OP, seeing as this is an Old Town boat (which implies a
pretty good boat), is to call the local sherriff or police station, describe
the situation and ask them if you can go ahead and keep it. They might know
of some law or statuate that says you are the owner of any items that were
on the property when you bought it, or they might just say 'hell, its been
over 5 years. Keep it." In that case, ask them to make a record of your
phone call in their logs, and thank them.

-------------
I once wanted to build a trailer for my river gear. I was walking along the
water catchment behind my house and saw what looked like an old axle and
bald tires sticking up out of some deep grass. I poked around closer, and
discovered that it was the upside down, rusted out hulk of a small trailer,
exactly the size I was looking for. It was not on private property, but on
the side of a public access road, and it had obviously been there for a long
time. However, it was outside a fence, behind someone's house, so I went to
the door and knocked, and a teenage girl answered. I asked if anyone was
home, and she said no, just her. I asked if she knew who owned the rusted
out axle behind their back fence, she said no, but she thinks it had been
there forever. I said I wanted to take it home and fix it and she said
'yeah, sure, go ahead. Its just a piece of junk.'

I dragged it home and did a major rebuild: stripped off all the wood,
sandblasted and painted the metal, replaced the springs, the bearings, the
tires, new wiring....the whole 9 yards. It was a labor of love and I used it
regularly. Then, about a year later, a very irate man appeared at my door
with a policeman. He was the brother of the guy who owned the house the
trailer was behind, and was accusing me of theft of his property. The
policeman took a report and told me not to use the trailer until this was
settled. My attorney looked over the report and discussed it with the county
courts, and the man dropped the charge. There were a few factors: the girl
who said 'go ahead, take it' was 18 years old and was resident in the house;
I had made a reasonable attempt at finding the owner; the property was
abandoned on limited-access public property; and I was entitled to ask the
original owner for recompensation for the improvements I had made to the
trailer, which was in excess of the value of a new trailer.

My point is that merely taking it because it was abandoned was not
sufficient. Yes, the frame had been there for about 10 years, and the
original owner did not live in the premises, but he still had an avenue for
a legal claim. If I had merely taken it without knocking on the door, and
had only done minor improvements, he could have reclaimed it even after many
years. The loophole I had fallen through was that, in registering the
trailer, I legally listed it as a 'homemade' trailer as the value of the
improvements was in excess of the value of original structure, however it
was also a previously owned trailer, and the claim to clear title could be
debated. Except that I had asked.

--riverman