The winning bidder for Captain John’s Restaurant has bought himself a boatload of problems that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix before the ship can be restored or even scrapped, marine experts say.

There was considerable surprise in the tight-knit marine community that anyone would make a positive bid for the aged Jadran, given the hefty price tag just for the approvals and insurance needed to tow it from the foot of Yonge St.

On Thursday, Toronto entrepreneur James Sbrolla bought the boat for $33,501 at a court auction.

“It could cost them $100,000 just to move that ship one foot,” says Boston-area businessman John Scales, who decided, at the 11th hour, not to bid on the ship on behalf of five U.S. investors. They were fearful that the upfront costs would be too risky without any assurances beforehand of a new place to dock the former seafood restaurant.

Because the Jadran no longer has working engines, at least two tug boats will be needed to move it, one to steer the ship, the other to act as brakes.

That could cost anywhere from $25,000 for a short tow to at least $100,000 if it has to be taken through the Welland Canal to a scrap yard, according to experts interviewed by the Star. Insurance would add at least $25,000 more.

On top of that, the ship’s hull is stuffed full of asbestos removed from pipes and machinery, says Wayne Elliott, an experienced ship scrapper with more than 100 vessels under his belt.

Elliott, whose Marine Recycling Corp. of Port Colborne was the No. 2 bid for the Jadran, filed a three-inch binder with the Federal Court handling the complex case Thursday, outlining many of the problems. It set a price of $303,756 to tow and scrap the 300-foot ship by the Aug. 22 deadline set by the court.

Elliott estimates the costs of asbestos removal and disposal alone at $125,000.

“I mentioned to the (Toronto) port authority two years ago, when I first went on board, that people shouldn’t be wandering around the ship,” for fear of stirring up asbestos fibres, said Elliott in a telephone interview Friday.

Passenger cabins have been removed and bulkheads have been breached over the last few decades, leaving the Jadran compromised and so top heavy, “the stability of the vessel is questionable,” Elliott adds.

“That ship was once a very fine, elegant vessel, there’s no doubt about that. But here we are, 55 years later, and it’s full of mould and asbestos. Hopefully, whoever bought it knows what they are doing and understands the laws.”

“It will be quite the job to move it,” says Bill Provis, a senior marine surveyor with Mississauga-based Granite Claims Solutions, which provided the cost estimates for the court. “There is a lot of red tape involved.”

Moving a ship is much like flying a plane: You can’t just hook up a rope to a tug boat. A flight plan, of sorts, has to be filed and approved by various government bodies, including the Coast Guard, outlining the expected route and a specific destination. The whole thing has to be tightly sealed and heavily insured.

New owner Sbrolla says he’s working on all that.

“I’ve heard from dozens of people, some more credible than others,” looking to possibly partner and restore the floating restaurant to its former glory, he said a telephone interview.

“We’re cautiously optimistic. We’re looking at the logistics much more closely than we did before the bid. We’re talking to potential partners and looking, concurrently, at the potential for scrapping the ship if we can’t find a higher or better use.”

Sbrolla remains confident he can have the ship ready for towing from the prime Yonge St. slip in time, and that he will have somewhere to take it.

If not, he would most likely forfeit the $33,501 — it has to be paid in full by the end of next week — and the ship would go to the second-highest bidder.

But, under a court condition, a winning bid has to exceed the appraised value of the ship, set at negative $125,000 (the negative value is due to the fact that the $600,000 worth of metal in the ship doesn’t cover the cost of the scrapping process).

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Marine Recycling’s second-place bid is, in essence, negative $303,756, because it is asking the port authority for that much to get rid of the waterfront landmark.

Those costs would be offset, somewhat, if the winning bid falls apart and Sbrolla forfeits his $33,501.

But, either way, the sad saga of Captain John’s may be far from over.