The Toronto Port Authority is considering its options after the winning bidder for financially troubled Captain John’s Restaurant reneged on making final payments Thursday.

“We are working with the port authority on an extension,” said Toronto entrepreneur James Sbrolla on Friday, almost 24 hours after he was to have made final payments of about $30,000 for the 300-foot ship, the Jadran.

So far, he’s only put down a deposit of $3,000 and missed three deadlines — the 4 p.m. Thursday deadline set by the court, which was extended at his request until 6 p.m. and eventually to midnight by port authority officials.

“We have not delivered the money,” he confirmed Friday afternoon. “We are hoping we can still do the transaction.”

But, as has been the case with almost everything related to the years-long saga of the financially crippled ship, the deal turned out to be far more complicated than Sbrolla, an avid sailor, had anticipated.

And the August 22 deadline for having the ship removed from the foot of Yonge St. has turned out to be onerous: Even having the high-risk hydro line that powers the ship disconnected is likely to delay the move beyond Aug. 22. The process is tricky because it’s dependent on temperatures being less than 24C and requires transiting other area customers linked to the line to other power systems.

The port authority, however, really doesn’t have many options. “Captain” John Letnik, who owes close to $2 million in outstanding realty taxes, berthing fees and mortgages on the defunct floating restaurant, has tried for years to sell the ship.

It could be listed for sale, again, but it’s unlikely another buyer would be found.

And there was only one other credible bid earlier to this month, from a veteran ship recycler asking more than $303,000 to tow and scrap the ship.

A group of Boston-based investors have been closely watching the sale, anticipating that Sbrolla might have taken on more than he could handle, and haven’t counted themselves out of trying to restore and revive the ship as a possible restaurant or entertainment venue.

The condition — which waterfront officials have refused to really consider so far — is that the investors would need another waterfront slip, and a long-term lease, on Toronto’s waterfront to make the business viable.