A 24-foot timber boat christened The Wrangler found itself on the other end of the wrangling on Monday after it sank in Wollongong Harbour.
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A crane was brought in to remove the ill-fated vessel from the bottom of the harbour after it took on water and sank early on Monday morning.
Submerged with only the cabin visible, the 1940s trawler was a forlorn sight as Fire and Rescue NSW crews secured the area with booms to capture a minor oil spill.
The retrieval operation followed a number of hours later, with curious diners at the nearby Bombora Seafood Restaurant watching on as the crane hauled the vessel from the water and lowered it onto the back of a truck.
The salvage bill is expected to cost close to $10,000.
Andrew Steinmann, who works for the boat’s owner, said the closure of Wollongong Harbour’s slipway 18 months ago had made it difficult for the owner to repair and maintain the boat.
‘‘There has been some issues with it and a few months ago we looked at getting it onto a slip to do some work on it but this one is out of action,’’ Mr Steinmann said.
‘‘The nearest one that could’ve taken us was Greenwell Point but with all the paperwork and everything involved it was a big deal to get it out of the water.’’
It was a concern echoed by several boat owners and fishermen on Monday, who called on the state government to better maintain the harbour and reopen the slipway.
‘‘The government is going to put $3 million into the walls but what about all the rest of this? The sea wall isn’t going to fall down next week, but these [other areas of the harbour] need maintenance,’’ boat owner and nearby resident Dennis Thomas said.
Mr Thomas is one of several interested parties collecting signatures to petition the government to upgrade facilities and provide better community consultation regarding the future of the site.
At present, owners of larger boats face costs running into the thousands if they need to travel to Sydney or Ulladulla for maintenance.
Fisherman Greg Farr said boats would continue to encounter difficulties if the slipway was not reopened in the near future.
‘‘Timber boats need a lot of maintenance, they shrink and expand, and they leak. Once it goes past a year you’re just waiting for problems,’’ he said.
‘‘If that boat was able to come out of the water to be maintained, it wouldn’t have sunk.
‘‘This is the jewel of Wollongong supposedly, as far as tourism goes, and it’s the worst looking place in Wollongong.’’