Entire boat dumped on forest service road near Kelowna

Photo: Brian Rutledge

A boat has been sitting in the middle of McCulloch forest service road for about a month.

It’s definitely one of the more unusual things he’s seen illegally dumped in the area.

A Kelowna man shared pictures with Castanet of a boat that was left in the middle of the McCulloch forest service road near Myra Canyon.

Brian Rutledge is disappointed someone would just ditch the older watercraft in the middle of McCulloch Road and then take off. He drives through the area frequently and has seen several dumps, but nothing like this.

He contacted the Okanagan Forest Task Force to give them the location of the boat. The group conducts regular clean up operations of illegal dumps in forested areas around Kelowna.

Rutledge speculates the owner couldn’t find anyone who would take the vessel as junk.

“It came down to a midnight haul and let’s do it this way.”

He even went through the debris to find some kind of identifying information about who the boat belonged to because he has no problem shaming them. Rutledge posted his pictures on Facebook in hopes a neighbour might be able to identify where the watercraft had been parked prior to it being dumped.

“I bet with a boat like that with that kind of imaging it has got to be on a traffic cam somewhere through Kelowna. Something would have caught the vehicle pulling that boat. It’s kind of a unique, old boat,” he noted.

Rutledge suggested the Ministry of Forest consider putting up signs warning users of the road that it has trail cameras set up and anyone dumping illegally will be caught. He said it might act as a deterrent.

Kane Blake with Okanagan Forest Task Force says the boat has been on the road for about a month and they are working to get it removed. However, they have to work through the Canadian Coast Guard to try to track who owned the boat. That could end up being a lengthy process.

If anyone knows who the vessel might belong to, Blake is asking them to contact OFTF.

Photo: Brian Rutledge