Source: Milwaukee Journal SentinelAug.新蒲崗迷你倉 02--PORT WASHINGTON -- It's a head turner.A 130-foot yacht that pulled into the Port Washington Marina on July 20 -- the day thousands of people pack the town for Fish Day -- has locals wondering if a drug kingpinjust floated into town."It has been nonstop questions for us since the boat got here," 66-year-old Tom Weickardt said, sitting the aft deck of his luxury craft, Tranquility. "People are not used to seeing a boat this size here."Standing on the yacht smoking his Montecristo cigars, Weickardt might give some people the impression he is a mob boss, but most people see him walking around barefoot in his green Paradise Island Bahamas T-shirt and cargo shorts and don't realize he is the owner."Do they ever come out," one woman hollered down to some of the workers on the boat. "Oh, you are not supposed to talk to me are you -- but just tell me, are they young or old," she asked earlier this week.Weickardt grew up in Milwaukee and graduated from Custer High School, leaving Wisconsin when he was in his early 20s. He moved back to Wisconsin with his wife and youngest son 16 years ago and now lives in Whitefish Bay.Weickardt owned his first business in Oklahoma City when he was 28 years old and he raced cars all around the world for 10 years. He calls himself an entrepreneur and has dabbled in many business opportunities, which he said is what the Tranquility was for him.He bought it in 2006 as a charter boat and had a crew of seven on the boat offering excursions in the Caribbean in the winter and the Northeast in the summer. When the economic crisis hit in 2008, not many people could afford to pay more than $100,000 for a weeklong on pleasure cruise."The charter business was just terrible," he said. "I put the boat up for sale in 2009, but the boat market had just tanked, too. It has been on the market ever since."For the past five years, the boat was in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., with a minimal crew, but after years of wear and tear and minimal upkeep from the crew, Weickardt decided it was time to bring the boat to Wiscomini storagesin and get the Tranquility up to yachting standards again. Everything needs to be scrubbed and there are some cracks here and there that need touched up, he said.Asking price: $4.9 millionWeickardt is hoping he can sell the boat, and even has a prospective buyer arriving in Port Washington to see the Tranquility in person. He has the boat listed for $4.9 million. He originally bought her for $5 million and immediately put another $3 million into the boat to upgrade and remodel the interior.If the boat doesn't sell, Weickardt said he is exploring the idea of chartering the boat on the Great Lakes. Or, as the owner of the River Club in Mequon, he is considering using the yacht as part of package deals with the club. It could be used for cocktail parties and photo shoots for bridal parties, he said.Alex Becker, 18, works at the Port Washington Marina and saw the Tranquility pull in on July 20. When he went down and started asking Weickardt about the yacht, the young man found himself with a second job to make extra money for college.The days he is not working at the marina, Becker is down on the yacht scrubbing."When I first saw the boat come in, I was like every kid, thinking, 'Wow, that thing is huge,'" Becker said. "Now so many people walk past and ask if I'm the owner's son and ask me about the boat -- even my friends walk past and say, 'I didn't know your family had that much money.'"The Tranquility will be moored at the marina through the winter -- or until the boat sells, Weickardt said.Now that he has owned the boat for more than six years, Weickardt said he is "looking forward to moving on."However, he can't see himself retiring, yet. He said he will be involved in the River Club for many years, and he'll be involved with the boat until he can find someone to buy it."It takes a lot to maintain a boat like this," he said. "We are going to be down here scrubbing for at least the next two months."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Visit the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at .jsonline.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesself storage
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