MILWAUKEE -- When a boat as big as the 164-foot SeaQuest Yacht docks in Milwaukee, there's no doubt word about it will travel fast, and speculation about who owns it will also ensue.
“I wouldn’t say it’s common at all," Doug Koltermann said. "A ship of this size is pretty significant."
The yacht is docked for maintenance as Koltermann, of Giddings Hawkins Maintenance Service Inc, and his crew pump out the septic unit.
“We do a lot of very unique jobs, and this is actually a fairly small contract," Koltermann said. "But it's a one-time only this summer probably, but we have a lot of unique jobs that we work on and this is just one of the many very unique jobs that we do."
Rumors have been swirling about who might own the boat - many people speculating it might be a member of President Trump's cabinet, but for those renting out the dock space, mums the word.
“We can not tell the name of this one, [because of] our partnership and client agreement," Paul Fladten said.
"But we have had big names in the past and we always work with them while they choose if we can or cannot [release their name] and this one’s different," he continued.
According to Fladten, senior public relations manager for Discovery World, when big boats like the SeaQuest dock at Discovery World it brings in extra revenue for the science museum. The extra money then goes directly toward programming at the museum, as well as scholarships.
Big names like Kid Rock and Jimmy John Liautaud, owner of Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches, have docked their boats in the area in the past.
“We’ve had some big ships in the past," Fladten said.
"If you heard the rumors Beyonce and Jay-Z, even though it wasn’t them a couple months back," he continued.
The overnight cost of docking at Discovery World is $4.50 per foot of the boat. Additional fees may apply if using the facility's power.
