Jost, Davidson, and a group of investors initially spent $280,100 on the boat in 2022. Now, a report from The New York Times claims the comedians are out hundreds of thousands more just from letting the boat rust in a Staten Island slip. First, there are the docking fees, which the president of the shipyard suggested are over $10,000 per month, adding that it’s “unusual” for a boat to languish so long without any repairs made. NYT estimates that at this point, storage fees for the ferry have likely exceeded $600,000 alone, and that’s not to mention the approximately $1,700 per hour Jost and Davidson had to pay a tugboat company to drag the ship to the dock in the first place.
Those much-needed repairs won’t come cheap, either. Before the ship’s not-so-proud owners can even conceive of enacting their $35 million plan to turn it into a floating entertainment complex, all the asbestos in its walls needs to be removed. “It has to be done in hazmat gear,” said Patrick Quincannon, the president of a New York-based ship broker. “You’re looking at salty numbers to do asbestos remediation.” Even the asbestos might not be the biggest of Jost and Davidson’s problems. Titanic 2, the (aptly named) LLC they set up with their co-investors is currently being sued by the law firm it hired to deal with its docking and towing contracts for nonpayment in the amount of $13,500. At this point, Jost and Davidson probably can’t even sell the ship for parts without ending up owing someone money to destroy it. As Quincannon put it, “They’re paying out a lot to have this thing just sitting there while they figure out what to do.”
One day, we may see a shiny, new, asbestos-free entertainment center floating proudly in the East River. Davidson, for his part, hasn’t given up on that dream. (He said as much on a recent episode of Hot Ones.) For now, though, The New York Times‘ breakdown of all this mess is pretty entertaining in itself.
