A big boat bobbing for the past four months in a cove on Lake Billy Chinook may have been becoming an eyesore, but officials from a host of agencies say the vessel did not violate any rules or laws.

Now, the owner says the boat will be leaving the lake near Culver.

The tale of The Great Escape, a 44 -foot cabin cruiser, goes back more than two years, say people familiar with the boat.

It used to be anchored in waters of the Metolius River arm off the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, but the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs asked that it be moved.

Since May the boat has been anchored in a small cove just north of Cove Palisades Resort and Marina at Lake Billy Chinook, said Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins . There it has drawn the ire of the Oregon State Parks official who manages viewpoints above, along Mountain View Drive, and warranted a close look by marine deputies with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

“We’d really like to get it out of there,” Dave Slaght, manager for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Cove Palisades Management Unit, said in late July. “But (state) parks doesn’t manage the water so we are kind of in a conundrum there.”

Sitting in the same spot for months and staying exposed for years with little cleaning has left the boat covered in bird and otter droppings, Slaght said.

“It think it was a nice boat at one time,” he said. “I don’t think it is nice now.”

U.S. Coast Guard records show The Great Escape was built in 1988. Deputies took photos and video of the boat, but did not find any issues that warranted ordering it out of the water, Adkins said .

“There is nothing illegal about it,” he said. “There is no leaks, there is no environmental hazard.”

The big boat first appeared on Lake Billy Chinook about two years ago, said Mark Manion, harvest manager for the tribes. It did not seem to fit in with the fishing, house and ski boats on the lake.

“It looks like something that should be in the ocean or a lot bigger reservoir than Lake Billy Chinook,” Manion said.

Turns out, the ocean is where the boat is heading, the owner, Teryan Runyon of Bend, said late last week.

The sheriff’s office and other agencies curious about the boat have gotten in touch with Runyon. Adkins said she has told them she has not abandoned it.

Runyon said Friday she’s discussed the situation with the sheriff’s office, and she plans to move The Great Escape this week to the Oregon coast. She would have rented a slip for it at a marina on Lake Billy Chinook but could not find one big enough. After buying the boat 2½ years ago she had it moved from Portland to Bend, where it was restored before going onto Lake Billy Chinook. The boat came with the name and Runyon put it in the lake so it would be close to her, calling it a “nice little cabin on the water.”

Not having a moorage, Runyon said she moves the boat fairly regularly and it is fully functional.

“It has a stateroom, two baths — provides a great little space on the water and its view changes every day,” she said.

Runyon said she has not kept the boat in one spot.

“It’s been all over the entire lake,” she said. “It’s a huge lake.”

She did not understand why people would be concerned about The Great Escape being on Lake Billy Chinook.

“I wonder why it would be of any concern to anyone,” Runyon said. “It’s a public waterway out there.”

The Oregon State Marine Board has been in a lot of discussions about The Great Escape, including with Jefferson County , Portland General Electric and the tribes, said Randy Henry, boating safety program manager for the Marine Board in Salem. Because of the patchwork of state, federally and tribal-managed land around the reservoir, as well as waters managed by the power company and the tribes, he said the state does not have a rule or reason to move the boat. The power company and tribes jointly own Round Butte Dam, which holds back the waters of Lake Billy Chinook.

“There is nothing that says you can’t go out there and anchor for a really long time, as long as you are willing to go move your boat and as long as the boat is functional,” Henry said.

The situation would be different if Lake Billy Chinook was considered a navigable waterway by the state, such as the Willamette River. If the boat were anchored there it would have to be moved at least 5 miles every 30 days. But the lake is not on the state’s navigable waters list , so the rule does not apply.

By state definition The Great Escape is neither abandoned nor derelict, two labels that could require removal, Henry said. An abandoned boat is one that has been left without authorization on waters of the state or any other waters. Although the tribes’ rules made clear the boat was there without authorization, Henry said the rules for the agencies involved do not. “No one can claim that it is (where it is now) without authorization,” he said.

Derelict boats include vessels that have sunk or are in imminent danger of sinking, are impeding a waterway or posing risk of becoming an environmental hazard.

While agreeing with Slaght, the state park manager, that the boat is an eyesore, Henry said it is not breaking any rules. “It’s just somebody that has found a place to park the boat,” he said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7812, ddarling@bendbulletin.com;

Reporter Scott Hammers contributed to this report.