The Chief Uncas boat tours are all washed up.

Louis Hager Jr. said Tuesday that wear and tear on the boat is making it increasingly difficult to continue the tours, which left from Lakefront Park and highlighted special places around Otsego Lake, such as Kingfisher Tower and Three Mile Point.

The boat was originally built in 1912 by the Electric Launch Company, Hager said, although some pin the year at 1910. At first, The Chief Uncas was a private family boat, and it wasn't until the 1980's, Hager said, that the tours began. The boat was built for Hager's great-great grandfather. It is fifty five feet long, nine and a half feet wide and made of Honduras mahogany.

"She'll probably be in dry dock for the summer," said Hager.

Paula Wikoff of the Lakefront Motel appears to have plans to fill the void and provide tours in a custom made boat. In February of this year she made a request to village trustees to "leave the tour boat out on the street every five to six years for maintenence repair."

"If for some reason we are not able to remove the boat due to the condition of the boat ramp at the end of Fair Street we would ask to place the boat behind our motel on Fish Road," reads a letter from Paula Wikoff to the planning board. The letter also states: "Our intention is to be ready for boat tours by mid-May of every year."

The Wikoffs plan to have a boat built for tours, but it will be strikingly different from the Uncas.

The tour boat would have the capacity to seat fifty people and a more modern, glassy design, according to a photograph accompanying Wikoff's letter. Wikoff was out of town and could not be reached for comment.

Lyman Townsend, Hager's stepbrother, ran the Chief Uncas tours for thirteen years.

"It's sad that there won't be a classic tour boat on the lake anymore," Townsend said, "but it was great."

The expense of maintence, insurance and docking the boat combined with slow winters put a dent in the business, Townsend said.