The owner of the boat that became beached at Mount Maunganui wasn't laughing when he discovered someone had placed a for sale sign on his boat.

He discovered the large sign at the rear of the boat on Wednesday morning.

A mobile number was also left at the bottom of the sign but the phone was switched off.

Darryl Hodson, the 47 year old man who owns the boat, described the joke as ‘idiotic.'

He says members of the public had expressed a lot of good will toward him during the salvage operation but there were some people who made negative remarks.

Bay of Plenty regional harbour master, Carl Magazinovic, believes the jokester did not break any rules.

He says that because the launch had become a wreck, there was little to stop people from climbing on board it.

Carl believes it would only become a crime once items inside the boat were stolen.

The 53 foot launch, named Paradise, was finally hauled from the water in pieces on Thursday afternoon after hitting rocks near Rabbit Island on Tuesday night.