Boatman spotted in report: it doesn't look good (7)
I believe the answer is:
eyesore
'it doesn't look good' is the definition.
(an eyesore is an ugly building)
'boatman spotted in report' is the wordplay.
'boatman' becomes 'eye' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'spotted' becomes 'saw' (I've seen this before).
'in report' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue (ie reportedly, \'we hear\').
'saw' is a homophone of 'sore'.
'eye'+'sore'='EYESORE'
(Other definitions for eyesore that I've seen before include "Ugly item" , "it looks bad" , "Blot on the landscape" , "ugly feature" , "Something that's ugly" .)