Boneyards

[aph]

What happens to old fibreglass boats. I have never seen a breakers yard apart from a few derelicts lying about. Will we see a new industry spring up like the car crushers as many cheap boats (no names) built today will surely not last beyond ten years.

 

[clyst]

I asked the same question in my thread "Scare mongering or what" on page 4 never did get a satisfactory answer!! Maybe you will but I doubt it .

Cheers

Terry

 

[Cornishman]

I asked the same question here when I first joined about 18 months or so ago. Nobody seemed to have an answer then, and from more recent posts nobody seems to have an answer now.

Some early plastic hulls must be well over 30 years old by now, if they are still around. If not, what's happened to them?

 

[yoda]

Yes some like mine are well over 30 years old and still going strong. No paint, no osmosis, no worries. It's the youngsters that are more likely to be breaking up!

Yoda

 

[bedouin]

Yes - my hull is over 30 years old and still going strong - and I expect it to last another 30 years at least (probably more like 130 actually).

There is no reason why a well built fibreglass hull should wear out.

 

[Johnjo]

My Sabre is 30 this year, no osmosis,no cracks,no repaints, in fact I
cannot see a problem occuring for many years to come.
As to modern hulls being lucky to last ten years, If anyone wants to
take a chance and swop a Storm for a Sabre, mines available!!!!!!!!
all replies to
mike

 

[clyst]

Yes,yes ,yes but what about the one that are not so well built where do they go??? There must have been some scrapped Please will some one put us out of our misery ! By the way lets not go down the wood verses grp road I'v already had a pasteing on that.

Regards

Terry

 

[bedouin]

I don't think that there are a significant number of GRP boats wearing out. The first to go will probably be some of the mass produced boats of the mid-80s, some are looking very tired now, but not yet quite on their last legs.

In a similar vein I often wonder what happens to out-and-out racing boats when they cease to be competitive. There must be a lot of 5-10 yr old boats out their which have been superceded, but are useless for conversion to cruising boats.

 

[Johnjo]

We have all seen or heard of cars been stolen,burnt out etc. to claim
the insurance, does this also happen with boats? hitting submerged objects,
mysteriously catching fire etc.
should imagine if the cost of osmosis repair,new sails, re engine occur at
the same time, this could be a convenient way out of a very expensive
problem!!!! at little are no cost to the owner.
Not suggesting of course that any readers of this forum would stoop so low!!!!
Butwhere do they really go? or is the answer that very few have actually gone?
Cannot ever recall seeing a fibreglass yacht neglected long enough to actually
fall apart, In my part of the world they are snapped up and refitted.

mike

 

[halcyon]

Are we looking at this from the wrong view point.
We are assuming the grp boat will fall apart, but what if the birthing cost exceeds the boats value, owner cannot or will not pay fees. Or the marinas take the caravan site action ( static vans must be less than 5/10 years old ) and limit cost/age/type of boat.
You have a grp yacht you cannot moor, what do you do ?????

If our mooring went, and we had to move to a marina swinging mooring 50 yds away, that would increase my cost from £140 a year to £1200-1400 a year.

Makes you think.

Brian

 

[Johnjo]

I pay a similar amount as yourself, if it ever came that I had to
pay £12-1400 a year, then I would be looking at ways of disposing
of a 30 year old Sabre.
As I should imagine would a lot of owners of lower value boats,
then there really would be a problem of how to dispose of them.
cannot really see this happening for several years to come,I hope!!
but then again, I have been known to get things wrong!

all the best
mike

 

[clyst]

Come the revolution Mike and the first thing I'd forward is that all the marinas be dismantled and the "land"reverted to swinging moorings as they were prior to being"Hi-jacked" by the corporates !! Well I can dream cant I ?

Cheers ol' chap and a happy new year too !!

Terry

 

[Johnjo]

Yes but,
If they did away with all the marinas, then all the quiet anchorages
that we use would be full of swinging moorings,where I moor Terry there
is a waiting list as long as your arm for a mooring, and if they increased
the charges ten fold,I do not think they would have any trouble filling
them, the practice now seems to be, that as a mooring becomes available
it is being replaced with a harbour authority block and chain with a rent of somewhere in the region £4-500 plus, this I think is totally out of order,
couple of years ago I joined a owners association in order to help protect
the rights to which we are entitled and to protect things such as low cost
moorings for future generations,rant over.
mike

 

[halcyon]

It's the owners association I belong to that keeps our fees to £140 inc membership.

I was wondering what would happen if the marinas decided to improve there image and do away with old boats, as static van sites. After all a 38/40 bav will generate more cash flow than a 27 foot Halcyon/Saber. Our Association has a bad name as it is because we help each other for free, and buy our bits from the cheapist supplier, not the inflated marina chandler.

Brian

 

[Johnjo]

See that you are based in the south west, so could possibly be the same
association! though I pay ground rent only to the local authority,
was paying about £100 but when I moved a few miles up the road out of
their catchment area, they put it up by 50%, whem I had my fishing boat
they had to provide a site for a mooring free of charge, though this was
ammended in later years to a token payment. how times change!

regards
mike

 

[halcyon]

Would you be near Mylor ?


Brian

 

[Johnjo]

sent a P.M

 

[Tantalus]

I don't know about the UK but here in the US there are literally thousands of boats which are abandoned by their owners...simply left at the marina. Many are stripped of various parts, but not all. They can often be obtained from anywhere from 0-2000 dollars. Depends how bad the owner or marina wants rid of them. If they don't sell they end up being cut up and loaded into a skip to be sent to a landfill.
It's not unusual to see reasonably sound hulls available for next to nothing but requiring cleanup, painting, elbow grease, sails, motors and rigging. All of that can add up, of course.