Chi Conservancy Boat Auction.

Some of them would make a wonderful Christmas present for someone you don’t like. Pick one which is GRP, so you can’t even have a new year bonfire with it, and big enough to be a pain to store. And a big red Christmassy ribbon and bow round the middle would really highlight some of the green slimy accents.
 
By the looks of things yachting and getting a boat afloat has never been cheaper.Maybe not theses examples but there are hundreds of yachts needing some attention and the owners now getting on wouldlike to pass on the baton .The only problem is finding a berth at an affordable price.
 
I know one of the cruisers featured, passing her every time I leave and return to my mooring; she's been apparently abandoned for at least a couple of years with dodgers hanging over the side etc but in fact a good boat type - not sure about that one, I see the Conservancy has apparently tidied her up, but probably a steal for someone able and willing to do her up.

As a friend runs the class association our concern when first seeing her was maybe something had happened to the owner so he contacted the Conservancy.

There's another cruiser on that list which looks at least half full and on the way down !
 
Keith 66 said:
I would chop the lot up.
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It's not that easy for them—the Conservancy has a big problem with these abandoned boats (effectively litter in an area of outstanding natural beauty); they get left with no fees paid and often no way of contacting the owner, and if they proceed with disposal the cost is substantial. I suppose if they manage to shift them (even for next to nothing) they can avoid making a serious loss and hopefully even get them moved/restored.

There was a boat up the top end of the Emsworth Channel which had a furling jib flogging for ages; I went alongside it when I first noticed it to try and tidy it up, but it was already in tatters. The remaining torn strips of jib were still fluttering freely some six months later, this spring. These things are a sad sight to the sailor with a scrap of mechanical sympathy!
 
Keith 66 said:
I would chop the lot up.
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...and who pays? EVen for a 20 footer its a couple of days work for a man with a chainsaw / grinder. The there's the cost fo skip hire, and disposing of the remains in landfill. It counts as commercial waste,, so runs into 3 figures per skip. Been involved - its an expensive and time consuming job. Salvaging the fittings is not usually viable fro a Harbour Board, by the time they have removed them. stored them and then marketed them, there's little return unless they have an established channel for selling on. EBay's all very well, but that still involves time and effort for somebody, together with the hassle of non payers. returns etc. I guess thats why there are so many older boats lying around just mouldering: there's no economic way of dealing with them. The cost of refurbishing and selling on is nowadays frequently more than the resale value, particularly if re-engining is involved as it usually is.

Trouble is its a problem thats not going to go away.
 
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Wansworth said:
By the looks of things yachting and getting a boat afloat has never been cheaper.Maybe not theses examples but there are hundreds of yachts needing some attention and the owners now getting on wouldlike to pass on the baton .The only problem is finding a berth at an affordable price.
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For which we have to thank the conservos who have turned every foot of coastline into their playground to the exclusion of everyone else.
 
oldharry said:
...and who pays? EVen for a 20 footer its a couple of days work for a man with a chainsaw / grinder. The there's the cost fo skip hire, and disposing of the remains in landfill. It counts as commercial waste,, so runs into 3 figures per skip. Been involved - its an expensive and time consuming job. Salvaging the fittings is not usually viable fro a Harbour Board, by the time they have removed them. stored them and then marketed them, there's little return unless they have an established channel for selling on. EBay's all very well, but that still involves time and effort for somebody, together with the hassle of non payers. returns etc. I guess thats why there are so many older boats lying around just mouldering: there's no economic way of dealing with them. The cost of refurbishing and selling on is nowadays frequently more than the resale value, particularly if re-engining is involved as it usually is.

Trouble is its a problem thats not going to go away.
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The solution is easy... as always with such things. Designate areas of artificial reef as nursery grounds for fish to breed.. and dump all the old dying boats there to create the said reefs. The sea will colonise them in a hurry and create valuable habitats where marine life will develop. Fishermen will reap the benefits of larger fish populations. Divers will habe somehere to explore. Conservationists can count the emerging biomass. Boat yards get rid of dead boats.

What’s not to like?
 
Tomahawk said:
f

For which we have to thank the conservos who have turned every foot of coastline into their playground to the exclusion of everyone else.
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It is still possible to find enjoyable, sheltered moorings and facilities at reasonable prices if one looks or is tipped off; but I must say having tried a lift keeler which can take half tide mud moorings, and a 30'fin keeler which required deep water moorings ( marinas were out of the question even when I had a good regular job) I found deep water moorings little short of a nightmare, from Chichester to Portsmouth.

True, deep water moorings at attractive places like Itchenor were much scarcer in those days with huge waiting lists - so I ended up scouting about trying to find anywhere not so exposed as to require a lifeboat as a tender, also with safe places to keep tender and park the car.

I soon returned to my lift keeler and my lovely sheltered mooring 5 minutes row from a very good club which charges sensible fees, along with two nice old pubs, nature reserve etc.

Going back to the problem of boat disposal, the club has had to introduce punitive fees for anyone keeping a cruiser ashore for more than one season - to prevent being used as storage - and abandoned boats are strictly dealt with, usually if this looks likely the owner is grabbed before they disappear - but there is an RYA code for disposal of boats -dinghies are quite easy - cruisers are as Old Harry says a lot more tricky, we have to be on the ball and prevent it happening.
 
It seems to me that there is a tendency to choose a boat without knowing how or where to keep it when not actually sailing...which is most of the time.

I spend more on mooring fees every year than the value of my boat...but then I can step onto it at a few moments notice.
 
wombat88 said:
I spend more on mooring fees every year than the value of my boat...but then I can step onto it at a few moments notice.
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That's the compromise I've made. Cheap boat, expensive marina mooring. I use it little enough already, if it was on a halftide mooring the times I'm available would almost never match the times it was floating & I'd never use it.
 
Tomahawk said:
f

For which we have to thank the conservos who have turned every foot of coastline into their playground to the exclusion of everyone else.
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Having spent five years on a swing mooring and the last nine months in a berth there are several options.

Sadly, very sadly some people just walk away or die and nobody takes responsibility for abandoned vessels. :(
 
Sandy said:
Having spent five years on a swing mooring and the last nine months in a berth there are several options.

Sadly, very sadly some people just walk away or die and nobody takes responsibility for abandoned vessels. :(
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Sandy,

I have some very bitter memories about that situation.

I run the Anderson 22 owners association, and sadly an owner I'd met at another sailing club briefly, died relativeley young.

That club bosun found me and asked for tips selling the boat, which was ashore and to his mind just taking up space - the ladys' relatives didn't want anything to do with the boat, which was an OK if not prime example - the club just wanted her out of the way for a few quid to launch.

I put the boat on my website ( currently under refit ) for them as a favour.

Meanwhile an enthusiast who was quite blunt about being terminally ill though in his 40's, also nuts about having an Anderson - nothing else - contacted me, but he wouldn't spend much as he only had a few years at best and didn't want to lumber his young widow with a big debt.

This boat being disposed of seemed heaven sent for him, so I was on to him like a rocket, after first going and checking the boat myself.

He travelled a long way from furthest East Anglia, looked over the boat, told the bosun " I'll have her " - the price was now £500 so he went off to get the cash.

In the meantime someone else turned up cash in hand - I had told the bosun of the first guys' condition but instead of being honourable, he sold it out from under the enthusiasts' feet.

The potentially ill guy had travelled a long way and was very upset.

I was incandescent and I think the bosun got the message what I thought of him.

There are ways of moving boats.
 
Wansworth said:
By the looks of things yachting and getting a boat afloat has never been cheaper. ........The only problem is finding a berth at an affordable price.
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Just keep further away from the Solent and things are better. My River Axe mooring in Somerset is £70pa and my Cargreen mooring in Cornwall is about £250. If you want pontoons and electric pickup then of course you pay thousands
 
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I used tio havea free drying mooring in N wales. In those days you could just turn up pick a good spot and get on with it. There was an expectation that you supported the local sailing Club who maintained the channel markers. Probably controlled by now.
 
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