Disposal of old GRP boats

[SolentSnowgoose]

I guess this is not something most of us want to think about too much, but its a problem that has recently cropped up in discussion within our club.

Does anyone have experience of trying to get rid of unwanted / abandoned glass fibre boats.

Clearly burning is out of the question and cutting them up is not a nice process given the dust etc that will be produced.

One website related to GRP roofing implies that GRP is considered safe and inert for landfill disposal.

Does anyone have experience of doing this in a safe and environmentally responsible way?

Are there contractors who will take this on and what does it cost?

Any advice appreciated

 

[clartius]

It might be worth getting in touch with the EA on this one. I appreciate you are probably not on an EA waterway but I was approached early last year to participate in a scheme where they were hoping to rid the Thames of abandoned boats by enroling surveyors and boat yards to assess and then store unwanted boats prior to disposal. They must have had a plan regarding what they were going to do with the boats after our part so at least they may have addressed the alternatives.

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

ISTR that the authorities in Chichester Harbour have to deal with this one now and again: may be worth asking them as well.

It was easy with my old Leander, a beach in Langstone Harbour, some matches and the metal down the scrapyard afterwards, the few ££ from that over the nearest bar!

 

[ianat182]

Or there's Lakesailor of these fora with a chainsaw!

 

[Keith 66]

This is going to be an increasing problem, look round any club or yard & you will see a lot of elderly GRP boats that are effectively next to worthless due to being either damaged or uneconomical to refurbish to a good standard.
Only option is to cut up & scrap them, just dont expect to get any money for the boat, you might even get charged to take it away.

 

[Tremlett 15]

Try ebay, selling them, get someone to pay YOU to take them away !!!!

 

[Lakesailor]

I have done the research for you.
See my earlier thread Here and there is a link in that posting to the very original thread.

 

[fisherman]

Decommissioned fishing boats are chewed up with one of those big digger/crocodile jaw shears, then landfill.

 

[Anthony]

is it really really only good for landfill, try ebay or freecycle and see if someone is wiling to take it away as a project. Or maybe even a garden ornament / pub garden playground etc.

Ants

 

[West Coast]

Solutions are coming!

I am involved in the FRP/GRP industry, we build FRP structures for offshore and other markets. All our offcuts and waste (cured laminates, not just reinforcements or resins) go for re-cycling, cut up and used as core materials in other products. Cannot say too much as there are commercial sensitivities but re-cycling is coming!

 

[trapezeartist]

Fill it with sand and use it as a barbecue. That's what a beach restaurant did near where we lived did: the grilled sardines were to die for!

 

[fisherman]

Old wood boats are in demand here: they cut them in half, stand each half upright in the garden and put in a seat. Some, a few, GRP boats may be attractive enough for this.

 

[contessaman]

Are there not places where they could be deliberatly sunk? I don't mean scuttled in a careless manner, but I remember seeing a program on TV a while ago where scrap cars were being dropped to the ocean floor to make artificial reefs for diving interest. Surely an old GRP boat would be equally as good and probably not leak brake fluid and god knows what else into the sea.

If its the pile of small dinghies one often sees abandoned at the yacht club, what about filling them with cement and using them as moorings?

 

[caiman]

These ideas have come from this forum.
Charge people a tenner to take their TEP's.Encase TEP's in buckets of concrete.Load concrete 'buckets' onto scrap boat.Tow boat to a place of repair.Have boat 'accidently' sink on the way.Buy a charter boat with the accumulated tenners.Take Divers,for a fee, to dive on the new reef.Buy the boat of your dreams with your new found wealth.
Attatched is a pic taken by a local Diver of a scallop trawler that sank locally about 6 years ago.I find it quite ironic that a man made object that was used to rape the sea is now giving life to a once barren bit of seabed.
Cheers
PS.Thanks'Tugboat'

 

[caiman]

Hopefully the pic will be on this one.
Cheers.

 

[fisherman]

I dispose of old crab pots over the side, having cut holes in the netting and any useful bits off. It makes a good environment for all sorts of creatures: I have picked two year lost pots accidentally, the original structure is completely shrouded in growth and full of life, good starter home for a lobster.