Disposing of old yacht by sinking it?

Daydream believer said:
Where would one find the details of this boat?
I was thinking of getting a bilge keeler with an inboard, Cutting the cabin off & bulkheads down to deck level. Lining the side decks with heavy timbers & using it as a launch to service moorings. It should be stable. Easy to recover at our club as it can sit on the hard for recovery with gantry.
Could be beached to pick up sinkers off the hard & motored out to the drop point.
Would need to sort a floor through it but could use the existing cabin & cockpit floor.
The bunks would become seats or work platforms.
I would not want any rigging , mast etc
A couple of winches & deck cleats required
The awkward bit would be the working inboard & delivery to the east coats. really needs a trailer for moving
Something about 22 ft seems ok
Just need a jig saw & some timber & away we go
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Are you a relation of Dylan?

Would a Centaur do the job?
 
Interesting idea DD, however mine is a fin keel with a ton of lead, and I do plan to get some cash from her before the one-way ticket to Davey Jones' locker, and a lot of that would be in the pukka eng +box. My purring MD2010B would be too good for your project anyway, an old Yanmar thumper might suit..
 
Tranona said:
That is the point. Few people want old boats, judging by the number on the market and those mouldering at the back of boatyards and in gardens. It is inevitable that some will be broken up and unlike wooden boats, GRP is very difficult to dispose of. The only solution for individual boats seems to be cutting the remains up and paying to take it to landfill.
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I didn't have to pay to dump my micro cup boat in bits. As long as you chop them small enough so that it will fit in an acceptable trailer (below the commercial size they specify) you should be able to dump it at the Civic Amenity Site.


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Think it depends on your location. Just got the "Blue Book" from the council listing all they will accept at the recycling centre. Old boats not on it - despite Poole Harbour having more than its fair share. There is however an associated trade section which charges by the 100kg. Remains of a Hurley 24 is a lot of GRP!
 
A boat is actually one of the items that are permitted to be 'dumped' at sea according to: -

Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter
Adoption: 13 November 1972; Entry into force: 30 August 1975; 1996 Protocol: Adoption: 7 November 1996; Entry into force: 24 March 2006
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However, you will require a permit to dump the vessel and part of the permit requires you to demonstrate that the waste will not damage the environment. I believe that GRP would be removed from vessels that are dumped. The licence will probably cost a small fortune (you would have to survey the seabed to make sure that there are no I things of interest e.g. rare cold water coral).

The fine for illegal dumping could be stiff if you were caught in order to deter other yachties. I think your idea of stripping and selling everything and Lakesailors council refuse service is a very achievable solution.
 
Thanks for that BoB. You have thoroughly deterred me, I don't want to go to war with the authorities and after all it's not a matter of principle.
I was tied up in Grimsby when a firm was gutting and mutilating perfectly good Danish purse-seiners back in the 80's, they were, so they lamented, obliged to sink them at sea, something to do with fishing quotas and the EEC. They offered me a couple but I said no thanks I'm too busy with my trawler, what a fool I was.
 
BoB is right, do it 'officially', like giving it to a Dive club, you would need a licence from the MMO to make a 'deposit' on the seabed. You would have to show a good reason for doing so and just disposing of an old boat would not be seen as a good idea. You would also need an environmental assessment of both the boat and the site you were going to sink it, to show it would not harm the environment. It could cost several hundred to get the necessary permits. Doing it without a licence would attract hefty fines if the hulk was traced back to you.

Best bet is either give it away ( and as you rightly say there are too many old boats around already for any likely organisation to be too excited about it), or put it up with a 99p start on Ebay. But stipulate payment within a quite short time. 3 days from end of auction is not unreasonable and lodge a non payment complaint day 4 if the buyer doesnt materialise. Make it quite clear people are bidding to buy. There seem to be a lot of 'tyre kickers' in the ebay used boat market.
 
I am no tree hugger but I think it would be irresponsible to dump a lump of plastic on the seabed. If for no other reason it would probably over a time break up and end up on the shore line anyway.
 
I think this is a very good idea. Let start with some basics, GRP is pretty much inert. (must be to be used for boat building) it is also pretty difficult to break down, (same reason). There are a lot of old boats that are past their sell by date. Disposing of them to landfill is a waste. They are difficult to burn, even in an incinerator.

Separetelly, there is a problem with loss of fish stocks.
Fish breed on reefs. Ask any commercial fishing charter boat where to go and they will say that some of the best fishing is on an old wreck.

Solution, gather up old AWB's, strip them of anything oily. Does not have to be done to preserve the hull. Designate an artificial reef area. Start sinking all the old boats in a carefully planned pattern to create a reef which will attract marine life and stock the shores.

The problem is one of getting the authorities to think rather than recite regulations.
 
I heard that Jacques Cousteau used to sink (cleaned up) old cars at sea to stop trawlers from coming too close in shore, as well as to act as a breeding ground for fish.
 
Tomahawk said:
I think this is a very good idea. Let start with some basics, GRP is pretty much inert. (must be to be used for boat building) it is also pretty difficult to break down, (same reason). There are a lot of old boats that are past their sell by date. Disposing of them to landfill is a waste. They are difficult to burn, even in an incinerator.

Separetelly, there is a problem with loss of fish stocks.
Fish breed on reefs. Ask any commercial fishing charter boat where to go and they will say that some of the best fishing is on an old wreck.

Solution, gather up old AWB's, strip them of anything oily. Does not have to be done to preserve the hull. Designate an artificial reef area. Start sinking all the old boats in a carefully planned pattern to create a reef which will attract marine life and stock the shores.

The problem is one of getting the authorities to think rather than recite regulations.
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It's a brilliant idea, it would get rid of all those mildewed 1970's hulls clogging up the yards, and it would put up the sale value of my Hurley so I could sell it, result all round ;)
 
Tomahawk said:
I think this is a very good idea. Let start with some basics, GRP is pretty much inert. (must be to be used for boat building) it is also pretty difficult to break down, (same reason). There are a lot of old boats that are past their sell by date. Disposing of them to landfill is a waste. They are difficult to burn, even in an incinerator.

Separetelly, there is a problem with loss of fish stocks.
Fish breed on reefs. Ask any commercial fishing charter boat where to go and they will say that some of the best fishing is on an old wreck.

Solution, gather up old AWB's, strip them of anything oily. Does not have to be done to preserve the hull. Designate an artificial reef area. Start sinking all the old boats in a carefully planned pattern to create a reef which will attract marine life and stock the shores.

The problem is one of getting the authorities to think rather than recite regulations.
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I think the odd trawler fisherman may object & an isolated sunken yacht ( yes -you have suggested a reef --which would have to be charted along with all notices to mariners etc) might be dangerous to some of the smaller private boats trawling a net
 
Daydream believer said:
Where would one find the details of this boat?
I was thinking of getting a bilge keeler with an inboard, Cutting the cabin off & bulkheads down to deck level.
Click to expand...

Do that and I suspect you'd lose quite a lot of the structural strength of the hull. Undecked hulls in build are quite 'floppy' until the deck is fixed in place. Open boats are designed differently, much more rigidity in strakes and ribs.
 
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