Envoronmental impact of boat maintenance.

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William_H

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I have just received news that my local yacht club must close down and remove the slipway that has been use for 60 odd years for boat maintenance.

It consists of heavy rails going down into deep water with a large trolley onto which boats are floated and hauled out with a winch.
The boat remains in the cradle on the trolley above the water where you stand on a wooden platform to scrape off the old a/f and repaint. Boats usually are out of the water for 3 days. It is suitable for sail and power up to about 28ft.

The evironmental authority have advised that if the system were modified for collection of all water and scrapings then the licence could be extended for 3 years. The cost would be 20K squid. and then it would still not be acceptable after 3 years.

New guidelines require maintenance areas to be at least 50 metres from high water line. Our club has everything but land space.

Guidelines indicate that beaching for scraping will be illegal as will in water cleaning which releases broken down a/f paint. Even commercial ships will require a permit for in water prop polishing.

I imagine this is or will be a lot more restrictive than UK requirements so here is an early warning. olewill
 
Absolutely nuts, I don,t mind a balanced approach to ecology, but the targeting of an outfit like that stinks, it,s the same here, it,s hard to find a wall to dry out on to LOOK at the prop, never mind do anything, as an ex HM, it,s sad but typical of the reasons I was glad to walk away and collect the beer tokens early! Bill.
 
Looks like the Copper Coat I put on my Beneteau will show a return sooner than expected . Not the cheapest solution but at least you dont have to scrape it off every year .. Do you realise how dangerous that stuff is it kills things .. Including the ape like creatures that scrape it off without masks and other protection .. I do have sympathy with your problem but we have been doing untold damage for years and if we dont tackle the problem it will only get worse .. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
What about ships?

[ QUOTE ]
New guidelines require maintenance areas to be at least 50 metres from high water line.

[/ QUOTE ]Does this also apply to ships?
 
A pox on bureaucrats. Is not the sewage being pumped out to sea from the city affecting the local flora and fauna?
 
It's a small straw to grasp at, but it might be worth doing some homework and checking at the highest level in the environment agency. Local reps, as with H&S and fire officers, have their individual biases and ignorance, so you need to check that you are really hearing the definitive law not just some jobsworth's view.

Get your MP to ask a question of the minister.
 
I can see where the refusal to permit discharges comes from, but you state the slipway must be removed - why? You have prior usage going back many years, and need it to continue the use of the site - namely launching boats. Since when has that become illegal?

Or is there another agenda - is your council trying to get boats banished from the area? Sounds like the jobsworths are at it again - hitting the easiest targest, and ignoring the "murderers" ?

Sadly, such moves merely raise the anti - I would resist with all means. Be wary of local officials - they are most often the enemy in such cases, to my personal knowledge; the welter of new legislation has given them power beyond their competence. Your local councillor will be the first stop, then MP , then press etc. Go to it. And keep us informed: this will not be the last case of eco terrorism we encounter.

PWG
 
Another thought. The rules presumably are concerned with scraping in association with water, and the risk of it running down the slip. There must be dry-scrapers available, with provision for sucking the debris as it is created into disposable dust bags.
I would consider going onto the attack:
Tell them you have done a risk assessment and duty of care analysis, and have decided to discontinue wet-scraping alltogether. Instead you will be providing machines on the lines I described, and requiring all users to use one. State that these will conform with BS whatever and comply with H&S rule X, etc etc. Possibly get advice from a consultant versed in these matter.
 
Yes, just another sign of the times, Labour times that is. Creating tens of thousands of H&S, local authority jobs all trying to justify their being. Wait till the economy takes a big down turn and or a change of Party then you will see these people vanish and things will return to some sort of normality.
 
I suppose...

[ QUOTE ]
Yes, just another sign of the times, Labour times that is. Creating tens of thousands of H&S, local authority jobs all trying to justify their being. Wait till the economy takes a big down turn and or a change of Party then you will see these people vanish and things will return to some sort of normality.

[/ QUOTE ]I suppose you haven't noticed that William_H lives in West Australia? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Thanks for the 'heads-up', Will. I wonder if the problem is especially severe round your coastline due to the damage being done to coral? We don't get much coral round the Solent and I doubt whether the environmental impact of yachting is measurable. In fact, by encouraging a nature and environment-loving group of people, the net contribution of the hobby is almost certainly environmentally positive.

Here in the Med the problems are far worse that UK waters as the tides are very small. But if marinas were forced to pressure wash and scrape 50m from the sea many boatyards would find it hard to comply. It would be possible, but probably very expensive.
 
Re: I suppose...

No I had not!! But still a good chance for a rant! Anyway after their election then they should be in for some of the same!
 
Re: I suppose...

P1sses me off as well, all this regulation, even though I am generally on favour of reducing my impact on the environment as much as practicable. Actually there are many former boatyards that should really be treated as contaminated land due to years of deposition of scrapings and spillage of toxic material. In fact I can think of one just now where there are plans to build houses.

The busybody attitude annoys me though. I was once standing on the slipway at Gourock when someone started sounding off about all the "polution" that was being caused by the boats on the moorings with "all their sea toilets."

"Listen mate" I said, pointing to a large lump of sh*t on the slip, "that did not come from any boat, as a sea toilet breaks it down into tiny bits. And what do you think is in all these big cast iron pipes that run across the beach?"
 
Re: I suppose...

When I was at Leeds Uni (Mid1970s) I shared a house with a guy whose Dad was a lawyer/barrister. He spent many years working on the drawing up and negotiation of the anti pollution treaties for all the rivers that pass through assorted countries before depositing themselves in the Med. It wasn't perfect, but it was very necessary to start somewhere to try and stop the Med from being completely polluted.

One of the stats that should make you think is that about 10% of the freshwater on the earth is irretrievably polluted.

I suppose the change of any established practice upsets us all, but I suppose out in Oz you need to talk to them about what you can/can't do and challenge them to produce the evidence to justify their demands, and work with them if you can, and negotiate if you can. Was there any prior consultation period for example?

At one sailing club in the dales a local 'naturalist' tried to get he sailing stopped beacuse he claimed the 'tooting' of the start/finish hooter disturbed the breeding waterfowl. We did demostrate that a few toots at weekends was as nothing to low flying RAF Tornados during the week.....and the birds didn't give a toss about either as it happens. They are still there breeding 14 years later....but there is no sailing until the end of March these days.

Tim
 
Re: Environmental impact of boat maintenance.

Interesting, at my club we have been told not to pressure wash or scrape antifouling on the landward side of the sea wall in case we pollute a fresh watercourse. All pressure washing etc must be done on the seaward side of the sea wall.
 
I have been on your wonderful river a number of times. Taking a river taxi to the City and seeing the dolphins particularly stands out.

I remember the river being more or less closed for a while due to being covered in algae .

Like many places, it is a bit of a one off. Fairly enclosed and I would guess not a huge turnover of water in tidal terms.

It would be interesting to know if the water samples actually contain biocides directly attributable to antifouling - and in what quantity. This info should be in the public domain I would of thought. Might be a starting point.
 
Re: I suppose...

Interesting post tho! cos just been told that the scrubbing posts in Brittlesea hbr, will not be available for use after 3 years! cos of environmental impact!...... suspect that we will be facing the same limitations as Oz shortly.
 
Re: I suppose...

Thanks for all the comments and discussion. The problem as it happens doesn't bother me so much although I do like to rub of the old A/f in the water but mostly I do this work at home.

There is no pressure for the club to remove the slip it is just that it is redundant it's only purpose was to pull boats from the water for maintenance. Unless this was limited to changing propellers or seacocks all other work involves cleaning of hull. 3 other clubs nearby will be able to provi8de the service. In each case they have enough land to be able to carry the boat to a properly prepared area with bund to isolate it from the river and waste water treatment facilities to collect the a/f scrapings etc.

I understand this whole new legislation deal has been on the cards for some years and is a national incentive. Yes we just got a new labour goverment last weekend. I hope that will not be a disaster, hopefully not. We have had a labour state government for some years but I am not sure I can blame them.

Water pollution is perhaps more of a concern here than in UK. With very small tides Swan River is a large estuary with a lot of antifouled boats on the water. (perhaps 15000)

The river itself is fairly polution free in that we happily eat mussels and prawns caught by amateurs and there is still some fish to be caught. So I won't be leading the "good ' fight to continue putting A/F paint rubbings into the water. So it was all a warning for my UK friends to anticipate this in the future. olewill
 
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