How do you scrap a boat - help please

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dmmbruce

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Two cases have arisen recently about which I have been asked and I don't know the answer. Please will some knowledeable person tell me what should be done.

The two boats are a badly burn cathedral hull motor boat and a badly crumpled sailing cat half full of water. Both boats are write-offs, and have been paid out. Both boats float due to sealed buoyancy compartments.

You obviously can't tow them to sea, open stopcocks and let them sink. They won't. Also, I believe it to be illegal, and is morally indefensible. You can't burn them, modern fibreglass won't burn as far as I know and the toxic smoke would be horrible. So what can you do?

The insurers said it is the responsibility of the owners, and definitely not theirs! Harbour masters have said they don't know, but would love to know, its a recurring problem for them.

I'm told hundreds of boats are scrapped per year (true, ??) so what happens to them?

Some advice please!!! :confused:

Mike
 
If you write off a car, the wreck belongs to the insurance company, who can dispose of it for scrap or parts.

Why / how are boats any different ? Can insurers wipe their hands of the disposal problem like that ?


IIRC, I think that GRP is classified as special waste, and needs to be disposed of under the local authority control.

Just checked. It's all under the European Waste Catalogue. Sections 10/11, and 10/11/13. Waste from manufacture of glass and glass products
Waste glass-based fibrous products

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/EWC_31-03-09_CH.pdf


It's a whole new can of (non-glass-based fibrous) worms !
 
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The only solution I've heard of (not saying it's the only one in existence, or even a particularly good one) is to chainsaw them up and send to landfill. Fibreglass is hard stuff to destroy.

Pete
 
The LA has a list of sites which accept special/hazardous waste. You will have to use a removal contractor who has to run special trucks, and you will have to pay to use the disposal facility.

(It's not so much the glass fibres which are relatively inert, but the binding resins which cause issues)

If there is any carbon fibre involved, it is a major headache for the removal people. We had a big problem on the M5 years ago, when a truck from Yeovilton carrying scrap CF panels caught fire, when water got into a box of lithium batteries. Fire crews were very circumspect about touching the debris.

Bad news. I still reckon the insurance company is copping out.
 
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Put 'em on E-Bay as projects the country is full of dreamers .I kid you not some mug will buy !! Problem solved ----- Well your problem anyway .
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yes , boats are scrapped every year. best way is to hire a skip - telephone them up and tell them its plastic or grp and they will send a skip out for £150 or so.

Then out with a stihl saw or 9" grinder with a diamond blade in it. A couple of hours for a 20 ft boat will have it chopped up.

Dont make life difficult for yourself by telling the skip people that you dont know what the material is - they will then not want it if they think it could be something else.

This is a common issue in the GRP industry - getting rid of waste - but all waste operators will take it away.

good luck. rogerb
 
Then out with a stihl saw or 9" grinder with a diamond blade in it. A couple of hours for a 20 ft boat will have it chopped up.

And kiss goodbye to healthy lungs !!
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When I owned a GRP business all our waste was disposed of by skip, no problems as long as you didn't mix it with anything else, we cut it up to make best use of the space but other than that it was just chucked in the skip. As previously said, when talking to skip companies tell them exactly what you want to do, don't hide anything from them and they will advise you of the options.

It isn't cheap to dispose of anymore but it still is fairly easy.

Finally, its not just about looking after your lungs while cutting these up, you will need to consider the public and the environment. My advice is always - if you don't know the all the risks and how to negate them then you are the wrong person for the job.
 
If the insurance company have paid out as total loss, the insurance company own the boats, it's their responsibility to dispose of them. You had to usually, buy back the wreck of a boat, if you wanted it.
I would be having another chat with them.
 
Good, thanks everyone.

I have been out and about earlier so have not been here to reply.

I will talk to some skip people forthwith and see what I can arrange with minimum fuss.

The insurance company line is that they "sell the boat back to the owner" by deducting a small amount from their payment to him! Nice and simple from their point of view and they don't exactly shout about what they have done unless asked, afterwards.

In some ways this amuses me. Many years ago, at Jensen Motors, we used to crush and reuse scrap fibreglass as reinforcement for concrete and other similar uses. Local factories even bought some from us. We made nice cars too!

Again, thank-you

Mike
 
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