Old boats - what happens to them?

[stewart]

So what does happen to old boats? Manufacturers churn out thousands of new boats each year, GRP doesn't rot (other than osmosis) so where do they go. Marinas get full and expensive but surely there aren't enough being built to keep up with the number of new boats being built. Is there a scrapyard somewhere full of old vessels? Does the type of boat make a difference - do big ones go on longer than small ones? I just can't picture somewhere full of lots of old rotting Pincess and sunseeker (in 10 years time will there be lots of scrapped Predators etc?)

 

[peterg]

'tis true that they don't rot as much as wood or metal, but they do burn pretty well so instead of the rotting hulks scattered along the Thames and Hamble, we shall see them cut up and added to the Bonfire Night mountains ready to set a new height record !

 

[Guest]

Eventually, after people have dragged them off to unlikely parts of the country, the boat is worth less than a month or two of mooring, so people stop paying, and the marina people draggem out and sinkem. In Australia, where they are very keen on boats, this has happened a lot. Instead of the unlikely-sounding story of being made of bits of dead crab, The Barrier Reef is entirely constructed of abandoned old clapped-out Fairline Holidays, ancient Freeman twenty watsits and suchlike.

 

[BarryD]

A recent trip on the broads shows a lot of the inlets and private moorings with a sunken flybridge cruiser or two... perhaps the boats migrate from the sea to the rivers and are then allowed to disintegrate at their leisure.

Barry D.

 

[stewart]

OK, I can see that with an old 30' flybridge but what about all the others? I can't see a Princess V65 or 80' Predator sat on the broads or some small river in Oxfordshire!

 

[milltech]

The wooden ones get sold to me! n.m.

.

 

[Guest]

You'd be surprised. Apparently, there's a Leopard graveyard in Holland...

 

[Guest]

Re: Leopard graveyard

I'm going to Holland again next week and will let you know if it's still there and if so will make them a silly offer. You know, here's a set of cutlery, how about a straight swap.