Scrapping old fiberglass boats

Lakesailor who posts here regularly has a series of photos showing how you can cut up and dispose of a 17 footer - and why you would only want to do it once!

There are commercial process for reconstituting GRP to make things like decking for pontoons, but think it mainly uses industrial waste. Problem with old boats is that they are only about 50% GRP and the other materials, some of which are bonded in have to be removed first. Also transport costs to a reprocessing plant can be high.

Fortunately, so far most boats, particularly larger ones are still usable, but in future the number that fall out of use will increase.
 
Yes Lakesailor cut one up and took it to his local tip

Cuttingupboat_8.jpg


boatintrailer.jpg
 
sam_uk said:
Is it legal to scuttle a boat in sufficient depth in UK waters?

Or would it be legal if you towed it 12miles out first?
Click to expand...

MARPOL regs on what waste you can chuck overboard from ships say no plastic anywhere. I've done the fishing through messroom bins for plastic ketchup sachets before dumping the food waste.

I assume a plastic boat counts the same.

Pete
 
Boomshanka said:
Click to expand...
I was prepared to say that's great, but it was rubbish (see what I did there).

No attempt to contain it whilst being ground up. There will be a hell of a lot of glass fibre floating around there. Believe me, I know.
My boat was 19ft, but was a micro-cup racer so was very lightweight. A heavily built boat like Dylan's slug will be a lot more difficult.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all your input gents.My boat is a 22 foot Kestrel & is by no means a lightweight.
So far I have got "advice" from my friends.Moor under a cliff & cause an explosion.Start a fire at sea & call for help from the RNLI & have it stolen.(one of my more dubious aquaintences offered this service but I would'nt trust him to carry it off sucessfully).So I might have a stab at Ebay or convert it into a motor boat.(This could be done relatively easily as the main fault is in the keels which could be removed).Anybody know the price of cast iron? It could be a valuable resorse but then I would be stuck with a motor boat :eek:
Thanks once again.Regards Nicholas.
 
Still reckon "99p no reserve, buyer collects" on eBay is a good option. Some dreamer will take it away believing he's got a bargain.

Pete
 
OK.Now I have got to make my mind up wether to gut it completely or sell it with what is a pretty good outboard,nearly new cooker & loo & other stuff which could be useful to a future yacht that I hope to buy as a replacement.
Thanks for your advice.Regards Nicholas.
PS:Any other Kestrel owners out there;it has got very good pushpit/pullpit & other deck fittings.Grab yourself a bargain ;)
 
Why not do what most other people seem to do - just leave it in the corner of a field somewhere ? Or what some have done in our club - find a local yacht club and park it in their storage yard when nobody's looking ?
 
They should be given to small groups of teenagers and given a bit of free storage and told to fix it up and sail it.
 
marko99 said:
Why not do what most other people seem to do - just leave it in the corner of a field somewhere ? Or what some have done in our club - find a local yacht club and park it in their storage yard when nobody's looking ?
Click to expand...

Sounds like where you live it might be a bit more lax.Round here space is at a premium & just leaving her in another clubs compound is not something I could do easily with a two or three ton boat? Ditto abandoning in fields.
There was what looked like a nice little yacht just abandoned in a creek round here not so long ago but that all seems highly irresponsible to me.
Coincidentally there was another dinghy just abandoned in the creek where I live yesterday & that seems to be becoming a regular occurrence.
Big & increasing problem for the future with all this 'pollution' building up.:(
 
Fire99 said:
They should be given to small groups of teenagers and given a bit of free storage and told to fix it up and sail it.
Click to expand...

That's a noble idea but the faults with the keels really are out of the scope of amateurs now I feel :(
I replaced the keel bolts in one keel a few years ago & have already performed miracles to keep her in service.Now I have just had enough & it is time to move on.She could be converted into a motor boat quite easily but sailing really is what it is all about for me so I could never settle at that compromise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

S
Leaving my boat in Orkney
Replies
17
Views
579
dunedin
D

Share this page

Top