Shifting on old boats

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doug748

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A very nice boat was offered free for re-homing, quite recently, here:

Responsible Boat Disposal: Re-Homing and Recycling

Seems there is an outfit that manages this for you:

Frequently Asked Questions

Not seen this before and thought people might be interested and a sign of the falling market for boats I think. You can now buy a very respectable sailing boat for less than a year in some marinas.

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doug748 said:
You can now buy a very respectable sailing boat for less than a year in some marinas.
Click to expand...
That sums it up I think. Running costs have always been harder than purchase price and everyone getting a free or cheap boat eventually discovers this. Unfortunately with the divide in wealth, cheap boats will become unviable as people with serious wealth pay more for marina space for ever larger boats.
 
doug748 said:
A very nice boat was offered free for re-homing, quite recently, here:

Responsible Boat Disposal: Re-Homing and Recycling

Seems there is an outfit that manages this for you:

Frequently Asked Questions

Not seen this before and thought people might be interested and a sign of the falling market for boats I think. You can now buy a very respectable sailing boat for less than a year in some marinas.

.
Click to expand...

They seem to charge the donator £250 for their service? Do they do some vetting of customers or ensure the boat is removed?

Otherwise I'm not seeing the advantage over Ebay with a 0 reserve.
 
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Mark-1 said:
It's odd because we're already at that point where a large number of boats are a liability out of all proportion to their market value. Seems to be the way people handle it currently to to walk away leaving the problem with the marina
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RYA Scotland have a Connect call on this topic of abandoned boats with their clubs tomorrow. Not sure who can join (I plan to) but if relevant might be worth researching and joining.
 
Certainly a sign of the times.

The cost of my annual marina berth is more than my boat's value.

Last year I gave away a well found yacht that just needed some tidying. I was pleased that someone could take it.
 
Mark-1 said:
They seem to charge the donator £250 for their service? Do they do some vetting of customers or ensure the boat is removed?

Otherwise I'm not seeing the advantage over Ebay with a 0 reserve.
Click to expand...


I think you get a chance to pick a "buyer" from the candidates application forms so can generally weed out dealers or others looking to flip the boat for a quick profit.
With long term family ownership it can be reassuring to choose someone with the experience and real interest in maintaining and sailing the boat. I understand that is what happened in this case.

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doug748 said:
I think you get a chance to pick a "buyer" from the candidates application forms so can generally weed out dealers or others looking to flip the boat for a quick profit.
With long term family ownership it can be reassuring to choose someone with the experience and real interest in maintaining and sailing the boat. I understand that is what happened in this case.

.
Click to expand...

OK, that makes a lot of sense. I've always thought the risk of selling a boat for zero is the 'buyer' has zero commitment and you find the boat back on your mooring, and your liability again. A list of candidates mitigates that greatly.
 
There is this old boat in our harbour. I don't even know what make, not one I recognise and it's in poor condition. the owner has been ill, it's not been sailed for 2 years, but he keeps paying the harbour dues and crane in / out fees just for the boat to go nowhere getting more and more tatty.

He would have been far better to have sold it, or given it away, as soon as he realised his sailing days are over when someone might have taken it on as a cheap entry to sailing.

The poor chap died recently, now it is left to his relatives to deal with an old unwanted boat that is costing money but there is little chance of even giving it away.
 
As ridgy says in #12, marinas are an option, not compulsory. For many years I spent very little on my hobby. I kept the boat on a mooring in summer, which cost only a few pounds for the local ferryman to lay in spring and lift out to the foreshore in autumn. The mooring itself was acquired from a scrap yard. Laying up was cheapest at a canal basin, where a group of us included the driver of a mobile crane. He used to take it home at weekends and he used it as his mode of transport to get to the canal. Naturally it didn't cost us much to get the boats lifted out to the bank and relaunched in the spring. I don't think that cheap laying up is possible now but the high cost of summer berthing can still be avoided. Until you get older and less fit sadly.
 
Mark-1 said:
OK, that makes a lot of sense. I've always thought the risk of selling a boat for zero is the 'buyer' has zero commitment and you find the boat back on your mooring, and your liability again. A list of candidates mitigates that greatly.
Click to expand...
Cant see how that would happen if there has been a formal transfer of ownership, with a "Bill of Sale"

I understand the advice is that some money should be paid (for legal reasons?), but that this can be a token amount, traditionally one pound.

I think I saw this on one of the "free boat" sites, of which there are several, though some of them are on Facebook, which I dont really do. The above site has some boats on its main page but others that are available (I came across an otherwise pristine-sounding Elizebethan 23 with dodgy deck core by chance) arent listed, though they may be on Facebook.

I'm just (morbidly) curious, since I already have a boat, which was, I thought, very cheap, though in rather poor condition. Seen some apparently spectacularly good free boats subsequently, the best probably having been a Nicholson 27 apparently ready-to-go apart from having no headlining, but I'm still cautiously pleased with my Trident.
 
ProDave said:
There is this old boat in our harbour. I don't even know what make, not one I recognise and it's in poor condition. the owner has been ill, it's not been sailed for 2 years, but he keeps paying the harbour dues and crane in / out fees just for the boat to go nowhere getting more and more tatty.

He would have been far better to have sold it, or given it away, as soon as he realised his sailing days are over when someone might have taken it on as a cheap entry to sailing.

The poor chap died recently, now it is left to his relatives to deal with an old unwanted boat that is costing money but there is little chance of even giving it away.
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Dunno. One born every minute.
Me for example. I'm newborn every day.
 
ducked said:
Cant see how that would happen if there has been a formal transfer of ownership, with a "Bill of Sale"
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I'm sure that's the correct legal situation. However, when the mooring team phoned me up and asked why "my" boat was abandoned on my mooring I don't think I could in good conscience say "I've got a bill of sale that proves it's not my problem, you can deal with it." Few people could, IMHO.
 
Mark-1 said:
I'm sure that's the correct legal situation. However, when the mooring team phoned me up and asked why "my" boat was abandoned on my mooring I don't think I could in good conscience say "I've got a bill of sale that proves it's not my problem, you can deal with it." Few people could, IMHO.
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If the new owner is retaining the mooring/berthing I would expect this to be discussed/negotiated with whoever was responsible for administering it, so they would be fully aware you were no longer the owner.

This was the case with mine, which I couldn't get regular access to until they'd seen the bill of sale. Long term the position is still not certain, and my delayed departure from Taiwan may be storing up trouble.

Better email them again.
 
ducked said:
If the new owner is retaining the mooring/berthing I would expect this to be discussed/negotiated with whoever was responsible for administering it, so they would be fully aware you were no longer the owner.

This was the case with mine, which I couldn't get regular access to until they'd seen the bill of sale. Long term the position is still not certain, and my delayed departure from Taiwan may be storing up trouble.

Better email them again.
Click to expand...

I think you may have misunderstood this hypothetical situation.
 
Bodach na mara said:
As ridgy says in #12, marinas are an option, not compulsory. For many years I spent very little on my hobby. I kept the boat on a mooring in summer, which cost only a few pounds for the local ferryman to lay in spring and lift out to the foreshore in autumn. The mooring itself was acquired from a scrap yard. Laying up was cheapest at a canal basin, where a group of us included the dused to take it home at weekends and he used it as his mode of transport to get to the canal. Naturally it didn't cost us much to get the boats lifted out to the bank and relaunched in the spring. I don't think that cheap laying up is possible now but the high cost of summer berthing can still be avoided. Until you get older and less fit sadly.
Click to expand...
Not if you live in the more 'civilised' parts of the UK - qv more expensive!
 
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