Sinking your own boat!?...illegal?

Niander

Niander

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"Selling a boat in parts"
got me musing on the idea of
actually going out into deep water and opening the seacocks
and sinking your own boat...if its a problem to yourself
i could imagine this could be the situation for some in this recession
paying expensive mooring and storage fees
BTW i dont mean an insurance job!...but just to quietly get rid!

would this actually be illegal to do this?
or maybe have to go out of uk waters 12 mile limit?
 
I understand there are eco-laws against dumping stuff at sea. That would include any deliberate scuttling - if you & your accomplice were caught. You would of course need an accomplice to get back home again.

I s'pose you could send a mayday & then scuttle it. Need to get your timing right, be a beggar if they turned up early & simply closed the cocks & towed you home afloat. :D
 
One of the mags ( YM ??) have just done a series about major incidents on a boat ending with blowing it up with a gas explosion, but stopping short of sinking it.
You could donate the boat to one of the other mags to run a similar series.

Have to be sure they did not want to give the wreck back when they've done it though :o
 
.
I find it bizarre that people are talking about sinking or cutting up boats that probably still have a lot of life in them in the right hands. Surely better to give it away to someone who will refurbish it / continue to use it?

Possibilities are:

~ Advertise it on Ebay / Gumtree / Freecycle etc
~ Approach your local Sea Scouts, marine colleges etc
~ Advertise for free in the Under £50 column in your local paper

- W
 
.... and yet, you see them mouldering and unloved in marinas, boatyards and riverbanks everywhere.

I often wonder at the story behind so many abandonned boats.
 
Niander said:
"Selling a boat in parts"
got me musing on the idea of
actually going out into deep water and opening the seacocks
and sinking your own boat...if its a problem to yourself
i could imagine this could be the situation for some in this recession
paying expensive mooring and storage fees
BTW i dont mean an insurance job!...but just to quietly get rid!

would this actually be illegal to do this?
or maybe have to go out of uk waters 12 mile limit?
Click to expand...

Interesting question, I'm looking forward to seeing the answer to this one.

A court in the future *could* decide that Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (Unregistered Ships) Regulations 1991 (SI 1991/1366) Reg 4 applies to leaisure yachts. In which case damaging your own boat would be a criminal offence leading potentially to two years imprisonment.

So far no court as decided that as far as I know & at least one court has decided the opposite although it was a near run thing.
 
There is a spot in Windermere that is host to quite a few of the Windermere Class Yachts.
When wealthy men had new ones built they didn't want to pass on their old, competitive yacht to others in the club so they were scuttled. Wooden boats without engines of course.

Doesn't happen now. (allegedly)
 
webcraft said:
.
I find it bizarre that people are talking about sinking or cutting up boats that probably still have a lot of life in them in the right hands. Surely better to give it away to someone who will refurbish it / continue to use it?

Possibilities are:

~ Advertise it on Ebay / Gumtree / Freecycle etc
~ Approach your local Sea Scouts, marine colleges etc
~ Advertise for free in the Under £50 column in your local paper

- W
Click to expand...
I think the problem is that almost any boat (other perhaps than one that sits on a trailer) as significant annual running costs so there are simply boats that are worthless other than for scrap.
 
bedouin said:
I think the problem is that almost any boat (other perhaps than one that sits on a trailer) as significant annual running costs so there are simply boats that are worthless other than for scrap.
Click to expand...

...and there are thousands and thousands and thousands of them - all built in practically indestructible plastic good for hundreds of years....... worth nothing probably less than nothing....

...got to be a problem for future generations..... :confused:
 
toad_oftoadhall said:
Interesting question, I'm looking forward to seeing the answer to this one.

A court in the future *could* decide that Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (Unregistered Ships) Regulations 1991 (SI 1991/1366) Reg 4 applies to leaisure yachts. In which case damaging your own boat would be a criminal offence leading potentially to two years imprisonment.

So far no court as decided that as far as I know & at least one court has decided the opposite although it was a near run thing.
Click to expand...
As we know, the law operates on precedents as far as possible ... and I seem to remember that the UK government sank the remains of the U-Boat fleet somewhere off the Scottish coast at the end of WWII - likewise a fair few thousand tons of unwanted armaments - of course, they couldn't forsee then the current rise in scrap metal prices.
Bit difficult for them to argue that they can do this, but you can't ...
 
electrosys said:
...Bit difficult for them to argue that they can do this, but you can't ...
Click to expand...

"Do as I say, not as I do" comes to mind. They'll find some way to either fine or tax you if you get caught.

I don't understand all the unused boats in the marinas either, and I've been "doing" marina berthing since 1983. It's just bizarre to me that folks keep paying for the dream but never "sleeping" on the dream.
 
toad_oftoadhall said:
A court in the future *could* decide that Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (Unregistered Ships) Regulations 1991 (SI 1991/1366) Reg 4 applies to leaisure yachts. In which case damaging your own boat would be a criminal offence leading potentially to two years imprisonment..
Click to expand...

How could they prove the owner wasn't just engaged in amateurish maintenance. If that becomes a retrospective offence there's a few previous owners that would be in trouble.
 
My Italian marina has a hard-standing area full of such boats.
- Long-deceased owners with no inheritance claim.
- Project boats where the dream has either gone sour, or the money has run out, and the owner disappears because it still costs for place rental.
- Financial problems where unpaid berthing fees and maintenance costs accumulate beyond the boat's value.

There have also been a recent spate of boats being driven deliberately onto the rocks on the eastern Adriatic seaboard with damage up to a write-off level. This is safer - and more difficult to prove fraud - than scuttling at sea - which is often investigated by the insurance company.
 
It could be argued that the unwanted boat is garbage, in which case the MARPOL V rules may be said to apply.

Disposal of any plastic at sea is prohibited.

If I recall correctly the fines are of the order of £300,000;- An expensive disposal.
 
Give it to a SCUBA club as a dive site.

A boat I used to own suffered from extreme structural failure. The mast went down 2" as the mast step failed and an the bulkheads moved. So many stress cracks she looked like a hard boiled egg as you peel it.

Sold her to some mug as a "repair project".
 
A couple of months back , in our marina, a 30ft motor boat that had been unused for at least 4 years was advertised through the marina brokerage for £0 - or offers.

Within a few weeks it sold and I understand there were two bidders on it. No idea what it went for but guess it was not a lot. It is a potential negative equity restoration job if the engines prove to be need a rebuild . The engines couldn't be tested prior to the sale.

Any way it sold and the new owners have started cleaning it up.
The alternative option for the elderly owner was to have it cut up by the marina and scapped , which allegedly would have cost £3k !
 
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