Sinking your own boat!?...illegal?

[Bosun Higgs]

.
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

You would be surprised. Our club tried to give away a Cutlass for quite a long time and failed miserably. It got chopped up. We currently have a member trying to get rid of a concrete boat and failing. We have a back wall in the club compound full of old boats of the Westerley 22 type that members arent using and cannot sell . Dont forget that the hull is a small part of a boat - all its other kit from sails to engine via deck hardware is likely to be knackered too.

Thats the problem with plastic boats or indeed plastic rubbish of any sort. When no longer any real use to anyone, it doesnt bio degrade and its hard to get rid of.

 

[LeonF]

A friend has been offered free an old wooden boat, a Wild Duck, but he is still considering it. And I have heard of people cutting up an old GRP boat into tiny pieces and putting it in the domestic refuse. Can't they mince up the GRP and recycle it ?

 

[double_ender]

There is a bit of history in scuttled yachts. Was'nt it the huge one owned by a king in the 1930s that was scuttled in the channel when he died, on his orders. also I have a copy of Trident mag 1949 where beneath a photo of the old Implacable looking quite respectable in Porchester Creek it say. "It is expected that she will be towed out and sunk in the channel later in the month"
Did the Foudryant suffer a similar fate?
M

 

[NickRobinson]

Where are all these boats?

I posted below in 'wanted' months ago, and had only 4/5 replies!

Nick
(always fancied a free ferro.....)


Please read on, you may help find me one.....

I'm looking for a BK grp yacht. The boat will be 26'/30' and ideally will have a minimum two cylinder diesel and roller reefing but these two are negotiable.

Budget? up to an absolute £10k but would buy much cheaper, depending on the boat of course.

The ideal boat may be tied up next to you, green decks, hairy boot-topping, rotted spray hood, we've all seen them!

I'm happy to buy from an owner who's boating love affair is over or a yard/marina defraying fees (subject to title transfer)

 

[oldharry]

The current law is that the deliberate scuttling of a boat is 'placing a deposit on the seabed' for which a licence is required from the MMO in UK waters. Various environmental assesments would have to be completed etc - not cheap! Its our old friend the MCAA 2009 again, alongside FEPA 1985.

An accidental sinking is just that, so it should not be difficult to arrange an 'accident' as long as the RNLI doesnt get there in time to put a whacking great pump aboard! Most Harbour Boards require the removal of any wreck in their waters.

 

[Niander]

Yep your right about the u boats being scuttled after the war and all the still dangerous armaments also dumped by the government
also remember that big oil rig/storage vessel they were going to sink in deep water
till Greenpeace got involved?
what harm would it do so long as it was deep water?
best at night so no one can see you and try and organise rescue!
and best go out over 12 miles so out of uk waters just in case!......oh and dont forget your mate!

'placing a deposit on the seabed'

What a laugh

So if your outside of uk waters it not illegal then?

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Budget? up to an absolute £10k but would buy much cheaper, depending on the boat of course.

We sold off an unloved Westerly Konsort for 8k a year ago and we only got a few bidders after advertising it.

I suggest you leg it round the clubs. Look for boats still out of the water come June. Ask around - in many cases, owners have lost binterest but cant get round to advertising their boats at sensible prices. Most oldies round here are 25ft or less by the way.

 

[Heckler]

.
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

Thought you were away!
Stu

 

[Heckler]

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.

When I was a lad they used to do that off Abersoch, loads of north west wide boys looking to "realise an asset"
Stu

 

[nauticalnomad]

Yep your right about the u boats being scuttled after the war and all the still dangerous armaments also dumped by the government
also remember that big oil rig/storage vessel they were going to sink in deep water
till Greenpeace got involved?
what harm would it do so long as it was deep water?
best at night so no one can see you and try and organise rescue!
and best go out over 12 miles so out of uk waters just in case!......oh and dont forget your mate!

'placing a deposit on the seabed'

What a laugh

So if your outside of uk waters it not illegal then?

Do it in Belgium.... Imagine getting caught and the only thing they were quizzing you on is whether your diesel was red or white

 

[Lakesailor]

I'm looking for a BK grp yacht. The boat will be 26'/30' and ideally will have a minimum two cylinder diesel and roller reefing but these two are negotiable.

Budget? up to an absolute £10k but would buy much cheaper, depending on the boat of course.

The ideal boat may be tied up next to you, green decks, hairy boot-topping, rotted spray hood, we've all seen them!

I'm happy to buy from an owner who's boating love affair is over or a yard/marina defraying fees (subject to title transfer)[/FONT]

Read this thread!!


.

 

[NickRobinson]

Read this thread!!


.

Nearly memorised it!

N

 

[dulcibella]

Royal prerogative?

George V certainly got away with having his own yacht scuttled (name Britannia? J Class??). So did the German navy on various occasions (Scapa Flow, River Plate). However, I fear that there is one law for kings and admirals and another for the poor b****y infantry.

 

[prv]

I fear that there is one law for kings and admirals and another for the poor b****y infantry.

Um, more a case of one law 70 years ago and another law now. I'm sure if you had wanted to scuttle your own boat in the 1930s noone would have batted an eyelid. And on the other hand, if the Navy wanted to start disposing of stuff today by dumping it at sea, they'd be awash with eco-hippies. The German Navy even more so as they have a much stronger Green movement over there.

Pete

 

[Twister_Ken]

Um, more a case of one law 70 years ago and another law now. I'm sure if you had wanted to scuttle your own boat in the 1930s noone would have batted an eyelid. And on the other hand, if the Navy wanted to start disposing of stuff today by dumping it at sea, they'd be awash with eco-hippies. The German Navy even more so as they have a much stronger Green movement over there.

Pete

Also, in one epoch it must have been considered perfectly acceptable to run a boat into the saltings, chop a couple of holes below the waterline, and walk (presumably in chest high waders) away.

 

[Searush]

Also, in one epoch it must have been considered perfectly acceptable to run a boat into the saltings, chop a couple of holes below the waterline, and walk (presumably in chest high waders) away.

I suspect most of those picturesque decaying wrecks we see today were actually laid up "for better times" initially - only the lack of regular repairs slowly did them in.

 

[Woodlouse]

George V certainly got away with having his own yacht scuttled (name Britannia? J Class??).

George V had a good alibi in that he was dead at the time.

 

[smugglers ride]

I feel like sinking my boat some times. Most of the time I love boating. But I do spend some time working on the boat and then after u spend hours working on some thing a then it brakes, and it takes hours to fix it, then I want to drill a big hole under the water and watch it sink.

 

[Avocet]

You would be surprised. Our club tried to give away a Cutlass for quite a long time and failed miserably. It got chopped up. .

Slightly off-topic, but do you remember what the ballast was? Ours is glassed-in and I've never fancied disturbing it. Was it cast iron, lead ingots, punchings, lead shot...? I've alwasy been curious!

 

[prv]

Slightly off-topic, but do you remember what the ballast was? Ours is glassed-in and I've never fancied disturbing it. Was it cast iron, lead ingots, punchings, lead shot...? I've alwasy been curious!

Even if you find out what that one was, there's no guarantee that yours is the same. As I understand it, a lot of these old yards shifted over time depending on what was available.

Pete