What happens to old boats?

[Humblebee]

Old fibreglass ones that is. Old wooden boats can be dismantled, or burnt, or just lie rotting away somewhere. Metal ones can be cut up and recycled or just rust away. So what happens to fibreglass boats at the end of their life? I'm not aware of any yacht breakers who dispose of them, so do they just exist forever? And if so, is this why there seem to be more and more boats on the water every year?

 

[Capt. Clueless]

As I drive round the 3 counties of Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambs, I see plenty languishing in gardens/orchards, fields etc. coated in green mold and tree sap.

 

[Daydream believer]

A lot are just cluttering up club areas. members long gone & their rubbish just left as an eyesore

 

[Leighb]

The only realistic disposal method would be a chainsaw and a skip, but even that perhaps would be in breach of some regulations??

 

[prv]

The only realistic disposal method would be a chainsaw and a skip, but even that perhaps would be in breach of some regulations??

I *think* you'd be alright as a private individual taking the bits to a council tip - Lakesailor at least managed to do exactly this. But things get a lot more complicated for a commercial outfit.

Pete

 

[stownsend]

My 16ft speed boat hull, failed to give it away so 3 days before moving house - 2 angle grinders and a saw, 3 trips to the tip with 3 x 3 ft pieces !

Cheers

Stu

 

[Wansworth]

There are countless old GRP BOATS resting in boatyard etc..... the problem will be old boats, but not 20 footers or 26 footers but 48 footers etc.The only way is to chop them up in handy sized bits and use them as land fill or maybe in the future they could make s9meone a nice home.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Lots of research in this area. For example

Regenerated Composite Value Reinforcement (ReCoVeR) technology enables cost-effective regeneration of glass fibres for reuse as glass reinforced plastic (GRP) with 80% of the original strength. This game changing technology has the potential to completely transform the economics of recycling GRP composites which currently go to landfill.

http://www.strath.ac.uk/rkes/fly/recycledglassfibreforcost-effectivecomposites/

 

[johnalison]

My impression is that people on this forum buy them and then show us pictures and film of the restoration and sailing.

 

[AndrewL]

I think it will become a big problem. A 60s or 70s GRP boat is still serviceable and saleable today, but what about in 10 or 20 years? The hull will last almost indefinitely and more are made every year, but the number of potential owners is limited.

A person of modest means can run a 20 footer from the 70s, the bills are not too big. But when today's 40 footer is 40 years old, who would want to own it.

 

[stownsend]

Mine was a donor boat for my 25ft cruiser, all I wanted was the engine and leg so it was surplus .. didn't have the time or funds to restore that one.

 

[Yngmar]

Mostly nothing for a very long time. The local boatyard is just having a clearout. There are about 25 boats of various sizes (mostly smaller) and levels of decay sitting around in the yard and on the pontoons, often barely afloat. They must've been sitting for many, many years, typically unpaid. The yard accepted closed bids on them some time ago (you could've had a decrepit boat for £1 if you only took it away), but none seem to want them even then. As that didn't get rid of them, they're now being rounded up and will apparently be cut up and disposed of (where to I do not know - into a skip to somewhere I assume). There was also an assortment of masts and trailers, which are gone now.

 

[Daydream believer]

My last factory was next to a scrap yard
It was quite something to watch them pick up a jag, volvo, discovery etc(using a tracked excavator with a 3 claw grab) by the engine, Shake it until the rest of the car fell away, do the same with each wheel then sling the car body up on a stack of over a dozen cars high in neat rows ready for the crusher where they ended up in 3 ft cubes

That bit of kit ( excavator) would make mincemeat of a boat , even separating all the salvageable parts such as the keel & winches in seconds
the whole thing could then be systematically ripped apart & loaded into a skip for disposal

 

[DJE]

Lots of research in this area. For example

Regenerated Composite Value Reinforcement (ReCoVeR) technology enables cost-effective regeneration of glass fibres for reuse as glass reinforced plastic (GRP) with 80% of the original strength. This game changing technology has the potential to completely transform the economics of recycling GRP composites which currently go to landfill.

http://www.strath.ac.uk/rkes/fly/recycledglassfibreforcost-effectivecomposites/

Or throw it into a cement kiln!

http://www.materialstoday.com/carbon-fiber/features/recycling-glass-fibre-reinforced-composites/

 

[Kelpie]

I'll happily take anybody's old grp boat, turn it upside down, and use it as a firewood shed...

 

[Carmel2]

In Japan they are chipped up and used for road surfacing ......................Now who the f**k told me that?

 

[prv]

That bit of kit ( excavator) would make mincemeat of a boat , even separating all the salvageable parts such as the keel & winches in seconds
the whole thing could then be systematically ripped apart & loaded into a skip for disposal

Yep - but it wouldn't pay anybody to do it. A big lump of plastic hull has negative value (no use, and proper disposal costs) that apparently aren't offset by the scrap-metal value of the keel etc.

Pete

 

[Keith 66]

There is a conference on yacht recyling shortly, heres a link i was sent, http://www.metstrade.com/mets/press...eleases/future-of-yacht-recycling-conference/ , Interestingly they speak of licensing of all boats to pay for disposal and or a surcharge on new craft to pay for future disposal.

 

[Daydream believer]

I'll happily take anybody's old grp boat, turn it upside down, and use it as a firewood shed...

I bet that your garden is a sight to behold !!!

 

[Daydream believer]

Yep - but it wouldn't pay anybody to do it. A big lump of plastic hull has negative value (no use, and proper disposal costs) that apparently aren't offset by the scrap-metal value of the keel etc.

Pete

I was not suggesting it had.
However, if I owned that yard with lots of junk boats I would look at that option to remove cheaply