What's the story at Burnham

[Keith 66]

Re scrap costs, No scrap dealer is going to buy a wreck like that, the steel in her is going to fetch what? £50 a ton? It wouldnt cover the cost of the oxygen & propane for the cutting torch. Then its full of tons of mud and all the detritus you could expect in an old dead houseboat. You have to clear that first.
Nobody is going to cut it up & remove it unless they are paid handsomely to do it and i dont blame them!

 

[Tomahawk]

OTOH, why not just leave it?
Within a few years it will dissapear.. Some wildlife will already be inhabiting it and making a new home. Indeed it should already be listed as a special habitat.

 

[Toutvabien]

Tow it out into the river and it could become the first Burnham on Crouch dive site. BSAC would love it.

 

[Lucky Duck]

Difficult to imagine the crouch as a popular diving site on account of its almost non-exist underwater visibility

 

[Toutvabien]

Difficult to imagine the crouch as a popular diving site on account of its almost non-exist underwater visibility

That is exactly why BSAC would love it. (I speak as a BSAC member.)

 

[pvb]

I see from the eBay listing that the seller now says the boat's only 108ft long.

 

[Stork_III]

I see from the eBay listing that the seller now says the boat's only 108ft long.

Is that the length above the mud, perhaps?

 

[pvb]

Is that the length above the mud, perhaps?

 

[Tomahawk]

Just exploring the notion of the wreck as a wildlife habitat...

I would expect some bird or other to set up home come the spring. If so, the RSPB will object to disturbing them during the nesting season. I can see the wildlife lobby stopping any work ever being done.

 

[DavidofMersea]

The vendor is now saying that he has a quote for £7,500 to right her, and the selling price has now reached £6,400

I believe there is an instrument that can measure the thickness of steel by radio waves, or something. If these figures are correct, this could be good buy for renovation if the hull is sound.

Even if the hull is not sound this boat could make a good houseboat put in a mud berth. There was a similar old big gentleman's motor yacht in a mud berth in Mersea with the bottom rusted out for many many years

 

[NealB]

The vendor is now saying that he has a quote for £7,500 to right her, and the selling price has now reached £6,400

I believe there is an instrument that can measure the thickness of steel by radio waves, or something. If these figures are correct, this could be good buy for renovation if the hull is sound.

Even if the hull is not sound this boat could make a good houseboat put in a mud berth. There was a similar old big gentleman's motor yacht in a mud berth in Mersea with the bottom rusted out for many many years

She's been in a mud berth for years, and sunk at least twice.

 

[Keith 66]

That should tell you all you need to know. The thing has a bottom like a colander. Expect some lulu to win it on an ebay bid then walk away when the awful realisation sets in that they have bought someone elses liability. Cut the thing up & be done with it.

 

[Concerto]

If you were the owner, I bet you would try to salvage something out of this mess. Either pay for it to be salvaged or sell to some other mug, which is what he is trying to with eBay.

Oh, by the way, have you checked out his feedback as a seller on eBay.

 

[Tomahawk]

Interesting that the bidders are all identity protected.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Interesting that the bidders are all identity protected.

That's how Ebay works with private listings.

 

[DavidofMersea]

She's been in a mud berth for years, and sunk at least twice.

That should tell you all you need to know. The thing has a bottom like a colander. Expect some lulu to win it on an ebay bid then walk away when the awful realisation sets in that they have bought someone elses liability. Cut the thing up & be done with it.

Some lulu might be smarter than you. If this boat has a bottom like a colander, which is difficult to believe as she was floating until she rolled over, she could be towed to a mud berth and used as a houseboat. At £6,400 purchase price and £7,500 to right her, it would make a very cheap home by the water

 

[Bav34]

Oh, by the way, have you checked out his feedback as a seller on eBay.

That was interesting. The car he sold lost 35000 miles between MOT’s.

Even his boat has lost 47 feet since the original listing.

Careless:nonchalance:

 

[Normalfornorfolk]

Much of the normally underwater hull plating is accessible for thickness testing so the hull condition must be reasonably discernable. I'm wondering why she can't just be parbuckled back upright with some steel hawsers and winches?

However with a vendor who sells clocked cars, doesn't know his own boat's length, tonnage or even engine config I'd have nothing to do with it no matter how cheap it looked.

 

[pvb]

As I understand it, the current seller isn't the original owner, I believe he bought the boat this year and subsequently discovered it wasn't a viable proposition so is trying to offload it.

 

[DavidofMersea]

Much of the normally underwater hull plating is accessible for thickness testing so the hull condition must be reasonably discernable. I'm wondering why she can't just be parbuckled back upright with some steel hawsers and winches?

However with a vendor who sells clocked cars, doesn't know his own boat's length, tonnage or even engine config I'd have nothing to do with it no matter how cheap it looked.

The vendor might be unreliable, but it can be seen what is being bought (unlike a clocked car) so if the deal looks right, then go for it