Virgin islands salvage vessels

[KemoSabe]

Originally Posted by contrail

The Virgin Islands Shipping Registry (VISR) just announced that it is auctioning off over 20 abandoned boats, during the month of May, as is, where is. The details can be found by contacting them. The news article was carried on bviplatinum.com


It will be interesting to see how this goes! The boats have all been seized by the Registry as a result of their owners having done nothing about the wrecks since the storm. I, personally, doubt there is much worth in anything there, particularly considering the removal costs involved, but it's a place for the OP to start.

Thank you sir I will do my best to find info

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by contrail

The Virgin Islands Shipping Registry (VISR) just announced that it is auctioning off over 20 abandoned boats, during the month of May, as is, where is. The details can be found by contacting them. The news article was carried on bviplatinum.com

Link: Over 20 Derelict Vessels And Yachts To Be Auctioned | Government of the Virgin Islands


List of vessels: https://docs.google.com/viewerng/vie..._amount_v3.pdf

[KemoSabe]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

Link: Over 20 Derelict Vessels And Yachts To Be Auctioned | Government of the Virgin Islands


List of vessels: https://docs.google.com/viewerng/vie..._amount_v3.pdf

The hunter and the beneteau are interesting.

I'd love one of the cats, but my gut says they'd be gone by now if they aren't trash

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

Link: Over 20 Derelict Vessels And Yachts To Be Auctioned | Government of the Virgin Islands


List of vessels: https://docs.google.com/viewerng/vie..._amount_v3.pdf

That is a sad set of pictures.

[poiu]

I’ve seen a lot of these wrecks at North Sound Boat yard,Antigua. There are still a few dozen left unrepaired. You may find one there that was bought cheap, the buyer then changed his mind when he realised the scale of the problem and abandoned it. You are unlikely to do well. Imagine trying to pluck a nice tuna out of a tank full of sharks. You’d better be a tougher shark.

They are mostly in awful condition, most with holes so big you can walk through. I would never buy one if it was completely repaired and many repairs will be shoddy, yet a great many will do so over the coming years without realising the boat’s history. There is a scandal in the making here and a probable tragedy or two.

[KemoSabe]

Thank you for everyone that gave info. I do indeed have a bid in on a large vessel on antigua that hopefully goes my way. I'm taking a trip to Maarten end of this month and taking a pop over to antigua to check her out! Among others that may or may not be available.

I will make a new post if I snag the vessel. If anyone knows of any marinas that may be promising with abandoned vessels in maartin please advise!

Again, thank you so much.

[contrail]

If you want to PM me with the name of the vessel, there is a chance I might be familiar with it.

[contrail]

Originally Posted by Paul L

That is a sad set of pictures.

To which I would add that many are in really hard to get to places. When it says "barge and crane" for removal, those are pretty expensive operations. If you see the companionway open, they have had a year and a half exposure to rain and elements, even if the hull happens to be sound. I would say the couple of boats labelled at "Inner Harbour" are probably the easiest to access. The Trellis ones are ashore, and the water is pretty shallow to get a barge and crane in. Otherwise, it's overland with a crane....yikes! Sea Cows Bay may or may not be really shallow, depending. Some of those boats are just about where they were tied up, so that means there is enough water. Whether they were holed or not is another question. Others in Sea Cows will be really hard to get to . Hans Creek is a reserve where boats are not even supposed to go. I suppose the solution is to float it and tow it? And so it goes.....sad.

[Jim Cate]

This whole scheme is macabre to me, but do remember that if all of last year's disaster victims have already been "snatched up", there's a brand new cyclone season just on the horizon, with wrecks aplenty waiting for your attention. Be the first in line...

Jim

[KemoSabe]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

This whole scheme is macabre to me, but do remember that if all of last year's disaster victims have already been "snatched up", there's a brand new cyclone season just on the horizon, with wrecks aplenty waiting for your attention. Be the first in line...

Jim

I have a different mindset. But I get where you are coming from.

Nearly two years now, and they are still indeed auctioning off insurance owned vessels. The owners were paid (mostly, whomever had insurance) and these vessels were put on land mostly and they are still sitting surprisingly. The best boats aren't all gone believe it or not, insurance has had their hands full with owners signing over

I think honestly, your opinion is the macabre-filled version of this; I wish these boats weren't a thing. I don't wish for more to occur, and certainly wont be in a line with hopes of a hurricane of this caliber to ever reoccur.

But... my views don't change the fact they are sitting there, likely to be crushed or rot into the sand in the event people with my mindset don't show up to finish vessels like this.

Call it Lazarus.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by KemoSabe

I have a different mindset. But I get where you are coming from.

Nearly two years now, and they are still indeed auctioning off insurance owned vessels. The owners were paid (mostly, whomever had insurance) and these vessels were put on land mostly and they are still sitting surprisingly. The best boats aren't all gone believe it or not, insurance has had their hands full with owners signing over

I think honestly, your opinion is the macabre-filled version of this; I wish these boats weren't a thing. I don't wish for more to occur, and certainly wont be in a line with hopes of a hurricane of this caliber to ever reoccur.

But... my views don't change the fact they are sitting there, likely to be crushed or rot into the sand in the event people with my mindset don't show up to finish vessels like this.

Call it Lazarus.

Fair enough, and I agree that resurrection of even one of the extant wrecks would be better than the composting end they face now.

Jim

[contrail]

Originally Posted by KemoSabe

I have a different mindset. But I get where you are coming from.

Nearly two years now, and they are still indeed auctioning off insurance owned vessels. The owners were paid (mostly, whomever had insurance) and these vessels were put on land mostly and they are still sitting surprisingly. The best boats aren't all gone believe it or not, insurance has had their hands full with owners signing over

I think honestly, your opinion is the macabre-filled version of this; I wish these boats weren't a thing. I don't wish for more to occur, and certainly wont be in a line with hopes of a hurricane of this caliber to ever reoccur.

But... my views don't change the fact they are sitting there, likely to be crushed or rot into the sand in the event people with my mindset don't show up to finish vessels like this.

Call it Lazarus.

Oh my goodness! " The best boats aren't all gone"??? Who on earth told you that....wait, don't tell me, I can give you a name or two! Or maybe there is something that someone has stopped trying to rebuild and is selling. Seriously, from the vantage point of having sat on the disposal committee, the BVI government is auctionlng off that list of boats because they are trying hard to get rid of an eyesore, for which there is really no budget. I can't speak to boats in St Maarten or Antigua, but doubt things would be too different.



There are only a couple of places where the boats are sitting....might go take a look to reassure myself on what I am saying, but to say that I would be surprised.....thunderstruck would be more like it.



Anyway, good luck with it.

[KemoSabe]

Originally Posted by contrail

Anyway, good luck with it.

I suddenly feel like you don't really quite mean that. Maybe its just the way it reads. But [deleted large paragraph due to following point]


Or maybe that gut instinct of someone phishing for info, then blasting me on the forum after said private messaging, was possibly what said gut was referring to.

Ill post more info once I have secured boat of interest. Thanks for the luck.

[contrail]

When I say good luck, I absolutely mean it, or I would not have said it, and I have also said I don't have direct knowledge of what is going on in Antigua and St. Maarten, so you may do well there.


But, I have also said, consistently, since the beginning of this thread, that you are late to the party here in the BVI, and that I would be very surprised if you found something here that was worth purchasing or repairing. I have not blasted YOU, in any way. If I have blasted anyone, it would be whoever is telling you that some of the "best" boats are still available, here. And, whilst I was trying to be helpful by being the original person who pointed out the Shipping Registry's auction, I also pointed out what their motivation is, of which I have direct knowledge.



None of this is the least bit inconsistent.


As for the comment about "phishing", you missed my point. I said, publicly, that if you gave me the name of the boat (privately), I would tell you if I know something about it. I said that because many of the Antigua boats came from the BVI, and so I might well know the boat, and even the owners, current or former, where it was wrecked, etc, etc., and for no other reason. It's a small island! If you are worried that I might try to go around you and get that boat, myself, I refer you to my original post, wherein I note that I could have salvaged any number of boats, myself, had I been so inclined, but had not been interested in doing so. And they WERE the "best boats"!



I did not think you would really give me the name of the boat, for whatever reason, but it was my last ditch attempt to perhaps give you an opinion, from here, on the ground, as it were, as your original message had requested. I would still do that. If it's an Antigua or St. Maarten boat, I would not as I don't know them and could not.


There were two conversations going on simultaneously; one was public, of which all of my comments have been a part, save the few regarding the boat's name. The private conversation was that, precisely because I thought that you would not want that name revealed publicly. There was no subterfuge involved there, and nothing to warrant the term phishing!


IF you go back through all of my posts, you will see that, from beginning to end, whilst I have acknowledged that there may be a worthwhile boat or two, here, in the BVI, (that cat in the bushes on Buck Island might or might not be one), I don't know of it (or them), and sincerely doubt it exists. I based that on the fact that I am a part of the industry here, and was here for Irma and ever since. I spent six months in the only boatyard that was functional and I saw boat after boat, and dreamer after dreamer, float through. And, I did see a few successes, too, along with a lot more doomed projects. I did raise an eyebrow at the thought that there exists a depository of the "best boats". And, finally, I have consistently wished you good luck and passed along any information that I thought might be of help, including this.



I have no ulterior motive in this. I have no dog in this fight. I would love to see a boat saved and a dream fulfilled. I happen to think that's going to be very difficult to do, in any sort of financially reasonable way. But, as I have said repeatedly, good luck, and I hope you share the story, as it unfolds, however it unfolds for you.

[BobL1981]

Originally Posted by KemoSabe

Thank you for everyone that gave info. I do indeed have a bid in on a large vessel on antigua that hopefully goes my way. I'm taking a trip to Maarten end of this month and taking a pop over to antigua to check her out! Among others that may or may not be available.

I will make a new post if I snag the vessel. If anyone knows of any marinas that may be promising with abandoned vessels in maartin please advise!

Again, thank you so much.

I was in Simpson Bay marina for a week last month. Word around the marina was that the company ShoreSupport (based at the Simpson Bay Marina) has the contract to remove all of the remaining vessels from the French and Dutch sides of the lagoon. The number of vessels was stated to me as being 95 and they were to be removed within the next several months. Might be worth checking up on during your trip.