Boat Disposal Woes

[WontCrawl]

We find these old FG boats discarded all over; on abandoned roads, in parks, and even tangled up in mangrove stands. I too was disgusted in seeing these and wondered why they just don't bring it to a landfill site sawed to pieces in a dumpster.

The reason is that they are prevented by high costs of disposal, that the dump site operator reasons that they are now a waste hazard. It is a prejudice with a money making scheme as a motive, and your elected government has turned it's back on what's happening. Recall at a time in the 70's 80's when asbestos was suddenly watched for has a health hazard, and all governments were keenly writing regulations on waste management, these same Polyester boats were being assembly line built. If the fear was so great, someone must have queried, "So how are the owners going to get rid of these boats once their use is over?" It would have been a no-brainer to come up with the answer "Add a disposal fee to the price ....now". The reader has the right answer, "because they would have never been able to sell their new boats." Who cares about bio waste when they we can make a killing.

So now we understand. There will be no open arms accepting "Teddy" after giving you all these happy voyages. If it's inevitable end was due to hubby who just passed, his widow had better be ready to fork over some of that inheritance at who knows what amount to our "dump site banker".

So folks it's time to make our concerns expressed now. We need standards entrenched BEFORE the gougers see another opportunity for a Ponzi. There should exist now an up front rule of calculation that can be made no matter where in the world you live. I'm all for the chopping up in pieces and dumpster route. For rates we can even extrapolate from known worst bio wastes. The worst being nuclear and asbestos, the latter is being accepted at some dumps now at 90$ a tonne. So FG prices should cost boat disposal(minus the ballast cut out and buried) less than this.

So I'm interested in what you think on this matter. FWIW, I think nothing wrong with towing these to deep trenches like the Marianas and scuttling, and no, they don't release toxins.

I'll talk more about this issue next.

[Singularity]

Originally Posted by WontCrawl

..So now we understand. There will be no open arms accepting "Teddy" after giving you all these happy voyages. If it's inevitable end was due to hubby who just passed, his widow had better be ready to fork over some of that inheritance at who knows what amount to our "dump site banker"....

You might want to check around. At least California has a free boat surrender/disposal program based on your concerns.

[Lake-Effect]

In our neck of the woods it seems that cut-up fiberglass is treated as garbage or construction waste and probably goes to landfill. Other than the dust when cutting/sanding/grinding, I believe that cut-up fiberglass is considered inert and non-toxic.


Some notes on the state of recycling old FG boats.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Singularity

You might want to check around. At least California has a free boat surrender/disposal program based on your concerns.

Indeed.
The California State Legislature has created two grant programs overseen by the CA State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways for the removal and prevention of ADVs: the Abandoned Watercraft and Abatement Fund (AWAF)--Statutes of 1997, and the Vessel Turn-In Program (VTIP)—Statutes of 2009. These grants are now combined under a single grant title of “Surrendered and Abandoned Vessel Exchange (SAVE)” and are awarded annually to local public agencies for the abatement, removal, storage and disposal of abandoned and surrendered (recreational) vessels, and for the removal and disposal of other water hazards and marine debris on California’s waterways.
Disposing of an Unwanted Vessel (California)
➥ https://dbw.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=28768
➥ https://dbw.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=28816
➥ https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/28702...20brochure.pdf

Derelict Vessel Removal Program (Washington)
➥ https://www.dnr.wa.gov/derelict-vessels
➥ https://www.dnr.wa.gov/programs-and-...l-turn-program

Abandoned Boats Program (Canada)
➥ Abandoned boats and wrecks - Transport Canada

[Checkswrecks]

In Maryland fiberglass and wood interiors are just landfill material. In most counties, you can haul 500#/day for free. It might take you and your chainsaw a week to dispose of a 30 footer.

If you want for the metals, lead is worth up to $1.15/lb at metal recyclers and steel/iron is a couple of cents. That iron keel might recover $80-$100.

Engine, sails, masts, and hardware can be sold on Craigslist or in worst case given to a chandlery.

[denverd0n]

Here in Florida, your old fiberglass boat can go into the landfill. You will probably have to cut it up and unload it yourself, but only normal landfill fees apply. And there are a number of companies that will pick up and dispose of your boat for you, for -- what seems to me -- a fairly reasonable fee.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Checkswrecks

In Maryland fiberglass and wood interiors are just landfill material. In most counties, you can haul 500#/day for free...

I just visited our local Thunder Bay landfill site yesterday.
The fees for household waste were:
Loads weighing up to 130kg: $10 (no change from 2018)
Non-hazardous solid waste over 130kg: $76.95 per tonne

[Stu Jackson]

So, another rant about another non-existent problem?

[ChesapeakeRich]

I had to dispose of an old fiberglass boat here in MD. It was kind of funny:

It was an 8 foot dingy. A tree fell on my garage and hit the boat dead center, effectively splitting it in half. I threw the boat into my pickup and drove it to the local transfer station. Upon seeing the bow poking out an attendant said "whoa, whoa we can't take boats." I told him, look, it's busted up -- it's junk; just some big pieces of fiberglass. And then he just said "Oh, ok -- cool. Take it right in there and throw it on the pile."

So I guess here in MD, what a boat really is is a kind of existential question...

[billknny]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

So, another rant about another non-existent problem?

^^^^^ Pretty much. Just someone uninformed and ranting (maybe just trollling) about a problem they have imagined or heard rumors of instead of actually knowing the issue. Like so many environmental rants that do nothing but distract from real problems. (Plastic straws, anyone???)

Fiberglass is inert waste for a landfill. Aluminum and lead should never go to a landfill, but to your local recycler who will gladly pay you for them.

Other metal bits (stainless, and such) are recyclable, but won't get you much money.

Basically almost all the cost of disposal of an old boat is in the labor to chop it up and separate the bits.

[WontCrawl]

The rant? comes from agencies posting ambiguous and frightening statements on official forms. One form I got along with a new license for an address change for a 20' sail cruiser was a reminder of our responsibilities for disposing the boat. It goes on with the jarring statement "it may be very expensive for you to dispose of your boat". So I go to the net to explore, and two sites to click contain "costs from 5000$ to 10000$ to get rid of your boat".

Official words like these should go no further without an expansion of what that means. Since it's a government agency, it should be able to also give me the results of previous discussions and what advances in talks that were made to relieve that cost on now penniless boaters. It could also suggest ways I could bring that expense down on my own.

I alluded to this concern in my post.

So I'm on the offensive from the start and rightly so until I find out the facts.
But you guys stepped up!

[RaymondR]

I was anchored in a river a couple of weeks age when a barge with a monster great tracked excavator on deck anchored of a public jetty and started picking parts of a sunken boat out of the water and placing them in a large bin. Over a few days it collected two sunken boats then went down the river to an estuary anchorage and cleared up two more. Looked like an expensive operation and I can see the days coming when authorities levee a surcharge on license fees for wreck removal.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by billknny

^^^^^ Pretty much. Just someone uninformed and ranting (maybe just trollling) about a problem they have imagined or heard rumors of ...

The O.P. isn't the only one interested in the subject.
Here's just a few of the stories I pulled from a Google search:


The dead-boat disposal crunch
☞ https://www.tradeonlytoday.com/deale...isposal-crunch

End-of-life boat disposal – a looming issue for the composites industry
☞ https://www.materialstoday.com/compo...issue-for-the/

Avoiding the Watery Grave: How to Recycle Fiberglass Boats
☞ https://earth911.com/eco-tech/recycle-boats/

The Bitter End of Boat Disposal
☞ https://www.sailorsforthesea.org/pro...-boat-disposal

B.C. boating group predicts compliance as derelict boat act gets royal assent
☞ https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/b...sent-1.4321451

Dead Boat Disposal Society seeks owners of boats ashore near Oak Bay Marina
☞ https://www.bclocalnews.com/news/dea...ak-bay-marina/

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by WontCrawl

The rant? comes from agencies posting ambiguous and frightening statements on official forms. One form I got along with a new license for an address change for a 20' sail cruiser was a reminder of our responsibilities for disposing the boat. It goes on with the jarring statement "it may be very expensive for you to dispose of your boat". So I go to the net to explore, and two sites to click contain "costs from 5000$ to 10000$ to get rid of your boat".

Official words like these should go no further without an expansion of what that means. Since it's a government agency, it should be able to also give me the results of previous discussions and what advances in talks that were made to relieve that cost on now penniless boaters. It could also suggest ways I could bring that expense down on my own.

I alluded to this concern in my post.

So I'm on the offensive from the start and rightly so until I find out the facts.
But you guys stepped up!

IMHO, they are looking for a new cash stream that they can pervert for their own uses. "Give me a hamburger today and I'll pay you on Tuesday."
Yeah, right !

[ohgary]

Look at cost, haul out, transportation. Manpower to pull the engine and cleanup fuel and oil issues. Cutting up boat and then landfill/disposal cost. Cost can add up pretty quicky for a boat not worth $500. Then add in any EPA fines if your boat is leaking into a water shed.

Some people feel pulling the HID and registration numbers is cheaper.