Why are so many derelict boats sailboats?

[coz]

They are repurposed as liveaboards in the Portland, Oregon area. They tie up pretty much where they want and the authorities roust them every 30 days or so. They move on and then move back. Yes they discharge. At least 2 I have seen move under their own power (outboards). I see ratty main sails on quite a few. A 5KSB would make a heck of a better pad than a tent on the street.
Coz

[ewsponberg]

I scanned the first part of this thread and most of the answers are spot on. I have written extensively on the problems of derelict boats, mostly in Professional Boatbuilder (PBB) magazine. The first article I wrote for them, in 1999, called Recycling Dead Boats, is located on my website which you can download here: https://www.ericwsponberg.com/wp-con...dead-boats.pdf.

Seventeen years later, in 2016, PBB asked me to write a follow-up piece for their on-line version: That is also on my website here: https://www.ericwsponberg.com/wp-con...-Sept-2016.pdf

And, just since February, PBB has published a two-part update on disposing of old boats, in issues #189 and 190, and they asked me to contribute a sidebar article to part 2. These are downloadable from my website also:

Part 1, Boat Disposal: https://www.ericwsponberg.com/wp-con...-2-PBB-189.pdf

Part 2, Boat Disposal: https://www.ericwsponberg.com/wp-con...-2-PBB-190.pdf

My sidebar article has to do with what is happening here in Queensland, Australia, where the state has committed OZ$20 million (US$15 million) to clearing up over 1,000 derelict boats on their 4,333 mile coastline. The rest of the part 2 article details solutions happening in other countries.

The real solution to all this is, in order to recycle boats and keep them from being abandoned in the environment, you need dedicated recycling centers to handle dead boats. Australia is headed in the right direction, France is the only country right now that it doing it totally right.

I have been connected with the issue for over 30 years. I wrote back in 1999 that it would take a generation (25+ years) to build the infrastructure we need to recycle boats. We are not there yet, but progress is being made.

I hope that helps.

Eric
SY Corroboree
On a circumnavigation, currently stuck in Australia by the pandemic until we can move again--coming soon.

[Boudreau]

Originally Posted by Rob_P

Two possibilities:

They bought it cheap thinking it would be easy to fix and get them something/somewhere. When they found out it wasn't either of those things, they walked away from the loss.


There are people who collect antique cars and people who lease a new car every 2 years. Few of some, lots of the other. Guess which type buys old boats to restore and which type buys newer boats then leaves them to rot on a mooring someplace.

Where I see them, 90% are in slips in marinas where no one docks for free. $$$ and waiting lists. Makes no sense at all.

[rpeebles]

Power boats are built of recyclable materials ie cheap materials

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by rpeebles

Power boats are built of recyclable materials ie cheap materials

What are sailboats built from? Is a Catalina or McGregor built from anything different from a Larson or Bayliner? Are the materials in a Swan different from those in an Azumit? What material in a sailboat is not recyclable that is in a powerboat? The aluminum, the Dacron, the fiberglass roving or polyester resins? What?

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

We have only lived on our boat full time for three years, but in that time I’ve noticed that nearly all the abandoned, 1/2 sunken or derelict boats are sailboats of one sort or another. In our yearly travels from the Keys to Long Island Sound it is extremely rare to see a powerboat beached or abandoned, but not sailboats. There seem to be many more powerboats than sailboats if one includes all the center consoles and skiffs, yet proportionally there are many more sailors who appear to have walked away from their boats leaving someone else to clean up.
Any possible explanation?

When powerboats sink they don't have masts to stick up out of the water to make their position!!

[Celestialsailor]

I bought a set of self-tailing winches from someone in Texas. He was a boat recycler. He said the fiber glass was ground up and added to road asphalt. That it added traction to the road. Any ballast such as lead or steel was recycled. The government there was trying to put him out of business because they claimed he was too close to a school (2 miles) and worried about air quality. Good grief!

[MSgt]

Lived aboard on Boot Key Harbor, The KEYS, from '91 to '02. Remember a number of derelict boats and a major cleanup in the late 90s. Always wondered if part of the problem was no one knowing where/how to legally dispose of their vessel let alone the cost of doing so. I sold my '78 Irwin Citation 34 [in excellent shape with exception of needed to update the rigging] to a friend before departing The Keys, but to this day even I am unaware of how one legally disposes of a vessel.

[Paul A Gagne]

Haha I love your comments. The older you get the more important are those creature comforts. It's so important. I would include a solid Spotify connection on the East Coast. I love that I shared it with my son.

[ewsponberg]

The thing to remember is, ALL boats will have to be recycled someday. Every boat that currently exists will eventually fall on hard times because the current owner will not be able to maintain and repair her. The reason so many boats, power and sail. get abandoned is because the owners can't afford to keep them and no one else wants them, AND there is no place dedicated to accept them.

Boats are like humans, we'll all die sometime. And we all need a funeral director/cemetery/crematorium to get rid of our remains. There are plenty of those, everywhere. We do not have that yet in the US. There are not enough boat recycling centers, yet. Part of the reason is cost and dedication. As I noted in my latest article, Queensland, Australia, has dedicated OZ$20 million (US$15 million) to solve their derelict boat problem. How much has been invested in the US--you can measure it in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, not millions, and it is going to take billions to do the job properly.

It will take initiatives by local, state, and federal governments along with boat manufacturers, industry service providers as well as boat owners and insurance companies to step up to the plate and finance the building of boat recycling centers. Until that happens, boats will be discarded wherever owners can get away with it.

[rpeebles]

I wouldn’t want my kids anywhere near a recycler of toxic materials. Makes sense.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by pcmm

When powerboats sink they don't have masts to stick up out of the water to make their position!!

They don't need no stinking mast

[Hoodsail]

Simi, where did you take those pics??? Any idea if they recently sank or been there for awhile. Have to admit the one derelict boat in our local boat yard was a sailboat. Owner "disappeared" per the yard mgr, while owing back yard fees. Yard had to cut the boat up and over time disposed of the fiberglass, etc. I cant imagine, as was noted earlier, to forget I owned a boat that was lying at a marina slip!! And regarding being poor....nothing like being "boat poor" and "middle class - working towards poor-dom"....Finally, does noone think about donating their boat?? We have "Boat-Angels" who advertise to take your vessel, hopefully not just Halsberg-Rassy's!

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Hoodsail

Simi, where did you take those pics??? Any idea if they recently sank or been there for awhile. !

I never took them but have seen them
Both are in Aquarium passage Brisbane, been there about a year now.
2nd one apparently had hosted the pope and the queen in a previous life in Sydney.
$300,000 was recently spent on interior, she had twin RR diesels inside - owner died and kids let her go. Criminal

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by rpeebles

I wouldn’t want my kids anywhere near a recycler of toxic materials. Makes sense.

Yes but what is anywhere near or what is safe?