Derelict Boats

[capt-couillon]

Just as an FYI for at least one area in FL. Boot Key "managed harbor zone" which includes the entire harbor including Sister Creek. While the city mooring balls are included, this applies to all areas of the "zone" not just the city mooring field.

All vessels in the "zone" must display proof of pumpout when anchored for ,for more than 10 consecutive days and have a marine sanitation device (buckets don't count) Weekly pumpout is included with a city mooring. Anchored boats may schedule pumpout (at a fee) from the city turd boats. A minimum of one pumpout per month is required and the boat owners must display a tag or provide documentation on request.

Vessels that are listing, aground, sinking, dragging anchor, in danger of breaking loose, or not able to be used for navigation are not allowed and may be declared derelict and subject to removal at the owners expense.

I am now living here, and that all sounds pretty good to me. Wide variety in the harbor from the 100K+ on down to the small "sail far" pocket cruisers like myself. For the most part we all get along, and help each other out where ever we can.

As far as I am concerned, if ya'll look down your nose at a fellow cruiser just because he spent his money on the standing rig rather than a new paint job and the latest gee-whiz gadget, you ain't been doing this long enough or far enough.

[zboss]

Originally Posted by Guy

What if suddenly you had to deal with health or money problems? You have no choice but leave your boat somewhere because you cannot afford a marina. The further south you go the less time it takes a boat to look derelict. Say you fell and broke your crown and needed to mend, it could take a while. Your boat would be looking pretty sad before you could deal with it again.
There are free waterways left in the US, right?

Exactly, Florida doesn't give hoot about anyone unless you pay $200K a year in property tax.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

A Boatyard I used to work next to scrapped a bunch of small abandoned sailboats that were in their yard, up to about 26 feet. They just hired a couple of guys and they cut them up with saws. Pieces went into a big dumpster. I think one day they did most of 3 boats. Let's see... 2 guys = 16 hours at $10 an hour = $160 divided by 3 = $53 a boat. So maybe double that as the last 10% always takes a lot of time! Hauling costs were heavy though I suppose.

Because that is an unrealistic buisness plan:
- Breaking up a 26ft boat if much different than a 35' boat. A 35' boat is likely going to need a crane with a few guys to pull the mast.
- They likely broke half a dozen osha rules (probably didn't provide protection for working around toxic pain, how did they get the mast down without a crane, etc....). As a one off operation, you may get away with it. Do it regularly and you will get bit and it will be a big bite when one of the guys gets hurt.
- They were breaking up boats already in the yard. If you are bringing in boats, you need to factor in transporting the boat to the marina and some time on the travel lift.
- There is the time and paperwork to get legal possession of the boat.
- What person is going to take that as a full time job for $10/hr...and you forgot overhead. Even if you sucker someone in at $10/hr, it's likely costing the marina $30/hr (same as when the marina charges you $100/hr for a mechanic. they are likely only paying the guy $20-25/hr.)

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Guy

What if suddenly you had to deal with health or money problems? You have no choice but leave your boat somewhere because you cannot afford a marina. The further south you go the less time it takes a boat to look derelict. Say you fell and broke your crown and needed to mend, it could take a while. Your boat would be looking pretty sad before you could deal with it again.
There are free waterways left in the US, right?

Sounds like you couldn't afford the boat in the first place if you couldn't come up with a months rent in a slip or on a mooring.

Yes, you could come up with an exceptional story where someone did everything right but still got put in a tough position but the vast majority of sob stories are people who didn't plan for completely expected situations to happen. People get sick or injured. People get laid off from jobs. Relatives get sick. If you don't have a plan for it, that's poor planning.

Why do you expect to be provided "free" moorings because you didn't plan ahead? Why do you expect "free" moorings at all? This isn't about the right to navigate the public waterways, these are typically boats left permanently moored until they sink.

[CHM]

Derelict boats are a problem in the Florida central coast. Many are tied up legally and others are left to rot after being stripped of anything valuable. I've only seen them dealt with efficiently if in a marked channel. Some are removed, and others are dragged out of the channel.


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