Boats Too Costly to Keep Are Littering Coastlines

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. — Boat owners are abandoning ship.

They often sandpaper over the names and file off the registry numbers, doing their best to render the boats, and themselves, untraceable. Then they casually ditch the vessels in the middle of busy harbors, beach them at low tide on the banks of creeks or occasionally scuttle them outright.

The bad economy is creating a flotilla of forsaken boats. While there is no national census of abandoned boats, officials in coastal states are worried the problem will only grow worse as unemployment and financial stress continue to rise. Several states are even drafting laws against derelicts and say they are aggressively starting to pursue delinquent owners.

“Our waters have become dumping grounds,” said Maj. Paul R. Ouellette of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “It’s got to the point where something has to be done.”

Derelict boats are environmental and navigational hazards, leaking toxins and posing obstacles for other craft, especially at night. Thieves plunder them for scrap metal. In a storm, these runabouts and sailboats, cruisers and houseboats can break free or break up, causing havoc.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/business/01boats.html?_r=2&hp

[Deja Q]

1. Oooh, I know! How about an exchange program? "Boats for guns".

Give us your UB40 and we'll give you an AK47!

[leveymg]

3. Throw in lawyers to use as anchors, and you have a deal!

Naw, just send money.

[Taverner]

2. The two greatest days are the day you buy your boat, and the day you sell it

Remind me never to ever buy a boat

[Downwinder]

4. If you have to ask "how much," you can't afford it. n/t

[canetoad]

29. Having spent many of my earlier years on the water

I still love the definition of a boat:

'A boat is a hole in the water, surrounded by wood, metal or fibreglass, into which you pour infinite amounts of money.'

[Webster Green]

5. I find myself in this very position now.

I have a 26 foot cabin cruiser with a real nice fiberglass hull, inboard V8 Ford engine, on a nice tandem axle trailer, but it's a project that needs a lot of work, and it will still be a gas guzzler when I get her done.

I would love to finish it and put the boat in at Bodega Bay, go out and look for salmon or crabs etc., but in this economy it is really hard to find the spare money and time.

Sigh...:P

[fujiyama]

22. I recently drove down CA 1

Bodega Bay is a cool little town. I stayed the night in Gualala. I love the North Coast and the fact that it isn't too crowded...

[Hannah Bell]

6. give them to the homeless for live-aboards.

[AndyTiedye]

10. If the Owners Can't Pay the Maintenance Costs, Homeless People Certainly Can't

[Hannah Bell]

15. maybe poor people are more resourceful than rich people.

but the post was meant ironically. i thought the message of the OP was funny: we have recession & the big problem is "too many boats".

that's wealth in use value, but people are hypnotized by dollars.

scrap 1 & use the parts to rebuild one good one. pull them up on shore & turn them into an artists' colony. whatever.

1 in 9 homes = empty. this is wealth, but we're trained to see it as poverty.

[Soylent Brice]

31. that's a great idea. of course that won't happen. just like

all those cars on the docks in Boston, (i think Boston).

just a sea of cars. now a sea of boats.

[Fumesucker]

7. Boat: (n) A hole in the water, into which you pour money.. n/t

[Taverner]

9. Yessir that is correct

Even folks I know who LOVED sailing and did it every weekend were happy to unload that money pit they called a "boat."

The upkeep, storage and payments associated with those made me never want to own one. That is, unless I became L Ron Hubbard and wanted to start a Navy for some reason.

[shadowknows69]

8. I'll take one, fuck it, I'll take five. Let's start a DU pirate fleet!!

[MichellesBFF]

11. I love my 2 boats

But they're both kayaks, so they're a bit easier to maintain....And cheap on fuel! Just eat a meal and go...

[Hassin Bin Sober]

12. I like the way you think!

Seriously, the article says a majority of the boats are paid for. Are things THAT bad that you can't GIVE a boat away?

I too would take one for free.

[truthisfreedom]

14. Maintenance is expensive, constant, and necessary. You need a slip... that's rental.

They're expensive to maintain... that's why they're being abandoned.

You can easily buy an inexpensive boat nowadays.

[shadowknows69]

16. Yes, but free is better

[groundloop]

17. Not all that expensive to maintain

If you're able to do the bulk of the work yourself. I NEVER pay someone else to work on my boat, it's a matter of pride to do the work myself, and what I don't know how to do I ask questions about and learn (plus it's a hell of a lot cheaper).

[Hassin Bin Sober]

20. I understand they aren't cheap to keep moored and stored.

But abandoning a free and clear boat because you can't sell it?

What am I missing here?

My neighbors and I have talked about going in halves on a boat. Would it behoove us to, say, run an ad in S.C. to try and pick up a boat pre-abandonment? I understand the shipping charges to Chicago wouldn't be cheap ( I have a friend who had a repo delivered from Florida so I know a "guy" for that).

Maintenance, mooring and insurance split three ways is better than maintenance, mooring, insurance PLUS a finance note payment split three ways.

[swilton]

23. It's our disposable society -

Disposable pets, disposable boats, affluenza:crazy:

[AndyTiedye]

28. I Think These Are Cases of Sudden Disaffluenza

[L0oniX]

13. Use them for homeless shelters.

[glinda]

19. I totally agree. Put them on land as well as RVs that aren't selling.

[ShareTheWoods]

18. BOAT... Break Out Another Thousand

A hole in the water to throw money into.

[Auggie]

21. Do you need a better example why humans are doomed?

Let's not be responsible about our purchases and dispose of them properly. No, let's abandon them and let their toxins slowly poison our ecosystem.

[shadowknows69]

26. Ah, a kindred pessimist.

I'm Shadow (also known as Cassandra) nice to meet you.

[Regret My New Name]

24. How much does it usually cost to store a boat?

Also, aren't there places that would pay for them or even accept them as donations? Recycling?

[Sgent]

30. In my city

to keep a 30' boat in the water in a mediocre slip costs about $2000 per year, and another $1500 in insurance. Add in maintenance of at least $1000 or so per year -- and this is on a boat that sold for 12,000.

Boats are not cheap to own, even if you don't owe money on them.

[BigBluenoser]

25. So... um... would it be theft...

If a bunch of my relatives sailed down from up Nova Scotia way and tugged those abandoned boats back up the coast to their home and native land?

Long tradition of that sort of thing up there :)

God damn them all
I was told
We cruised the seas
For American Gold
We'd fire no guns
Shed no tears
Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier
The last of Barrett's Privateers
-- Stan Rogers

[shadowknows69]

27. So that's where my great grandfather's sloop went to!