Don’t Be One of Those People
(Caution: Disgusting photos are displayed below…)
This is not a subject to inspire, but it’s a fact of life: Gazillions of fiberglass boats have been manufactured over the past 70 years, many originally marketed as “Maintenance-Free” when compared to their wooden predecessors. Tragically, too many boaters have taken the sales pitch to heart—rarely bothering to maintain their aging glass hulls.
We lucky souls with small boats do a better job of maintenance, since our little dreamboats are easier to drag home, clean, keep protected and much-loved. But there’s an emerging crisis in the broader universe of fiberglass boats, with emphasis on larger hulls rotting away in marinas and storage yards…boats that may not literally be abandoned, but are becoming a risk to our marine environment and a huge challenge to clean up or recycle when they’re clearly at the end of their lives.
More and more boat owners, no longer able to afford (or care about) maintenance of their vessels, are grinding off hull ID numbers and intentionally sinking their boats or abandoning their carcasses on backwater beaches, hoping to evade moorage fees, insurance requirements and other costs of boat ownership. With the surge of boat buying that took place during the worst months of Covid, and the sad fact that many pandemic-inspired boats are already sitting idle and ignored in marinas, we’re going to see even more seldom-used boats clogging marina slips in the future, and a growing challenge as government agencies, marinas and storage yards struggle to deal with abandoned vessels.
Some private companies and agencies have found ways to recycle wrecked or abandoned boats, and a small number of boat owners are being fined huge sums when their boats sink or are abandoned—especially when they create an environmental hazard. But old boats are moldering away at a steady clip and maybe the only good news is that rotters can be had at dirt-cheap prices, to be restored by those of us with more skills than brain cells…crazy enough to imagine we can turn trash into treasure.
The derelicts will theoretically be auctioned off, but it’s hard to imagine anyone exchanging real money for moss-and-fern covered disasters, since the boats’ problems are more than cosmetic.
This morning I walked the docks of our own generally-spiffy marina, and shot the accompanying images. A few of the boats have already been seized by marina management after owners stopped paying and walked away. The derelicts will theoretically be auctioned off, but it’s hard to imagine anyone exchanging real money for moss-and-fern covered disasters, since the boats’ problems are more than cosmetic. (Besides a good scrub and polish, they’ll typically need new sails, engines, upholstery, wiring, plumbing and maybe structural work in addition to the obvious outer-layer makeover.)
So, anyhow, fellow boat owners, please continue to do a caring, responsible job of maintaining your vessel, whether it’s on a trailer in the side yard, in a dry-storage lot or in the water somewhere. Don’t be one of those people, killing the boat you once loved, and at the same time driving the cost of boat storage, moorage and insurance up for everyone else due to your shameful behavior as a boat owner.
Brace yourself: Here are the photos…
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I suspect that slips and space on the hard around the Chesapeake are dear enough that most boats that are "abandoned" in a marina get removed, one way or another, before they can grow a tree or a garden. And if left in the water without a bubbler and a cover, ice and/or snow will eventually finish it off. Something to be grateful for? I have gotten some good deals on orphaned dinghies, and I know a guy who did very well by adopting a wayward Hunter 31 -- just for getting it out of the marina's hair. But the legal part -- getting the title to one of these boats -- is a major headache for the yards.
This situation is, indeed, sad. It is also, not a new issue. I clearly remember as a young teenager seeing many aging boats at the marina where my Dad kept our boat. This was early - mid 60's. They were at once fascinating to see and a little scary. But mostly it was simply sad to see these, mostly classic wood, boats so absolutely neglected. Never visited, and certainly not safe to go to sea on. More than a few times we'd arrive at the marina to see one of these boats sunk, sitting on the bottom, and still in the slip. It is certainly a wonder that so many people will pay to keep such a boat. But it's also a wonder how so many of us pay so much to keep our boats in tip-top shape when we know that they are a poor investment. Dreams manifest themselves in many ways.