Scottish Coastal Boatbreakers Collection
Boatbreakers cover the whole of the UK and Ireland. We’ve spent many years plucking boats out of tricky coastal locations across the British Isles. End of life boat disposal always throws up logistical challenges as the boats are usually damaged or wrecked. Often we are collecting boats from parts of the coast that they shouldn’t be in.
However one of our latest jobs presented more Covid related challenges as our simple plan to collect became delayed by the various lockdowns.
Portencross Harbour
At the end of 2020 we had a call from an Insurance company who had a boat they needed collecting. The boat in question was an 18ft Fishing boat which had been damaged in a storm. It was currently sheltered in a small harbour in Portencross on the west coast of Scotland.
When we got the first call it was just before the November lockdown so we weren’t really able to get up to collect her. Simply because our team were not allowed to stay anywhere overnight. Both in England or Scotland.
Time ticked on and approaching Christmas we had another call to confirm that the insurance company wanted to proceed. However again we were slightly stuck as being so close to Christmas our team were already booked up or on the Christmas break.
Full lockdown
Scotland then decided to enter a full lockdown which was swiftly followed by England. This meant we expected to have to wait until restrictions were lifted. The insurance company understood the predicament we found ourselves in and were happy with the arrangements. Similarly the boat’s owner was extremely understanding of the delays and helped to keep the boat empty of any water.
With the job firmly on the back-burner we were having another boat delivered to us when one our friends from up north contacted us. Dubbed “Northern Steve” (to avoid confusion with our own Steve), he is a trader of boats and boat bits based in Warrington.
Friends in the North
Our paths first crossed when he bought a RIB from us a couple of years back. Steve offered to collect the boat for us as he was much closer to Scotland and could comfortably grab her in a one day trip. We of course took him up on this offer and explained our plan on how we were going to collect her.
The plan was to reverse a trailer as close to the boat as possible on the nearby slipway. Then get a rope to the boat and as the tide came in, winch her up and onto the trailer. All very straightforward as long the trailer was set up ready before the tide came in.
Steve was there bright and early and was set up so it was just a matter of letting the tide flow in. He did say that the boat was a slight pain to load as it was heavier than he expected. But this might be down to any excess water she had taken on when she was damaged.
Safely Loaded
With the boat safely loaded Steve then headed south back to his base in Warrington. As you can see from the pictures the conditions in Scotland and the North of England were extremely snowy. But as the boat was already loaded it was just a case of taking the drive steady.
The boat is due to make it down to us sometime in the near future when Steve is heading to the south coast. Once we receive the boat into the scrapyard we will check her over and make a decision on whether to scrap or salvage her.
All the pictures and details about the boat will be shared in our Boat Scrapyard group on Facebook. If you haven’t joined already all are welcome. At the time of writing we’ve just reached 16,500 members.
