Our Boat Scrapyard Facebook Group
Lockdown in the UK
During the Covid 19 Lockdown period in the UK our boat breaking enquiries rightly took a back seat. Our office staff were placed on Furlough to help get the business through a tough patch. All our potential work dried up over night in what would usually be our busiest period of the year.
However for the Boatbreakers team it wasn’t all doom and gloom. We set up a Facebook Group called Boat Scrapyard to run alongside our Facebook page. The idea of the group is to let the members know what we have coming in. This in turn should then help us find homes for the boat bits we recycle and salvage.
Member Target
Initially the long term target was to reach 1000 members. We decided that once we got to our target we would do a giveaway to reward the members. To our surprise we hit 1000 fairly quickly and as lockdown went on our numbers grew rapidly. At the time of writing we’ve just gone past 7800 members. Every 500 members we do more giveaways to reward the growth of the group.
Our lockdown project has not only helped pass any potential boredom. For the team but also it has given us a new asset going forward. The size of the group filled with boaty people means we have an active hub of advice, opinions and more importantly for the business buyers. It also means that when we feature in video content, TV, Radio, Magazines or New articles we can share them to the group.
Perks of Joining
As other businesses or marine professionals have joined the group we have tried to make sure the members get some perks. So far these included 50% off of listing boats for sale on Boats and Outboards and discounted entry to a Boat Jumble in Essex.
It isn’t just our stuff that is listed on there. We also encourage members to list their items for sale or request parts they are looking for.
Eventually we want to build up the Boat Scrapyard website so it becomes a mini boaty eBay.
Written By: Luke Edney
Luke completed a journalism degree in Brighton University and fortunately for us uses this in his communications, Facebook posts, Tweets and emails to tell all our enquirers and followers what we are up to. Without Luke we would be lost, he runs the office, keeps us organised and is like a terrier and never lets a tricky boat disposal job go un-photographed or Tweeted about.
He also manages all of our enquiries passing them to whoever in the team is the best suited to deal with it. We are teaching Luke how to drive a motorboat or sail a yacht so while he’s learning we suggest you keep out of the Solent!
When he’s not at work he’s a massive football fan (his Dad used to play for Portsmouth FC years ago) and seems to know everything there is to know about any player, anywhere. Next time you ring and he answers, think of a tricky football trivia question and ask him
Date Published: June 26, 2020
Last Modified: June 28, 2022
Related Articles
Published On: April 3rd, 2020Scrapheap Challenges What happens to old boats? It isn’t something many boat owners ever think about. Why should they? It’s an issue even the marine industry has done its best to ignore. Until somebody comes to scrap their vessel with us at Boatbreakers many owners will think that [...]
Published On: November 21st, 2023One of our most successful Boatbreakers Youtube videos has been featured by the Bored Panda group. Our video of the Sunken Boat Salvage currently has over 1.2 million views.
Published On: February 4th, 2020For a long time it had seemed to our Boatbreakers team that we were the only people talking about end of use boats.
Published On: October 10th, 2019Our head of Communications Luke (Me) is running this year's Great South Run in Portsmouth. Together with his girlfriend Hayleigh they are hoping to raise money for the Rowans.