Warrior 35 Yacht Disposal
The latest boat into the Boat Scrapyard for disposal was a Warrior 35 Yacht. It’s always a relief to catch a boat at the point where it could become a major problem. The Warrior 35 was on a mooring in the Hamble River. Her owner who now lived abroad hadn’t been to her in a number of years and the boat was well past the point of economical repair. The main hatches were open or leaking and the boat had taken on a significant amount of rain water.
This type of situation is usually a recipe for a potential sinking. On the Hamble this would have been a nightmare scenario as it would become a navigational hazard on one of the countries busiest rivers for boating. As any visitors to the area know, the Hamble is home to thousands of boats. Furthermore if the boat had gone down it would also been an environmental problem as there was still oils, fuel and other substances on board.
Problem Boat
As well as the other issue it could cause it would also cost so much more to salvage the boat. As soon as divers need to be involved the disposal bill can run into the tens of thousands. So it was within the owner’s interests to deal with the problem boat now.
When we first got the call about the boat it seemed like the usual hallmarks of a boat that has been abandoned for the local authorities to sort. However, credit where it is due, the owner had entrusted a friend to deal with the boat. With the owner’s authority and financial backing the friend was asked to dispose of the boat. After calling the boat disposal team we quickly had a plan.
Eye Watering Lift Costs
All we needed was to get the boat to one of the many cranes on the river. The Hamble has a number of marinas who could easily lift the boat out on to transport. Our decision on which marina to take it came down to cost. Some of the prices were eye watering to say the least. In one yard for a lift out and mast down we were quoted £1,300! And people often ask us why it costs to scrap a boat…
Luckily we did find a more affordable option of around £400. Our boat disposal team always want to try and get some value for the owner when the marinas take chunks out of the scrap budget. Amazingly the cheapest option was a Premier marina. Now there is a sentence we didn’t think we would ever write.
On the day of collection the Harbour master kindly towed the boat down the river to the marina. We think that the Harbour Master was glad to see the back of a potential headache on the river.
Dropping the Mast
The marina team then got the Warrior 35 into the slings and secured her so that the mast could be dropped. After the rigging had been released the mast was carefully lifted away and set aside. The boat was almost ready to leave. But we had one issue, the lorry hadn’t turned up to have her loaded on to.
Unfortunately the lorry had been stuck on a previous job. Wherever the lorry was delivering to before us had had an issue with their crane. This had a domino effect on the drivers schedule and sadly we were the next in line. Luckily the owner’s friend and marina team were extremely understanding. It was agreed to set the boat aside and wait until the lorry was eventually available.
Clearing the Decks
Whilst the boat was sat in the water our team checked her over to see if there was anything worth saving in her. The answer to that question was no. Everywhere you looked the boat was well beyond saving. In addition as she had been open for a number of months anything of value was long gone. We did clear the decks of any loose items that could fall off in transit, including the fenders that were hanging from the guard rails.
She was now ready to leave whenever the lorry could get down to her. Thankfully this was infact the next day so we didn’t have any worried calls from the marina. As planned the boat was delivered to our Boat Scrapyard the following week.
Our boat disposal team are sure that the owner and the friend will now have peace of mind. They now no longer have a fear of getting a call to say the boat has sunk on the river.
