Yacht Disposal: Scrap Boats Never Come Quietly
There’s never a dull day in Boat Breaking. We remove boats from all sorts of locations from driveways to riverbeds, so when we were asked to scrap a boat that is still in the water in Portsmouth Harbour we were happy to help. The yacht had been unused for a number of years and with mooring fee renewals around the corner it was time for the boat to go.
In terms of location our latest scrap boat could not be in a more ideal position. The yacht was moored off of Whale Island in Portsmouth Harbour and as the crow flies was only 1 mile away from our scrap yard. Her outboard engine seemed in good condition and had been demonstrated by her previous owner when we had first visited the boat. With the sun shining and the waters calm all we needed to wait for was the high tide. What could possibly go wrong?
We arrived at the boat 30 minutes before high tide with everything we needed. The outboard was topped up to give us plenty of fuel for our short trip around the harbour to the yard. One pull on the outboard pull cord and she started like a dream just as she had done on our first visit to the boat a week earlier. But then disaster struck, it’s like these old boats know where this journey is going to take them and they suddenly stop playing ball. With a slight stutter and puff of smoke the outboard cut out.
Our team quickly removed the lid of the outboard to try and diagnose the problem but it wasn’t clear what had caused the loss of power. After numerous attempts to spark her into life and even the back up outboard deciding it didn’t fancy working we were starting to wonder if this job was jinxed. An hour had now passed and nothing was making this yacht budge, a contingency plan was discussed to come back the next day with one of our own outboards but we both knew the weather was forecast to be awful.
Then cometh the hour cometh the fisherman. A week previous when we first visited the yacht we got talking to one of the owners of another boat who regularly comes to his mooring to sit and go fishing. We explained the trouble we’d encountered with the two outboards and how we were going to return the next day with our own engine. However in true knight-in-shining-armour fashion he then offered to tow us around to the yard. Result!
We quickly prepared the yacht for the move, we were tied up to the port side of his fishing boat and we were soon away from the Whale Island. With a frustrating few hours behind us we now had time to relax, the sun was still shining and the water was like a millpond it really didn’t seem like February.
Despite the distance from start to finish of the journey being just over a mile the actual trip was closer to over 3 miles due to the channels in the harbour. After a 40 minute cruise we had reached our yard, thankfully the tide was still high and we came alongside and secured the yacht. We then waved goodbye to our saviour on the day complete with the length of chain he had requested as payment for the trip (Also special mention to the club he is associated with www.lhfa.co.uk).
Our team at the yard had the crane waiting to lift the yacht out of the water and with relative ease we dipped the strops in and under the yacht’s hull. Once out of the water the yacht was placed in our queue of boats waiting to be chopped up by our team of Boat Breakers. Any materials that can be recycled will be removed and re used but like all of our other scrap boats the waste Fibre glass still has to end up in landfill.
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: February 15, 2016
Last Modified: June 28, 2022
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