How to give away a boat?

[clakiep]

Advertise it very reasonable priced indicating the possibility to pay in installments. If and when the right person shows up, really interested in having it, You are free to change price and conditions.

Capt. Claus - ocean tramp of the eighties

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Lionshooter

Just an observation learned from the military. When all else fails, drive out to deep water, cut the hoses of the through-hulls, blow a few holes through the cabin sole with a shotgun loaded with 00-buck. Hop in your dinghy and go home. The fish will love their new reef. Problem solved.

Of course that is after you have removed all fuels and oils and steam cleaned the inside of the tanks and engines and properly disposed of the contaminants .... right ?

[gbowen]

I accepted a few boats while in charge of the Marine Technology Center in Juneau, Alaska. We had moorage at a dock and a Travelift. They were used in classwork and eventually sold. The valuation was the responsibility of the donor. The USCG has a bill of sale form that I would recommend for any actual sale.

I sold a 52 ft LOA boat in 2011. Just getting too old and my greatest fear was that it would be stripped of all its gear and fittings and then abandoned. Since I had spent 10 years building it, that would have been more than I could stand. The 3 cylinder Yanmar only had 300 hours on it.

It is hard to believe somebody would not purchase this boat. In my youth, I would have jumped on it. Are we so prosperous that we can pass up an opportunity to get on the water like this?

My deceased father-in-laws boat was given away. It was a cute Bill Garden design. I would like to see it again (I think). It was wooden and built of yellow cedar. It might be in the Pt Townsend area. It was called "The Puffin". It was in good shape. The sons just could not manage a boat in their lives.

Best wishes and good luck!

[Shanachie]

The problem, at least where I live in Florida, is that so many boats at the end of their useful lives become crash pads for homeless people who end up polluting good anchorages and angering the people who live nearby.


They are the nautical equivalent of someone living in the bushes near your home. This is not a political issue. It's not appealing, whether you're conservative or liberal.



So a good thought is not to give away the boat to someone with no visible means of support or the means to bring the boat back from the near-dead.


I wish someone would come up with a way to make money recycling used-up boats. Think of what it's going to be like when all of the cheap powerboats out there now are used up in 10 or 15 years.

[Talk Story]

Treat it like a normal sale by signing over the title, complete a bill of sale and sell it for $1. Some states require a monetary exchange for a sale to be valid. Almost free.

[nortonscove]

I'm thinking experience is the only indication of what they might know. Conversation might help weed out the dreamers from the doers.

[miketo]

Non-profit of some kind. Our local university yacht club accepted donated boats and the students would fix them up and then use them for teaching, cruising, etc. That way your boat's life has a greater long-term impact than giving it to one person looking for a project boat.

[dreadpiratk]

Originally Posted by Shanachie

The problem, at least where I live in Florida, is that so many boats at the end of their useful lives become crash pads for homeless people who end up polluting good anchorages and angering the people who live nearby.


They are the nautical equivalent of someone living in the bushes near your home. This is not a political issue. It's not appealing, whether you're conservative or liberal.



So a good thought is not to give away the boat to someone with no visible means of support or the means to bring the boat back from the near-dead.


I wish someone would come up with a way to make money recycling used-up boats. Think of what it's going to be like when all of the cheap powerboats out there now are used up in 10 or 15 years.

One of the very few advantages to living up here in the frozen north is that living on a boat is unattractive or impossible 6 months of the year and there are few if any ‘free’ anchorages on the Great Lakes.

We’ve had a few inquiries from people who wanted to use it as a dock side cabin essentially, until they found out how much dockage costs, on top of winter storage fees. Boats just aren’t a cheaper alternative to anything up here.

I suspect though that many of the abandoned boats down south started life up here and migrated south before giving out entirely.

[oleman]

I have various low value, to me, items that I have gotten rid of over the years.
I discovered early on that if I set some sort of sale price I will get more possible interested persons who probably understand the item.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by dreadpiratk

Yeah, I know, just find someone and give it to them! Not that simple. I need to find someone who understands how expensive a free boat can be, and will actually do something with the boat. Any thoughts on how to weed out those who’s brains stop working when they hear the word ‘free’ from those who legitimately want a decent project boat and will actually follow through? The boat is currently on the hard in our marina and I very much do not want it to get abandoned there when reality slaps the new owner in the face.

See if you can't find an organization to donate it to. Sea Scouts for example. If it is in reasonable condition. If it is junk you own it.

[Scorpius]

This is a question I ask myself and face. I am sure that in a few years I will no longer be physically able to sail Scorpius. There are too many "Yard Queens" (another thread on here) that are just sitting deteriorating and will eventually have to be destroyed - often at the yard's expense - and I am sufficiently fond of both Scorpius and the folks who run this place not to allow things to go that route. I've asked my adult children (who spent some wonderful time on her in their youth) but they are too busy with their own children and careers to take her on.

So, a couple of years ago, I started keeping a list of people who appeared to show a genuine interest in Scorpius as we cruised. I've also spoken to the builder - a phenonomal welder, metal worker and metal sculptor - although not yet on this topic (I'm constrained by Covid restrictions from going and seeing him). I think Scorpius was the only largish boat he ever built.

When the time comes I will have a list of people to call and see if anyone wants her. (If anyone reading this wishes to be added to the list, PM me). If not, I suspect I will go the charity route if that's available around here.

[Dooglas]

Originally Posted by CarlF

I would definitely use a charity. The charity insulates you from all the crazies who are looking for free stuff. They will exhaust you. And there's also no legal worries that it will somehow come back to haunt you.

A great option is the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. All the money raised goes to training future American merchant seamen and women. A noble cause.

Giving to a charity presumes that there is still value that can be realized from the vessel. Charities which accept boats are getting pretty savvy at not getting stuck with one which is nothing but a large disposal cost. And that is beyond the fact that few of us would want to go to the Sea Scouts or another organization that is trying to do good things and talk them into taking an old boat which would only cost them money - even if they were naïve enough to accept it.

[Lateral Hazard]

Just a quick happened today storys. Guy buys a 29 ft sailboat for $50.00 here in Carolina Beach. Stays at a slip here until he is told you have to insurance. Cannot afford it so starts to anchor out. He is living the life taking beautiful pictures of the sunrise etc.
Today I see a post by a homeowner who lives on the waterway saying there is a giant oil slick all up and down the docks. Seems town told him he had to move, engine was toast so he could not so the past few weeks he has been stripping the boat and it sunk. No one knows what here he is. All you can see in the water is a mast.

[Lateral Hazard]

Sorry about the typing.Finally got. An ipad

[TrentePieds]

Scorpius:

I believe the Handicapped Sailing Association is still viable and operates out of Jericho Sailing Centre in Vancouver. TP came to us via them and I dare say that in the fullness of time she will go back to them :-)


Shanachie:

You said: "I wish someone would come up with a way to make money recycling used-up boats. Think of what it's going to be like when all of the cheap powerboats out there now are used up in 10 or 15 years."

So do I :-) Here in the Salish Sea we do have a bit of a problem. Every so often our Federal Government provides grants from the "General Revenue Fund", i.e from taxes, to sundry local authorities so they can collect and scrap abandoned boats.

But that is only half a solution. Fuels and other chemicals can be recycled through existing channels as can the metal components and any electrical gear left aboard. There are no channels for recycling worn out sails however, but they could presumably enter the stream of waste textiles which, as far as I know, tend to wind up in garbage dumps in undeveloped countries.

The really hard part is the hulls. Given that they are glass reinforced they are, presumably, as dangerous as materials containing asbestos and will need special handling.

The only "technology" that has suggested itself to me is to pulverize the hulls in some machine like an ore crusher and then dispose of the crushed material by mandating that construction contractors must incorporate a certain amount of it in such things a the concrete foundations for large buildings and in road surfacing materials.

I think the long and the short of it is that it will ALWAYS COST money to dispose of unwanted "frozen snot" hulls. I am skeptical that it could ever be made into a money making venture.

What we might do, of course, is mandate that every seller of a new boat be required to collect an "eco fee" sufficiently large to deal with that boat's "end of life" disposal costs. Just as we do with car batteries and such.

I'm sure you can work out for yourself what such a system would to to the supply/demand equation for yachts.

Avanti Popolo ;-0)!

TP