Apparently most boats are not abandoned because owners want to get
out of bank loans or are engaging in insurance fraud. The New York
Times story on abandoned boats that I referred to a couple of days
ago contains this passage:

"Marina and maritime officials around the country say they believe,
however, that most of the abandoned vessels cluttering their waters
are fully paid for. They are expensive-to-maintain toys that have
lost their appeal.
The owners cannot sell them, because the secondhand market is
overwhelmed. They cannot afford to spend hundreds of dollars a month
mooring and maintaining them. And they do not have the thousands of
dollars required to properly dispose of them."

This was confirmed today by the owner of the boat yard where my
trawler is laid up for winter storage. He stated that every year
boats are abandoned in his yard while still on the blocks. Owners in
financial trouble cannot pay their yard fees and simply walk away
from their toy. The yard is located in the middle of IBM territory
and a number of employees keep their boats in the yard. When the
employee is transferred (or loses his job) the boats are often just
left. Simply walking away from the boat has happened quite frequently
over the last couple of years as IBM and other technology employers
are downsizing.

My own fairly small trawler costs me about $3500 per year in fixed
fees. That's before any maintenance, painting, marina fees and
cruising costs are added on. I estimate the overall cost for the joy
of being on the water is about $7000 a year exclusive of major
repairs. Last year a new shaft and bearing job cost me over $5000. It
would be an expensive toy to support if I was worried about my job.

The normal recourse of the yard owner is to slap a mechanic's lien on
the boat and prevent the boat owner from removing it until the bill
is paid. But that doesn't seem to bother most who have left their
boats. Often the boat is worth less than the accumulated bill. Even a
charity donation is difficult since charities are reluctant to take
boats they can't sell. The yard owner has become a de facto broker.
He has resorted to posting a list of boats whose owners are behind in
their bills and tries to arrange a sale between potential buyers and
debtors. Often the boat sells at a small fraction of its value in a
normal market. That way everyone is happy. The boat owner is rid of
the financial albatross. The yard owner gets paid. The buyer gets a
bargain.

Larry Z

I have seen this happen so many times over the years at my marina. One of
the reasons they won't accept any wood boats any more. Like Larry said many
times the owners of older boats take a hike leave the boat as it's cheaper
to walk. You have a few thousand dollar boat and between the marina bills
and anything major needed on the boat you're quickly over the value of it.
Since you didn't have the money for the marina you certainnly don't have
enough for any repairs and they walk. The problem for the marina is most
times they also can't get they're money out of the boat and at some point
incur the cost of cutting it up. In effect they lose twice, didn't get
they're legitamate bill payed then they pay for disposal. Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lawrence Zeitlin" lrzeitlin@aol.com
To: trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com
Cc: "Lawrence Zeitlin" lrzeitlin@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 11:10 AM
Subject: Re: T&T: Abandoned boats on the hard