Action on a growing problem…..zombie boats

Why not tickets for littering? That double every two weeks. They know who owns them.
 
Pirate Lady said:
Tell me if wrong. If I sand off the vin on hull which is easy and takes 2 minutes, who will know?
Click to expand...

maybe, but I bet there’s lots of boats with FL numbers and VINs out there. And documents and papers in the trash inside with their name on them. It sure beats spending $5k/boat of the taxpayers’ cash.
 
They should just make it easy for others to claim these boats. No numbers on the hull, then it's free for anyone to claim it and assume ownership.

If there are numbers on the hull, fine the owner $10K and give the boat to a new owner.

This doesn't have to be difficult, nor a burden for the taxpayer.
 
The frequent problem is, these POS sailboats are homes to a lot of people especially down here in FL. These guys live on these derelict boats and when they finally sink, they just move on. You could spend time and money trying to track them down, take them to court and win a judgement forcing them to remove it but in the end it's not going to happen because they have nothing to begin with. No money, no job, no assets. So now you've wasted time and money and in the end the taxpayer is still stuck with the bill to remove the boat from the waterway.
 
There's a few in Wilmington river area by us. Small capsized sailboats.

Saw on in the Sebastian river while fishing down there a few weeks ago.

We have been getting alit of transient sails at our marina lately. A mixed bag of derelicts and some really well maintained ones. Same with the folks on board...
 
Pirate Lady said:
Tell me if wrong. If I sand off the vin on hull which is easy and takes 2 minutes, who will know?
Serious, past that, the marina I am in collects and stores junk boats on land for crush and disposal. From the county. However, these junk sit on land for about 2 years before they can be crushed because they have to find the owners . It’s a legal mess. I should take pictures, you guys would not believe the junk on land at marina. This weekend I will.
Click to expand...
Let me know if they have any O'DAY sailboats. I could use the parts.
 
Walked out on my porch today and spot a new sailboat in the harbor. I enjoy seeing these, but my first thought is: "how long will this one stay?"

I also like how every sail boater known to man has a composting toilet that "doesn't require a pump-out"...
 
Glad to see this being dealt with, seems like all over Florida its an ongoing (growing) issue.

Hate that the government is having to pay to remove, but can see where tracking down an owner could be an impossible, impractical exercise.
 
Yeah, what about the derelict owners? It's not uncommon to see an old woodie (that's what she said) on the James River, sometimes they burn them, which is quite an event.

Agreed that even if you could find the owner good luck getting them to do anything or pay a fine. Leaving the boat there already answers that question.

On a more exciting note, the James River Ghost Fleet is amazing to cruise by:

https://www.maritime.dot.gov/history/vessels-maritime-administration/james-river-reserve-fleet
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,186
Messages
1,428,174
Members
61,097
Latest member
Mdeluca407
Back
Top