Where do old boats go to die??

NoWakey

NoWakey

New Member
Oct 10, 2006
144
Des Moines, Iowa
I was driving down the interstate today and saw a flatbed full of crushed cars going the other way. The thought struck me, what in the world happens with fiberglass boats (of any size) when its finally time for them to die. You can't just put them in a crusher and then melt them down only to come back as next years new boat.
If anyone has any knowledge on the subject I would enjoy hearing it.

Cheers,

Jim
 
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I dont know about fiberglass boats, but some of the larger boats are sank to make reefs. I have seen a few fiberglass boats at the dump. I am assuming they just burn them, or burry them.
 
This is one of the problems the marine business has encountered since the advent of fiberglass construction in the late 60's.... they often dont ever die, especially the larger ones. This has an impact on the demand for "new" boats since there are so many used boats out there. Eventually some are cut up but most of them keep going and going and going.
 
I just wonder if there are any companies that pick them up as scrap, strip any metal parts and wiring, and then effectively cut and grind them up. I'm not sure what the by-product use would be but you would think that the shredded fiberglass could be sold as some kind of filler in asphalt or something??
 
There is a place near my house that has 100s of little runabouts sitting in a field.
 
I think all of the old boats go to die/retire in backyards of Alabama. The front yards are reserved for old chevy's and Fords.
 
Some of them get ground up and go here.

http://transomrepair.com/zk/

I helped with a transom rebuild and we got bags of "boats" to add to the resin and catalyst to create a pourable transom material. Worked great to replace rotten wood.
 
jwfoster4 said:
Some of them get ground up and go here.

http://transomrepair.com/zk/

I helped with a transom rebuild and we got bags of "boats" to add to the resin and catalyst to create a pourable transom material. Worked great to replace rotten wood.
Click to expand...

..and it doesn't cause blindness unlike some other activity that mom warned the boys about.

Best regards,
Frank C
 
I have a friend that sometimes bids on salvage jobs and he told me about a project where he had to bust up some old boats to be hauled away because the marina was going to be "developed". The wooden boats were easy but the fiberglass boats were like squeezing a whole egg in your hand. He would run his front end loader at them and would ride over them without them really breaking up. He said he had to do a lot of sawing to get the process moving. I guess thats why we hear that boats need to go to the burn pile.

Eddie
 
they dont go to heaven where the angels fly...
 
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