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The disturbing trend of neglected boats around New Zealand


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That may be what the article is referring to, but if it is it seems like a bit of a lazy characterization of what the thread is about.

 

The headline proclaims there's a "disturbing trend" but does little to actually validate that. As they say "All the boats that have come into Kaikoura we've been able to eventually find owners for, or the owners haven't abandoned it in the first place."

 

I'm more than willing to believe that there is such a trend, but of course demonstrating that would require actual journalism. Good luck with that.

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Hi

I think we would all agree there are some dodgy boats out there left to rot for whatever reason. There are a few around my yacht that have not been maintained for years. Boats are cheaper now and with newer boats coming down in price the older boats are not popular inmany cases. Like everything in life a boat has a life span and maintaining costs money. Hopefully my yacht will be a classic but I feel we all think that of our own boat.

For responsible people they make a call and either sell the boat or dispose of it. Not everyone does that and in so me cases when a person passes away the existence of the old boat may be unknown to the family.

Yes old boats can be a problem and this is not unique to NZ. At the end of the day it comes down to personal responsibility.


https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/94332503/call-out-for-owners-of-abandoned-vessels-in-whitianga-harbour

https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/north-otago/abandoned-boat-be-removed-harbour

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Hi

 

I think we would all agree there are some dodgy boats out there left to rot for whatever reason. There are a few around my yacht that have not been maintained for years. Boats are cheaper now and with newer boats coming down in price the older boats are not popular inmany cases. Like everything in life a boat has a life span and maintaining costs money. Hopefully my yacht will be a classic but I feel we all think that of our own boat.

 

For responsible people they make a call and either sell the boat or dispose of it. Not everyone does that and in so me cases when a person passes away the existence of the old boat may be unknown to the family.

 

Yes old boats can be a problem and this is not unique to NZ. At the end of the day it comes down to personal responsibility.

 

 

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/94332503/call-out-for-owners-of-abandoned-vessels-in-whitianga-harbour

 

https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/north-otago/abandoned-boat-be-removed-harbour

There have always been derelict boats probably since Viking days. I guess in the pre fiberglass/ferro/steel/aluminium era  there was only wood and they were bio degradable so they sank eventually or perhaps got burnt. Without hard data you cant say if the problem is worse that it has been in the past but I think what you can say is that you cant simply run them up a creek at high tide and abandon them anymore. Certainly fiberglass boats may deteriorate but they wont rot away in our lifetime and you cant burn em. This is a problem in the US as the boats of the production boom years of the 70's and 80's reach the end of their life cycle.

 

http://boatingindustry.com/top-stories/2017/01/12/aging-recycling-hulls-a-looming-crisis/

 

Fibreglass can be re-cycled or up cycled. There are plenty of tired fibreglass boats out there, not derelict as such  but certainly needing a lot of money spent on them to overcome a decade or three of deferred maintenance and equipment upgrades. Is it economic or should you just dump it on the market and hope someone will buy it ? It is a cluttered market though and prices are substantially depressed over what they were say 5 years back. Charter companies exiting fleet stock, older European Production boats and imported vessels that have cruised here from Europe or the US continually add to the older NZ production stock. With all the other factors in play  its hard to see an uplift in values anytime soon. Good if you are a Buyer I suppose. BTW try Whangarei or Opua located listings for a mix that's a bit different from the Auckland listings. 

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