Rotten Wooden Fishing Boat Disposal in Portsmouth Harbour

Boatbreakers had another marine recycling and boat disposal mission to arrange. This time it was a rotten wooden fishing boat in Portsmouth Harbour.

For the Boat disposal team there are always two types of boat we don’t enjoy disposing of. They are wooden boats and the boats that have obviously been used regularly by their owners. First of all wooden boats just have a different character to them that the GRP boats just don’t seem to have. And when it’s clear the owner has loved and used the boat regularly it’s a shame when it’s time to scrap.

This rotten wooden fishing boat ticked both those boxes. She was pulled out of the water by her owners for some summer maintenance. She was even booked to go back into the water a few weeks later. However when the boat was blocked up in the yard it became clear she needed extensive repairs. Whilst repainting the hull the owner had found large areas of rot. Even her supporting beams were soft in places and you could easily put a finger through her hull.

Her owners made a quick decision and decided that the boat was now passed the point of economic repair. Just the areas of rot that you could see would have taken months of work and skilled repairs. All of which would run further costs both for the repair and for the storage.

Our boat disposal plan was fairly straightforward. We stripped any of the items that were worth having. From this boat we had some electronics, the engine, fishing rod holders, batteries, and a winch. Her engine seemed to be in fantastic condition and was sold to a local boat building company. It’s always important for us to reuse and recycle as many boat bits as possible. Marine items can be so expensive we try to pass on as many bargains as we can.