Boat Removed from a Garage After 51 Years
Over the years the Boatbreakers team is well used to dealing with boats that haven’t moved for a number of years. This week we collected a boat that has been sat in a garage for 51 years. She was an Aluminium hull former lifeboat which has since spent half a century in a Kent garage.
The owner had been working on the former lifeboat in his garage until he sadly passed away. It was his family that contacted us to arrange for her collection. It’s always a shame when we deal with boats because the owner has passed away. Our team always try to make the process as simple as possible so we don’t add to any grief.
Man-handle the Boat
As the boat appeared fairly small in the pictures (about 16ft) we didn’t see it presenting too many problems. When a boat is light and can be man handled you know there shouldn’t be too many issues loading. Access to the garage was also quite roomy so we had lots of room to get the trailer close.
Steve had jacked the boat up using a carjack, then propped the boat’s bow up with some of the wooden blocks available from the garage. Next we reversed the boat trailer and attached the winch to boat’s hull. Carefully we winched the boat up and onto the roller trailer. With one of us winching and the other keeping the back of the boat upright she loaded her in no time. Our main aim was to make sure we didn’t damage the family’s garage.
Quick Removal
The ladies who had arranged for us to collect the boat were surprised that we manage to pluck the boat out in such a short space of time. I’m sure it was an emotional moment to see the boat pulled out of the garage. As the boat has probably been there their entire lives.
After a leisurely drive back down to Portsmouth we unloaded the boat at our yard. Because of her condition we thought it would be such a shame to put her straight in the scrap bin for the aluminium. So the team decided to share her on the Boat Scrapyard Group to see if anyone wanted to save her. Hopefully one of them gives her a new garage to spend some more time in and maybe even see the sea!
