Sunken Boat Salvage and Scrap for Oxford Uni

This week the boat breakers team were in Oxford, waste deep in the River Thames. We had been asked to remove an abandoned boat from the river by Oxford University. We believe the boat have been dumped in the river and tied up, right in the way of where their rowing teams practice. So after some efforts to try and find the boats rightful owner the students at the Universities rowing club engaged Boatbreakers to remove the boat.

We were told by the students that the boat had been dumped off of a trailer and then tied up by the mystery former owner. It’s our opinion that the owner probably wanted the trailer and needed the boat off of it, which is a common reason why boats are dumped.

Our initial plan was to send a member of the team with a large trailer and tow the boat up onto it. Luckily there was a slipway there with plenty of room around it from manoeuvre. Often on the inland waterways slipways can be tight, narrow, or just have no room for error. But this one looks like we would have enough room to operate and get the boat on. However, there was one snag, when our team turned up it was clear the boat would need to be lifted away as it had two keels, one on either side of the hull. This meant we could not pull the boat up onto our roller trailer as planned.

So our team went away and formalised a new plan. We were going to send the Hiab truck which has a crane arm for self loading. However, before the Hiab truck could be sent. We needed to make sure that as much water was out of the boat as possible. Because on our first trip to her, we could see she was as good as sunk. If the river had been deeper where the boat was moored we are sure she would be underwater. After a couple of hours of pumping, we emptied out the cockpit area of the boat. It’s became clear. Water was rushing back in so we abandoned that attempt to empty her because as soon as we would leave she would just refill. As the Hiab arm had to reach to load the boat it meant that the heavier the boat was the harder the lift.

On the date of collection, our plan was to get a high-pressure pump into the boat to remove as much water as possible. We knew that she was taking on water but we hoped to pump out the water faster than it was coming in. Before our truck arrived to lift her away, our team did get the high-pressure pump going and we did remove vast amounts of water. Although we could still see it coming in. We even tried to attach a rope to the back of the boat and then to our van to give her a gentle pull to see if she would move. But it was clear she was stuck in the mud, probably due to the immense weight of the water inside her. When the Hiab arrived we attached strop to the boat and use the arm to lift the stern.

With the Hiab now lifting the back of the boat it the stern was now above the waterline. It also meant that the keels were finally out of the mud. Now with the rope also still attached to the van we gently pulled her closer towards the slipway. She had initially been tied to another abandoned boat next to some trees. As the boat was moved closer to the slipway, we began to tip her up using the Hiab arm. this meant that any water inside her flooded forwards.

Using the strength of the crane we gently lifted her around to the slipway. We sat her down on her keels in a downwards facing position. Even just sat like this, we could see water rushing out from around the keels. This was obviously where the water was coming in while she was afloat. And it proved our point that if we had tried to pump her out, she just would’ve just refilled.