Do old narrow boats go to the breakers yard?

[NB Alnwick]

Jane and I were discussing this the other day as we passed some very rusty boats tied-up near a well known boat yard on the Coventry Canal.

Is there a breakers yard where end-of-life narrow boats are scrapped? Or do they just go on-and-on forever?

Also, one occasionally sees a boat, usually tied-up on the offside, that is clearly quite derelict and uncared for - sometimes part sunken or with all manner of vegetation rapidly encroaching. I often wonder what has happened to the owner (or if the owner's remains could be still inside?) and what may happen to an obviously abandoned boat?

[cuthound]

Back in the 80's my daily commute into London took me past a breakers yard between Raynes Park and Wimbledon railway station, which had a short Springer in it for many years.

[BEngo]

Very few steel narrowboats get scrapped. The only fitting likely to have any value is the engine, if that works. The costs of stripping/cutting them up (time and gas) and the getting the steel to a scrap dealers is close to the scrap value.

 

Overplating is, or can be, relatively, cheap so many boats just become "projects".  Once they become sufficiently abandoned and unlicensed CRT grind through their Section 8 process and hide them in  a field in Scotland or other location as far as practicable remote from where the boat was.  Periodically they auction them off I think.  This restarts the cycle.

N

Edited July 16, 2023 by BEngo

[Alan de Enfield]

Boatbreakers | Buy, Sell, Scrap & Recycle all kind of boats

 

Welcome to Boatscrapyard - The best place for second hand boat bits!

 

Currently very little on NBs but they take 'any boat'.

 

 

Nb for sale "too good for breaking"

45 Springer narrow boat for sale - Boatscrapyard Market Place

Edited July 16, 2023 by Alan de Enfield

[David Mack]

Wooden and grp boats get broken up. BW/CRT used to have a policy of not selling low value boats which they had taken possession of, as they tended to be bought by people with insufficient means to buy anything better, and the whole cycle of abandonment would start again. I assume a few steel boats must end up at a scrapyard, but far more can be seen on the bank at boatyards, a few being overplated and refurbished, many more gathering dust as their owners enthusiasm, time and money prove inadequate for the task.

[Bacchus]

2 hours ago, NB Alnwick said:

 and what may happen to an obviously abandoned boat?

 

 

It goes on eBay as "an easy summer project"

[BWM]

Twenty odd years ago, a small cruiser was served with notices and eventually dragged off the towpath mooring it was on, where it stayed for a few weeks. A 'perspective buyer', (tea leaf?), had a look inside one day and found thousands of dead flies and the remains of its unfortunate owner, a loner, who had worked on the nearby trading estate. 

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

Wooden and grp boats get broken up. BW/CRT used to have a policy of not selling low value boats which they had taken possession of, as they tended to be bought by people with insufficient means to buy anything better, and the whole cycle of abandonment would start again. I assume a few steel boats must end up at a scrapyard, but far more can be seen on the bank at boatyards, a few being overplated and refurbished, many more gathering dust as their owners enthusiasm, time and money prove inadequate for the task.

Obviously no one had told the section 8 yard at Hanwell about this policy, there was a merry go round of semi derelict craft seized and taken there, only to be bought cheaply by the occupiers of the Toll House at Cowley, and returned to within spitting distance of whence they were seized!

[magnetman]

18 hours ago, BEngo said:

 Once they become sufficiently abandoned and unlicensed CRT grind through their Section 8 process and hide them in  a field in Scotland or other location as far as practicable remote from where the boat was.  Periodically they auction them off I think.  This restarts the cycle.

N

Greenwalls farm in Dodleston near Chester is one example. I suspect there are quite a lot of boats there in various states of disrepair. The DEFRA aerial map view shows more than google satellite view. 

 

A company called Commercial Boat Services sometimes have them (S8 boats) for sale on the BoatsandOutboards website. 

[Chris Lowe]

3 hours ago, magnetman said:

Greenwalls farm in Dodleston near Chester is one example. I suspect there are quite a lot of boats there in various states of disrepair. The DEFRA aerial map view shows more than google satellite view. 

 

A company called Commercial Boat Services sometimes have them (S8 boats) for sale on the BoatsandOutboards website. 

 

OS aerial view.

 

[magnetman]

12 minutes ago, buccaneer66 said:

 

OS aerial view.

 

DEFRA Magic map view. I don't know which is more recent.

And google with fewer craft on site.

 

[David Mack]

8 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

And a boats on the left and towards the bottom right which look to be in the process of being broken up.

8 minutes ago, magnetman said:

DEFRA Magic map view. I don't know which is more recent.

The OS and Google photos show a larger area has been cleared for boat storage, so I suggest the Magic view is older.

Edited July 17, 2023 by David Mack

[magnetman]

The area to the right is interesting. I imagine one is not allowed to  burn GRP boats as a way of disposing of them.

 

Presumably they get broken and landfilled.

 

GRP is a bit of a dodgy material in this day and age boats shouldn't really be constructed using it.

 

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by magnetman

[Crewcut]

5 hours ago, magnetman said:

Greenwalls farm in Dodleston near Chester is one example. I suspect there are quite a lot of boats there in various states of disrepair. The DEFRA aerial map view shows more than google satellite view. 

 

A company called Commercial Boat Services sometimes have them (S8 boats) for sale on the BoatsandOutboards website. 

There certainly are I was there a few weeks ago. They were quite open about some of them being repo's. They arrange to meet you at a nearby garage so they can check you out before allowing you on their site due to break-ins...

1 hour ago, magnetman said:

The area to the right is interesting. I imagine one is not allowed to  burn GRP boats as a way of disposing of them.

 

Presumably they get broken and landfilled.

 

GRP is a bit of a dodgy material in this day and age boats shouldn't really be constructed using it.

 

 

I believe there are a few companies claiming to recycle fibreglass, but many just litter coastal boatyards and estuaries. I can't see the likes of Jeanneau, Beneteau, Dufour, Bavaria, Hanse et al stopping building fibreglass boats anytime soon...

[enigmatic]

I've seen a few in fields. I believe they fertilise the soil so that new narrowboats may be grown