In Bad Economy, Boat Owners Abandon Their Vessels

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

In bad economy, boat owners abandon their vessels

By MALIA WOLLAN (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
November 13, 2008 9:39 PM EST

SAN FRANCISCO - From Southern California to Maine, the foundering economy, high fuel prices and poor fishing have driven boat owners to abandon perhaps thousands of vessels on the waterfront, where they are beginning to break up and sink, leaking oil and other pollutants. Boats have long been a barometer of consumer confidence, disposable income and the overall state of the economy. Now, marina and harbor officials are reporting a sudden increase in the past year in the number of deserted pleasure boats and working vessels.

In Antioch, a town about 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of San Francisco, harbormaster John Cruger-Hansen showed up at his marina one day last spring to find the horizon changed overnight. On the San Joaquin River, he saw an old crane, a rusted barge, a tugboat and an assortment of other junked boats, all of which had been hauled in and left illegally. "Boating is a pure luxury and one of the first things to go when the economy turns south," said Cruger-Hansen, who expects to see more abandoned boats by year's end. "If it comes to the point of putting food on the table or paying the boat slip fee, it's the boat that goes."

Unlike cars, wooden and fiberglass boats have virtually no scrap value. So rather than pay the high cost of hauling their boats to the dump, people ditch them or sell them for as little as $1 to anyone who will take them. The boats often break up and go under, or pass into the underground economy of nighttime scuttlers- who, for a fee, remove traceable identification numbers, strip out salvageable items and sink the vessels.

"Oil, gasoline and sewage from these boat leaks into the aquatic environment," said Sejal Choksi, program director at San Francisco Baykeeper, an environmental organization. Boat paint often contains chromium, lead, mercury and other toxic chemicals, and as a vessel deteriorates, the coating flakes off and settles on the sea floor or river bottom, where fish swallow it, Choksi said.

Read more: http://enews.earthlink.net/article/nat?guid=20081113/491bb450_3421_133452008111331222005

[Journeyman]

1. Even in the best of times, a boat is little more than a hole in the water. . .

into which the owner throws money.

[Stevie_66]

3. Awwww

I don't believe it's between the boat slip fees and eating. They can store the boat in a storage unit cheaper, until things get better. I don't think good boats are being tossed, only the ones that were broken or damaged to begin with. Anyone who has a decent boat would either sell it or store it.

[Demeter]

2. What a Sad State of Affairs

[bertman]

4. BOAT: break out another thousand. Reading this thread makes me glad my boat is on a

trailer sitting idle in a storage lot waiting for my eventual return. Yay.

[arcadian]

5. Cheap living accommodations.

You can find places with slip fees as little as $100 a month