New Rules in Florida for Derelict Boats

Comments · 334

• PR

  @practical-sailor · 2 months ago (edited) · pinned

  Some of the b-roll isn’t Florida. It can be hard to find enough illustration sometimes so we have to cast a wider net. Apologies. You’ll see some of Sardinia which is near fully restored beautifully now, an excellent example of a saved boat 👏

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• TI

  @timsouza7903 · 2 months ago

  Just sold a 35 foot sailing vessel to a guy who went on a reign of terror banging into this and that boat and beaching his boat multiple times, abandoning ship leaving passengers on board, but before that all happened, I contacted the US Coast Guard did a deletion of vessel with the bill of sale, contacted the state and transferred the registration to this person and got him off my insurance… all that to say as soon as you sell a boat, get yourself squared away legally with the authorities.

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• JO

  @johnnylightning1491 · 2 months ago

  This is the same issue lots of RVs have, they get old and and aren't worth the money to repair.  Now if someone can just figure our how to recycle fiberglass.  Keep the good stuff coming.

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• MI

  @michaelpacnw2419 · 2 months ago (edited)

  I used to anchor in a little bay close to my mothers house and I'd go visit her for a day or two before returning and sailing home (on a good day it was actually quicker to sail to her house than it was to drive around the Puget Sound). My boat was never dirty or junky looking, but I'd still get the stink eye from the waterfront property owners because there were a couple of derelict boats anchored there that had been there for years... then one day after a storm a derelict boat drifted in and was trying to beach itself on an elderly couples beach so without being asked I took my dinghy to shore, roped the boat and towed it down the beach 100 yards to a public access boat ramp and let it beach itself there where the state would have to deal with it.. The elderly couple later told me that the last time a derelict beached itself on their property Washington's version of the EPA made them remove it personally and it cost them close to $15,000. After that I was the new golden boy. Word got around the bay and every time I anchored there people would row out to thank me and more than once brought me dinner!(it seems it was a constant problem there because of the prevailing wind direction).

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• SI

  @Sixbears · 2 months ago

  Had to abandon our sailboat in a Florida almost 20 years ago. We ran aground and broke up in a storm due to misplaced channel markers. Cost $18,000 to remove the wreck. I had liability insurance and it covered the cost. Glad I'd done the responsible thing and the insurance cost was very reasonable.

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• FI

  @fitness4mind · 2 months ago

  "That derelict boat is another one's broken dream. Don't let it become your nightmare."

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• AM

  @AM-jw1lo · 2 months ago

  long overdue, i like the title holder is responsible.

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• PA

  @pauloakwood9208 · 2 months ago (edited)

  In most parts of the world, if a boat is derelict or abandoned, whoever tows it in to the nearest port takes legal possession. In Florida, they changed that practice to keep owners from losing boats that had been dragged by a hurricane. The unintended consequence is that there are no longer any technically abandoned or derelict boats.

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• ST

  @SteveLenthe · 2 months ago

  Absolutely love the Keys. Could see living there under different financial conditions. Last time there we stayed gulf side in Tavernier and it was a real trip to see the mix of live aboards and abandoned vessels and a long lost relative of Hemmingway.

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• MI

  @mikewhitfield2994 · 2 months ago

  Same is true everywhere.  In late 70s Tennessee one of my best friends bought a 13' runabout for $100.  Dude had sold the outboard, the trailer, the seats, the steering (except the wheel), pretty much everything but the fiberglass hull.  My buddy bought in and we loaded it on and off his pickup as a very wide, very heavy cartopper.  That worked out great because the boat had no floatation and in spite of its age was all fiberglass, no soft floors, weak or rotted transom, waterlogged foam, etc.

• NO

  @nonplayercharacter6478 · 1 month ago

  That footage starting at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLzhSyO1AO0&amp;t=191">3:11</a> is from an almost derelict boat called Serinda in the UK, taken a bit over 5 years ago, it&apos;s an old WWII Navel vessel. &nbsp;A couple bought it around then, and it has since been almost fully restored. &nbsp; They&apos;ve been doing it here on &quot;Ship Happens&quot;, replacing the rotten wood in place, plank by plank. &nbsp;It&apos;s now a great looking boat and will soon be leaving that boat graveyard under it&apos;s own power.

• DR

  @dr.christopherburnham3282 · 2 months ago

  It’s all about the $$$. &nbsp;In Palm beach, they only towed off the boats they thought the owners had the money to pay bail for the release of the boat. &nbsp;The derelicts are all still there, and they won’t be touched until they sink then the contractors get 10-15k to salvage them off the bottom.

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