Boat dismantling???

[Stevyboy]

HOwdy,
So i've got this 24 foot sailboat on the side of my house. It's not worth fixing up for me so i was thinking about junking the boat and taking the lead ballast to a metal scrap yard. I heard that lead was going for .88 cents a pound and I'd probably be able to make $1200 selling the lead.

My question is... has anyone done this before?? What would be the best way to detatch the fixed lead keep from the boat? I was thinking I'd be using a combination of chainsaw and a sawsall... Can anyone give me any pointers on this?

Steve

[NOLAsailing]

Brace the keel very, very well. Build a support around it.

Then, break out the Sawzall. Start with the cabin top, cut out the interior, cut the hull. Have a disposal company drop off a trash container and go to town. Prepare to itch.

[L02314564]

Before you do the cutting, make sure the hull is properly supported. The hull might fall down over the keel which could prove to be disastrous. A friend of mine hung his boat on some straps before cutting the keel off. Then lowered the boat onto a trailer to haul it to the local land fill where the dozer driver crushed it into a million pieces.

At the time, he was paid $0.74 per pound. I was quoted $0.86 per pound in Waco, TX. I guess lead is pretty hard to find?

Good luck and take some pics to show how you did it.

[gezzer]

You may be able to get rid of it whole charged by weight. Up my way $110 a ton plus hauling fee from boat mover.

[sailingdog]

Gezzer-

Given the price for lead, it is probably better to sell the keel to a metal dealer.

[lowtide]

stevyboy

I'm glad you asked this question as a friend has an identical sistership to mine in his yard. The topsides and interior are beyond help but the rig is perfect.

All I have to do to have a spare mast, boom, stanchions, pulpits, etc. is haul the rest of it off. I had considered the project cost as entirely negative, but selling the lead would put me in the black with a spare rig.

The boat is 25', and I have a trailer for mine. I'm wondering if it would be easier to cut up on the trailer with support on many areas of the boat, as at least then I could accomplish it in my yard instead of his. I'm thinking cutting up a 25' boat is going to leave a pretty good mess no matter how you do it.

[Stevyboy]

I've talked to a couple of yards here in my hometown, Bakersfield California. One yard offered me .10 cents a pound and the other offered .40 cents a pound if the lead is clean?? I'm guessing since my lead isn't going to be clean i might not get that deal but at least i'm going to be getting rid of the boat and paying for the gas in my truck to get it over there.

So my plan is just going to be to just send the boat over there this weekend and have some metal scrap yard deal with my boat and hopefully get paid a little. The best part about it is that I get to keep all of the good spares off of the boat such as the winches, mast, rigging... ect. Hopefully over the next year i can get some extra money here and there from those and maybe help someone else out by giving them a good deal on the stuff since it's just going to be junk to me.

Thanks for all of the tips. I personally would probably just rent the dumpster and cut the boat up but I'm 22 and living at my dad's house over the summer and he doesn't want the mess so it's pretty much up to him.

Thanks again.

Stevy

P.S. i'm going to take some pictures of the event anyways for whoever wants to see.

[L02314564]

Stevyboy,

Have you checked with the Commercial Metals Company in California? They quoted me the great price ($.86 per pound) for my lead keel here in Texas. I didn't have to do anything to the keel except remove it from the boat. They even lifted it out of the back of my truck for me. The web site is:

w w w [dot] cmc [dot] com/Locations.aspx

They have a few locations in California. Not sure if any are close to you, but it would definitely be worth a phone call to find out.

[lowtide]

thanks,

they have a location 80 miles from me