If the boat was adrift and in reasonable danger of being hit and sunk, you are probably entitled to reasonable salvage costs for the vessel. As a general rule, the greater the risk to you and your vessel in "salvaging" the other boat, the greater the salvage costs you're entitled to. YMMV... IANAL.
I can see the salvager and the boat owner having different opinions on how much that is, especially after it's safe and sound at the dock.
If it were truely worthwhile to salvage someone elses boat, I would think there would be "helicoptor chasers" out there scooping up your boat the minute you are rescued.
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Back in the day, people were opposed to the idea that the world might not be flat.
Most boats aren't worth a whole lot... and the salvage coverage only goes up to the value of the boat. So, a Cal 39 might only have $40,000 of coverage, and you might not even qualify for all of that. Keeping a salvage vessel that is capable of towing a damaged 40-65' sailboat back in heavy weather, is a pretty expensive proposition... and I seriously doubt that going out, even in relatively benign weather, finding the boat, and then towing it back is going to be profitable, unless you're dealing with boats and cargo worth millions of dollars.
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Sailingdog Telstar 28
New England
You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.
—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)
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I'll echo SailingDog, and add a word about the market for "fix-up" sailboats.
Right now, almost no one's buying, hence the value of your tow-in is probably lower than at any time in recent memory. The value of what you salved, and the percentage you may receive as a salvage award, and the legal costs you may have incurred to reach that percentage, and the cost of the equipment (helio? tug? or just a lucky auxiliary cruiser passing by?) may exceed what you are ultimately awarded in salvage, if indeed you're awarded anything.
then there's the tricky question of whether it's an abandoned boat, or not. Whose tow line it is doesn't add much to this analysis. Salvage (it isn't til a judge says it is, otherwise it may be just towage) is awarded after considering a whole bunch of factors (google "Blackwall/ salvage" to see what the Blackwall factors are), and it can be expensive to get there.
So there's enough uncertainty, and delay, and expense, to determine whether you're the "owner", or the salvor, or just the tower, and what the recovery to you is, to make the effort likely non-cost effective for a smallish sailing yacht.
The best expert on this subject is Mel Fisher. He spent decades in courts to prove his salvage rights. He had to pay off insurance claims to Lloyd's of London going back centuries.
Sailing Dog is the closest one so far. Salvage laws are complex and depnd a lot on when where and how. But basically if you find the vessel and tow it in, then you can make a salvage claim, that is essentially charge the owner for what you think was the cost of salvaging the vessel. You do not onw the vessel. For you to claim rights to the vessel the owner would have to relinquish their ownership. The exception is an abandoned vessel. And then you have to make a good faith attempt to find the owner of the vessel. Anyway, vessels salvage on the high seas come under admiralty law which is vastly different than civil law us mortals deal with every day. If you salvage a vessel within a state's jurisdiction the it comes under the laws of that state and they vary all over the map.
Read the article above about when it's salvage and when it's a tow. There is a significant difference.
By the way, it's probably a lot easier to just shop around the marinas for abandoned boats. A lot of boats get abandoned by the owners and left at marinas. The Marinas are happy to get rid of them, usually cheap cheap. Plus there are always ads for free boats to good homes on Craigslist and others such as the Woodenboat Rescue Foundation The Wooden Boat Rescue Foundation Search the net. You'l probably find something.
Very true, and the capital outlay to fund this is much lower, since you don't need a salvage vessel capable of towing a large sailboat in heavy seas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by peikenberry
By the way, it's probably a lot easier to just shop around the marinas for abandoned boats. A lot of boats get abandoned by the owners and left at marinas. The Marinas are happy to get rid of them, usually cheap cheap. Plus there are always ads for free boats to good homes on Craigslist and others such as the Woodenboat Rescue Foundation The Wooden Boat Rescue Foundation Search the net. You'l probably find something.
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Sailingdog Telstar 28
New England
You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.
—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)
If you're new to the Sailnet Forums... please read this POST.
I read a story from a year or two back. After 2 years in the courts, the sailboat that was towed-in was sold at auction. It sold for $9,000. This was the boat where the man fell off the boat.
So the people that towed the boat lost 2 days of fishing, had to pay legal fees and ended up getting next to nothing for their troubles. That is, nothing other than the intrinsic satisfaction of saving a sailboat, which was not really of intrinsic value to them, but would be for me.
Has anyone ever heard of it working out financially, to support going out and rescuing a derelict sailboat?
I doubt it is going to work out financially to salvage derelict sailboats, because derelict boats are not worth much by definition.
Quote:
derelict: bedraggled: in deplorable condition;
However, it is probably possible to make money based on salvaging larger abandoned boats, that are relatively new and in relatively good condition. For instance, if the Maltese Falcon is ever abandoned, I'm pretty sure that you could make a penny or two salvaging her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bene505
I read a story from a year or two back. After 2 years in the courts, the sailboat that was towed-in was sold at auction. It sold for $9,000. This was the boat where the man fell off the boat.
So the people that towed the boat lost 2 days of fishing, had to pay legal fees and ended up getting next to nothing for their troubles. That is, nothing other than the intrinsic satisfaction of saving a sailboat, which was not really of intrinsic value to them, but would be for me.
Has anyone ever heard of it working out financially, to support going out and rescuing a derelict sailboat?
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Sailingdog Telstar 28
New England
You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.
—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)
If you're new to the Sailnet Forums... please read this POST.
Never Forgotten
