lots of free 30ft+ sailboats up for grabs. quick and dirty remodel to open day boats?

hulls and even engines seem OK, its just interiors and top side wood etc that have gone bad.
First boat in Youtube was designed to live aboard forever and sail across oceans, but how many people do that?
Gut everything thats not structural, figure out a reasonable ratio of new installed fixed buoyancy VS reduced keel weight, MAYBE keep the mast and modest sails, and have much of the boat open, with optional bimini-tops. Instead of live-aboard for one or two people and crossing oceans in all weather, make it fair-weather day or weekend use picnic/fishing boat for 6-12 people.

Basically do this, but to a big sailboat, or even do it to a cabin cruiser.

 

Maybe this is a dumb question, but I wonder can they be cleaned up and used as a residence? Assuming that recurring slip fees and plus other costs or not exorbitant... some are in good shape. The pandemic will create a lot of homeless former renters, and some of them might have been former sailors, with skills and interest in restoration.

 

pretty sure there are good reasons no one is trying to restore these boats, such as trying to do so would involved weeks of battling dangerous mold in a confined space wearing a 'space suit'. I'm thinking more like haul out, cut some big holes in the deck, maybe leaving front vee berths sorta covered, and maybe about a 6 ft section midships where the mast sits intact, then turn the whole thing sideways and blast the mold out with firehose of some disinfecting solution, then turn on other side and repeat. Then inject most storage and other nooks and crannies with flotation/sealing foam, and maybe reduce keel weight to make it "unsinkable" so its fairly safe even for really stupid drunk tourist renters. Reduce sail size by salvaging the good parts of the existing sails, which will also help novices handling them and match the reduced keel weight, and reduce strain on any hardware and lines.

If you want to house homeless I think you'd be better off in aircraft graveyards in the desert. All you need to do is pump freshwater uphill into the airplanes, and gravity will get sewage to septic tanks, newly installed into the desert dirt, which will be fine in the otherwise bone dry desert environment. Residents with skillz could then be set to dismantling other aircraft.

Several SF Bay Area mayors have floated (pun intended) ideas about putting homeless on floating apt complexes or unused cruise ships, etc. Having worked around Public Housing I can't see how "just add water" would help anything.

 

Sinking the boats in saltwater would probably kill the mold. Raise the boat and oil the teak and you're go to go.

 

The boats are in San Diego. There is no cheap berthing, liveaboard berths have years long waiting lists, and mooring balls even longer. Long term anchoring is prohibited. All of this boats are sure to come with a "immediate removal from property" policy, and you don't get a berth elsewhere without insurance and a good looking exterior. For a project boat you must have a suitable hardstand beforehand.

 

That would be the biggest problem, I would think.

If you can't sail the boat to a new location and you can't trailer it, what then?

 

Good points, but what I'm smelling from the Youtube is the marinas where these boat are abandoned would be overjoyed if someone just started paying ANY money for the slip. I'm pretty sure any Marina requires you to sign a contract giving them pretty solid Legal to remove your boat and scrap it for lead in the keel and aluminum mast after fairly short period of non-rent payment. I am kinda wondering why these boats are still allowed to remain for more than 2 months.

So I'm thinking after a haulout and quick and dirty makeover, they'd be returned to current slips and start paying rent. They'd get cheap new paint job and new seat cushion covers to make them look OK. I guess they'd also benefit from tarps over the now wide open sections, but doesn't rain much in SD, and boats should be able to handle Southern California levels of warm rain regardless.

General idea would be to increase "economic activity" and instead of boats sitting for months without being even visited the boats would be getting rented every weekend, and maybe the Marina would see additional revenue from a cut of rental, services, parking, etc besides mooring fees..

 

It's not just boats. A 19 year-old mechanic coworker of mine showed up in a BMW 328 that he just bought for $200. Garage kept, beautiful car, just some minor issues like tired vacuum lines. He stopped on the side of the road to help the guy and they sold it to him on the spot.

 

Sorry Squidly, it does not work that way. You don't want your marina at 100% occupancy, and certainly not with very active people that are there all the time. It's just not the best business model (if the ideea is making money that is).

As for why the boats are still there, well there is a legal process to go trough for a lien sale, and if nobody buys them, there is the cost of disposal. Smaller boats can be a net loss even with lead keels, iron keeled ones have negative value from the start.

 

I hear the Economics model says when renting apartments you want about a 15% vacancy, any more means you are charging too much, less means too little. Not sure it that accounts for turnover costs VS "good renters", probably not.

Why would more and active people (weekend tourist renter types) not be good? Don't many marinas have mini-marts selling over priced beer, snacks, hats, sunscreen and cheap sun glasses that real boaters avoid but weekend renters will buy en mass?

Here in CA at least if you get a car towed off the streets for "abandoned" (72hours but realistically more like 2 weeks) you get slammed with about $300 first day and $50/day after up to about $4000 when it goes to Lien Auction, and if you don't pay you get a ding on your Credit Rating....just for being the name on the title. IIRC ditto for towed off private lot, which happens quicker than 2 weeks. Maybe rules for boats are completely different? Maybe they can't just be towed to Inpound Lot as easy.

But still seems odd marinas wouldn't be more aggressive in 86ing non paying tenants to free up income producing slots, being as that is their livelihood. If I was running a marina and saw an obviously abandoned boat now not paying I'd think "Sure it cost something to remove it ASAP, but it will cost same or more later on and until I clear that slot I'm also loosing that money, too".

 

"Sure it cost something to remove it ASAP, but it will cost same or more later on and until I clear that slot I'm also loosing that money, too".

I don't know that Marina business, but removing the boats and slip rental losses may be a cost of doing business, and be fully tax-deductible? So there might be no monetary cost to the Marina at all- even if, say, a salvage yard charges to take them, that fee might be deductible. The issue may be where the boats can be removed to, because of hazardous materials or dumping laws? Boat salvage yards and trash dumps may be full, recycling or shredding may be be unprofitable, or constrained by environmental laws? Meanwhile, there may be no legal system of monetary penalties for owners of abandoned boats, as there is for cars.

 

Derelicts with tarps and cheap paintjobs are not welcome. Also, once they are gone the space will be occupied immediately. Many boats in disrepair are kept in a slip simply to keep the space; the only reason the owners are paying rent.

 

You should probably audit an economics class to hear qualified opinions instead of one from your drinking buddies. Can you show any reference to back the validity of your numbers?

 

I'm not sure you understand what 'deductible' means. It doesn't make something cost free. It just means you don't pay taxes on that amount of money because you didn't make the money to tax. Money spent is money not made in profit. Either way, the marina is out whatever cost for dealing with the boat.

 

You are on the right track. There is a point where there is maximum profit for the business, and it's not at 100% occupancy. This is directly related to why you don't want a lot of foot traffic, how much you need to invest vs. your customers expectations. Take toilets for example, the cleaning crew can come twice a week, or you can need a permanent employee for it.


As for towing a boat to the impound lot, good luck with it. How much do you think it costs to tow a 15ft wide boat somewhere over land? Not to mention that such a place usually does not exist?
It stays where it is until the marina has an auction, maybe some fool buys it and pays for the haulout. If nobody shows up or the boat looks like it might sink, then it gets removed from the water (if the marina has a hardstand) and there it sits until there are enough of them to warrant hiring a crusher and a dumpster.