Monday, April 1, 2024

What To Do With An Old Boat

Disconnecting The Boat Fuel Line & Checking The Condition Of The Fuel

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With oil in the cylinders, good spark plugs, and clean gear lube, its time to get serious! Fuel! When fuel sits for a long period of time. It loses its octane.

Then, depending on what kind of fuel was left in there there could be a lot of water in the tank.

Also, depending on what kind of additives have been put in the fuel, it could be sludgy, slimy, or have sediment in it! Its best to avoid running any of that junk into the engine.

What we can do is find a good place in the fuel line close to the engine, and disconnect the fuel line from the boat to the engine.

Makes sure that the boat has the bow lifted into the air. Any water or dirt that is in the tank, will be shifted to the back of the tank and pulled out of the pickup tube first.

If the bow is down, then there could be water in the tank, but just shifted to the front of the tank, where you couldnt get to it.

Then, if you finish getting the boat ready, and take it out the first time you get on plane, the water will shift to the back and the engine will suck it all up and youll be dead in the water!

Floating off into another wonderful lesson, via hard, real-life experience! Once you have good fuel, were getting so close to the water you can almost smell the salt!

How Long Can A Boat Sit

There is no exact figure for this type of question. If a boat is properly serviced, winterized, or summarized. Then it can theoretically sit indefinitely depending on the location.

Now, if the boat is out in the weather, and hasnt been properly prepared for long term storage, then it might not last very long.

If there is water in the lower unit and it is put away in the North during winter, the water will freeze and crack the lower unit.

Destroying it! If its put away down in the South, same circumstances. Then the gears and bearings will rust and corrode, failing when it is put under a load and ran hard!

If its sitting out under a tree and filling up with animals, making themselves their own standing Carnival Cruise then, the boat will begin to rot away pretty quickly.

The moral of the story is, that you should properly perform the right procedures before putting your boat away for any period of time. That is if it is going to be during winter or for more than 6 months.

Amazing Ways To Repurpose Old Boats

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Having a boat that you can go fishing in or just enjoy the beautiful sunset while youre out on the water is great. But having a weathered or broken boat that has outlived its use on the water is just as wonderful for these repurposing ideas!Are you a fan of the beach, the nautical, rustic, or the summer? Then these are the perfect projects to bring that atmosphere into your home!From garden planter to decorative lighting inside the house these ideas prove that a boat can be so much more than just well, a boat. They are useful whether they are old, new, whole, or broken!Be inspired to repurpose an old boat yourself by taking a look at our list below and let us know which one youd like to have in your home!Do you happen to have an old boat lying around? There are so many possibilities for it just check our album below to know what were talking about! Click on any image to start the lightbox display. Use your Esc key to close the lightbox. You can also view the images as a slideshow if you prefer?

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Draining The Engine Fuel

We dont want to forget about the fuel that could be left in the engine though! Well want to drain that out next.

We can do this by figuring out whether you have a Carbureted engine or Fuel Injected Engine. The process is basically the same for both, with only one difference.

If you have carbs, then all you need to do is unscrew the drain screws on the carbs.

Just until there is a little fuel coming out of the screw, dont unscrew it all the way or you could drop the screw!

Then using a primer bulb on the shop tank, , prime up the bulb until there is fuel pouring out of the screws.

Pushing all of the old stuff through the lines and out the carbs. Those carbs could give you problems before this is all over with, but that is a whole other subject.

You will just need to remove them and clean them out if the engine wont start and run properly.

Then for the fuel-injected engines. Locate the VST, , and on the bottom of it, there will be a drain screw. Some even have a drain tube on it as well. Same deal, unscrew it a little until the fuel comes out.

Then prime the bulb until clean fuel comes out.

Some VSTs have a vent plug or a Schrader valve that you can press in to let air into the VST to replace the fuel that is coming out.

This allows you to get all of the fuel out of the VST and replace it with the brand new fuel.

All Good Things Must Come To An End

No Need For A Boat Lift, Go Old School With Rails ...

Countless boats have been abandoned across the province of Ontario in backyards, storage yards, and farm fields. If left untouched, these abandoned vessels contaminate terrestrial & marine environments , impact the aesthetics of facilities & areas where they have been abandoned, and pose a safety risk to individuals that approach the vessel.

As a boat owner, you are responsible for the proper disposal of your vessel. Boating Ontario has compiled a list of businesses in the province that offer boat disposal services.

Some businesses offer full-service disposal including pick up, transport, salvage & disposal, others offer partial service including one or more of the above services.

Please contact and work directly with these organizations to make arrangements to meet your needs.

Landfills Boat Recycling & Disposal Solutions

If you have questions that are not addressed below, please send us an e-mail at and we’ll find the answer for you!

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How Do You Know That The Gas Is Bad

It is fine to expect gas to stay suitable for up to 90 days. But how will one tell or identify lousy gas? For this, follow one or more of these steps:

  • Check for the foul smell . If the smell is the same as that of a brand new and sealed one, then the gas is perfectly fine. Or else, theres an issue. The gas that has a sour smell is bad.
  • The appearance can also let one know about its health. A gas that is darker than usual is not good either.
  • If one is experiencing issues in starting the boat engine, it is probably due to harmful gas. Low combustion is a symptom of bad gas. If the engine is not starting in one, two, or three goes, then check for deficient gas.
  • Sometimes, check engine light may illuminate. It generally happens due to poor gas.
  • How To Get Rid Of A Boat: Disposing An Old Boat

    The real question that many people have asked is, how long is that boat going to sit there? Weve all heard that the worst thing for a boat to do is to sit. Which is extremely true, it is the first step to becoming a problem in the boat owning world. So

    How To Get Rid Of A Boat or Dispose Of An Old Boat? There are only four real options to get rid of a boat. You can either sell it, donate it, recycle it, or have it taken to your local trash dump.

    Getting an old boat out of your yard can be a grueling process. Here are your best options on how to begin and complete the process of getting that old boat gone!

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    How To Dispose Of Used Boats

    Consider the advice of Harbor Salvage, which offers boat disposal services in the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding areas: If you think your boat has any value, your best choice is to sell it. If you think it has no value left, or youve tried to sell it and have not been able to, then contact us. Or consider the offer from Trashcan Willys, which removes junk boats in New England and charges for boat removal: If there are any items of value that go with the boat, they may choose to discount the price of hauling the boat away. Some other outfits, like BoatDump.com, will remove a boat for free or pay cash for some boats 1995 or newer, but then charge fees based on missing boat parts that would be of salvage value, such as engines or drive units.

    Buying A Boat That Has Been Sitting

    What to with an old boat with no value?

    If you are looking at buying a boat that has been sitting for a long time, you should perform all of these processes, plus a couple more. You should do a spark and compression on the engine.

    Then you should check over the boat. Look at these main points. The fuel tank, the hull, the stringers, and the transom. You want to make sure that all of these check out and are in good working condition. Not rotting or falling apart!

    Here is a great article we wrote about Things You Should Know Before Buying a Project Boat! We give a lot of really insightful tips on things that you are going to want to go over before buying it. Especially it if has been sitting around for a while!

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    Landscaping Ideas To Reuse And Recycle Old Boats For Yard Decorations

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    Landscaping ideas to reuse and recycle old boats for yard decorations and unusual containers with flowers are creative, very interesting and surprising. Old boats have universal appeal and can be used for decorating large and small backyard designs in any styles. Lushome collection of beautiful yard decorations, recycling old boats, may inspire you to turn these objects into spectacular handmade garden decorations, flower beds which add character to your beautiful landscaping.

    Creative landscaping ideas are always popular. Raised beds with flowering plants and miniature flower garden design are just two simple and attractive ways to personalize yard landscaping and add unique decorative accents to backyard designs. Whether you want to use green decorative plants or bright blossoms, boats are great yard decorations and charming containers for plants and flowers.

    Modern ideas to reuse and recycle help create natural backyard landscaping and add a natural feel to garden design. Old boats filled with decorative plants and flowers look gorgeous, vivid and surprising, blending bright colors, unique texture, vintage style and contemporary ideas into striking centerpieces for yard landscaping.

    Sell It To A Salvager Or New Owner

    If you have a decent sized boat, then it might be possible to sell it to a salvager. They will typically come out and assess the salvage value of your boat and if it makes economic sense, they will take it off your hands.

    Salvagers might be able to get something of value out of your old fiberglass boat.

    However, if it is not of much value then they will not accept it, even for free.

    There might even be someone out there looking to buy an old junk fiberglass boat for a refurbishment project. You would be surprised at what people will buy!

    Handy Hint: Click here for negotiation tips you can use when selling or buying a used boat.

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    Should There Be A Sales Tax On Buying A Boat

    The idea of a sales tax is supported by Phil Horton, the RYAs environment and sustainability manager, who sees it as part of a broader picture.

    We need to consider the issue of extended producer responsibility, he says. Boat manufacturers need to think about the long-term impact of what they are doing and contribute to the boats eventual disposal. Its like batteries: you can take any make of battery to a recycling centre because manufacturers are required by law to join the Battery Compliance Scheme and pay for old batteries to be recycled.

    Elsewhere in the world, governments are taking a more proactive approach and dealing with the growing problem of abandoned boats. In Canada, the government has paid to have derelict boats removed from its coasts. In 2018, the Swedish government provided r300,000 in subsidies to scrap 500 boats under 3 tonnes free of charge, providing the owners paid for transportation costs.

    But France seems to have found the best solution. Thanks to new rules introduced in 2019, owners are required to pay an eco tax when they register their boats which is obligatory and the funds generated are used to scrap old ones. As in Sweden, all the owners have to do is have the boat transported to an approved recycling centre.

    So far, the British government has taken a lackadaisical attitude to the problem, but the growing interest in environmental issues and in particular about plastic pollution is likely to change all that.

    Yard Decorations That Reuse And Recycle Old Boats

    Owner built

    Creating a focal point organize and style backyard designs. Old boats with flowers and decorative green plants make wonderful centerpieces for yard landscaping that catch the attention and add personality to outdoor living spaces.

    Old boats can be decorated with freestanding birdbaths, a fountain, sculpture or piece of contemporary garden art, traditional handmade crafts, driftwood pieces and other traditional and modern yard decorations to create spectacular displays and amazing focal points of backyard designs or front yard landscaping.

    Plan to plant a succession of flowering plants to create a blooming garden in all four seasons. Spring flowers can be followed by beautiful flowers that bloom in summer and then colorful fall mums that celebrate the autumn season. Use decorative green plants in different sizes and add more colors to your boat container with paint and small decorations.

    Unusual containers that reuse and recycle old boats are wonderful yard landscaping ideas that can hide unappealing spots and emphasize eco friendly and natural front yard and backyard designs. Old boats are great for miniature gardens that are bright and charming.

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    Examples From Across The Pond

    Coastal Europe has challenges similar to Rhode Island’s, with limited amounts of high-premium land and thousands of end-of-life fiberglass boats. Norway, a country with a long coastline and thousands of decommissioned boats, is challenged by the fiberglass problem. The Norwegian recycling company Veolia, along with SINTEF Materials and Chemistry and other regional partners, developed a chemical process to separate a boat’s polyester and fiberglass, allowing both parts to be reused.

    Some European governments are considering limitations and bans on landfills and dumps. Germany has restrictions against disposal of composite waste in its landfills. In 2018, France enacted an eco-tax for the disposal of end-of-life boats to stem France’s rising costs of dismantling and recycling them. As of 2018, China, once the consumer of the world’s trash, is no longer accepting U.S. recyclable waste.

    How Do You Recycle A Boat

    If you have a boat today that youd like to recycle, heres what you should do. First, is the boat still seaworthy? If so, you can, of course, sell it. You can also attempt to donate it. Yacht World has an excellent guide to donating your old boat to charity. If your boat isnt seaworthy anymore, disposal is the best option.

    Disposal options vary from location to location, so talk with your local marina to find out what options are available near you. Some areas have a boat salvage yard that will take your old ship and dismantle it, and sell off any parts in working condition. They will also take care of removing hazardous fluids and disposing of the fiberglass body.

    In many cases, though, the only available option is to send a boat to a landfill. When a boat is sent to a landfill, it must first have hazardous fluids, like oil, removed. If you are unable to do this yourself, reach out to a local boat shop to see if they provide this service.

    Some areas of the U.S. have boat recycling and disposal programs. California has one of the best programs in the country. The Vessel Turn-In Program allows boat owners to turn in their boat to a local agency. They will then dispose of your boat properly. While these programs are costly, they can reduce the number of abandoned boats in marinas.

    Unfortunately, for most boat owners in the U.S., landfills and salvage yards are the only real options for disposing of their old vessel. That should begin to change in the coming years.

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    Where To Get Rid Of Your Boat:

    Now that you have decided to get rid of your boat, you might be wondering where you should get rid of it.

    Places where boating is more common often have more options. This is commonly near oceans and towns that have high amounts of water traffic.

    Florida and California are two common places where people seek to get rid of their used junk boats.

    Checking The Oil Levels & Condition

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    Depending on if you are working on a 2-stroke or a 4-stroke, it will dictate what you want to do here.

    If you have a 4-stroke making sure that the oil level is where it should be is something that needs to be done prior to firing up the engine.

    You dont want to run the motor when it is low on oil. This is also an opportune time to change the oil if it is really old and dirty.

    Or just make sure that the oil is in good condition. On the 2-stroke, we want to make sure that the oil injection system is full.

    When we are talking about taking a boat that has been sitting for years, its hard to say what has happened during those years it was sitting. Ive seen all kinds of weird stuff that you would never think could happen, happen.

    An example of this one time someone came down to get their boat out of storage that had been at another marina for a couple of years. When they got here, one engine wouldnt start! So, they brought the boat over to get it checked out.

    When we got the boat and pulled the cowling off. The sight was unbelievable! Someone had stolen the entire powerhead off the engine! The whole thing! Wire harness and everything else! Gone!

    So, you never know what you are going to find when dealing with a boat thats been sitting. So make sure all of the oil reservoirs are full!

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