Trash or Treasure? Abandoned and Derelict Vessels

We’ve written a lot about the enormous problem of abandoned and derelict vessels in the Oakland Estuary. However, it’s not just an Oakland problem, a Bay Area problem, or a California problem. It’s truly nationwide, and something states from Maine to California to Texas and Florida are trying to solve.

We’re reminded of this once again after our Peninsula-route magazine delivery driver Bob Bodnar sent in a few photos of a sunken boat on the shores of Oyster Cove, below the gleaming office towers in Brisbane and South San Francisco. There were a couple of other raft-ups anchored out in the same cove. Fortunately, the weather has been nice for the last few weeks. This is the same area where three boats burned in early November 2023.

We see this as a two-part problem. There were tons of fiberglass boats built during the boom years of the ’60s–’80s. It pains us to say this, but there are many in need of disposal. Unfortunately, this is currently very expensive, meaning collective action is needed from government agencies to help provide funding and a cost-effective plan for the disposal of boats. There are enormous industries built around recycling or disposal of automobiles, electronics, construction materials, tires and many other discarded items from modern life. Boats don’t easily fit into this waste stream, so creative ideas are needed to generate market or policy mechanisms to manage the process.

Alternatively, we still believe many of these old boats are an opportunity for future owners with the right skills and attitude. We still share a 1964 Rhodes 19 and a 1966 Pearson Ensign with family, sailing in Maine. They both need work, but both sail every summer. In the right hands, many of the boats built in that era, currently sitting idle, can be made very serviceable for years to come. The smallest boat in this year’s Baja Ha-Ha was the 1978 Cal 29 Ondina, which was covered in both Sightings and Changes in Latitudes in our current January issue.

There are lots of older, inexpensive boats available. The important thing is to go into a project with eyes wide open. Some owners would love to have you simply help them maintain and sail a boat. A boat partnership can help make fixing up an old boat much more fun and manageable. Listen to our podcast with Terry Castleman who, with three friends, bought a catamaran in Stockton for $2 (50 cents each). Since then, they’ve spent about $25,000 but have also sailed it from Stockton to Southern California, and had fun rebuilding it. They also discovered a hidden treasure of silver coins aboard during the clean-up.

As they say, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. We admit many boats do need disposal, though many can be saved. We hope the right policies and the right people can help solve the difficult riddle of getting these boats into the right hands before they become derelict and abandoned vessels strewn about the shoreline.