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So what happens about the mid-season scrub off against the scrubbing piles? In the future, you will find that scrubbing berths will have a concrete base draining into a basket that must be emptied before the tide comes back. Building these facilities will add to your yacht club subscription, conservancy charge or boatyard bill. It was OK in the past when there were fewer boats, and people did not realise the cumulative problems that were gradually building up. The problems are now catching up with us.
Now take a walk round the boatyard. You should find a tank for waste oil, so that when you winterise your engine, you can safely dispose of waste oil. Up by the fence you will probably find an old International Bucket Class one design that is gradually rotting back into the environment – unless it is made of fibreglass. Even steel can be cut up and recycled for scrap, but grp presents its own problems. We are probably just over a decade from legislation being introduced that will require recycling of redundant yacht hulls, and the cost of this will have to be built into the purchase price (just as is now happening with cars). Scrapping old yachts could become quite an interesting and profitable business!
Your stroll round the yard will take you to the waterfront. You may even remember the problems you had getting into the lift out berth. It needs dredging. Why don’t ‘they’ just get a bulldozer and push the mud back into the river; or just hose it away?
Sadly, it is not that easy.
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