Not a pretty sight, but unfortunately not a rare one either: old boats that no one is interested in any more and that are left to languish somewhere in the corner of a harbour or berth can be found in many harbours. Under a layer of dirt, there are usually GRP boats, 30 or 40 years old or even older, whose ownership is often unclear. But as long as no one takes care of refit, sale or the expensive and time-consuming disposal, the boats stay where they are.
In France, the problem is huge. The industry has been working on a solution for years and has currently launched a large-scale scrapping campaign. Over the next five years, 20,000 to 25,000 old GRP boats, including numerous rowing boats and motorboats, are to be scrapped. Owners can register for scrapping via an online form. They are then only responsible for the costs and organisation of transporting the boat to the nearest recycling facility.
Didier Toqué has come up with an innovative alternative to waste disposal. Two years ago, he and co-managing director Romain Grenon founded the Bathô shipyard in a suburb of Nantes, and they have been delivering since this spring.
The idea: instead of sawing up the boats and putting them through the shredder, the shipyard gives them an unusual refit. Depending on the customer's wishes, Toqué and his team convert the aged GRP boats into a small domicile on land, whether as an arbour for the garden, as accommodation for a campsite or as an adventure playground.
Read the report in YACHT 10/2019 to find out how the conversion from scrap boat to land boat works, which boats the shipyard has already transformed and how the idea has been received. We also take a look at other boat recycling initiatives from around the world. The magazine is available in stores from today, as well as in the Delius Klasing Shop and here as a digital edition.
