It is an old hatt after all... These things are tough but not stupid proof. How hard is it to bring a big crane on the beach, get some slings under and lift her out?
I'm sure they will eventually do something, just have no idea what it will be. I'm leaning toward believing they will junk it completely though.
first he gets a 2 GOOD lawyers......tells he relied on his chartplotter that he paid big bucks for....that nite, for some strange reason it acted up twice.....after he realized he was hopefully aground, he got the people off safely and began drinking to relieve his mind of the mistake caused by the navigation aid.....goes to court in 18 months and sues Garmin for 4.5 million.. unfortunately in this modern world, this is not impossible..
Sad thing is it's not taken seriously until someone is killed and often not that serious then. Three words. Mary Jo Kopechne.
update......Garmin settles out of court for 3.4 mil plus salvage , cost of repairs , and all local fines.....lawyers get 2.2 mil,he gets 1.1 mil. and all charges dropped...1 month after settlement ,he and the lawyers sue the town of Palm Beach for 1 mil. for unjustly causing him stress and dourest during his salvage attempts........meantime he buys a used 90' Burger and after giving a huge endorsement of their product, equips the boat with all Furuno stuff , for free.
They could drag her up onto the beach out of the water, then lift her and load her on a barge moored / anchored at the inlet. It's a shorter distance than the road. No matter what a crane will be needed if they go the land removal route. Thinking about it this whole idea it is one of the expensive ways. I wonder if the USCG will be the one making the decisions over time anyway? The bag her and drag her is the cheapest way out of this mess. If Baker even owns the boat? He cant afford this craziness. That's why it's still beached / aground.
Sad thing is, it wouldn't have been very expensive if they got her out of there the day she grounded. I would think that if the boat was insured, the insurance company would've got her out of there soon. So my guess is it isn't. Why not just lift her from a crane on a barge and could then set her right on a barge, if not the barge the crane is on (if it will hold the weight). I'm sure there are a few ways to remove her, just that nobody wants to pay for it, and an old Hatteras just isn't worth the expense.
Am I the only one curious as to what they might find on the boat if they went through it? Maybe someone doesn't really want it recovered. Who knows? We don't know for certain the owner or anything else.
I would imagine this big chunk of stick-out which eventually will have to be removed, one way or the other, would make for a terrible place to hold secrets. And, I mean, it's a boat, for love's sake, if you don't want anybody to "go through it" you don't beach it, you just sink it in the open, simple as that.
Well, just knowing this is a person who has done many things in plain daylight. If it's destroyed and put in a dumpster or dragged to sea he has hope. And there may be nothing. There is definitely more to come to this story.
My guess of course is no insurance. When I had my grounding, I had my papers in order including insurance and a Sea Tow membership. Sea Tow was on it immediately. The boat was in the slings and on dry land the next day with an AC unit blowing into the main salon.
Thomas Baker had until today to remove his vessel from the sand. Now Palm Beach County is going to get involved and develop a plan to move her and they'll fine and/or arrest him. This is his 3rd alcohol related arrest in the past 2 years. From the Palm Beach Post, for some reason I can't cut and paste the link.
Here is the link. http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/n...e-looms-for-removal-of-derelict-vessel/nsZr6/ This isn't exactly threatening: “We don’t know exactly what will take place after the five days, but in a scenario situation Baker could receive a citation,” Parrish said. “Then if he does not follow the citation that could lead to an arrest.” As to the condition of the boat: “The vessel is breaking apart with interior plywood sections adrift in the water and beach,” he wrote. “Fiberglass is starting to ‘delaminate.’ Various pieces of small boat attachments and equipment are embedded in the sand.”
It was laying on it's port side completely heeled over when I saw it this weekend. No restoring it now; removal and disposal only.
Am I the only one who find it pathetic that the representative of a powerful government agency admts that they don't know what is going to happen after the 5 days is up?