Fate of the mega-yacht

Oh yes, that Cat with the windmill is very real.

The blades drive a shaft down to an underwater gearbox pod that drives a 6 blade prop. Designed and built by a local aircraft wing designer. You can sail it directly into a headwind. Slowly!

More Info on the Windmill Cat?

I must admit, I was wondering if it was a "Photo-Chop" as well. It seems to defy physics, as does the "perpetual motion machine." Can you provide links or other info as to it's design and specs? I'm fascinated by it if it actually works.

Also, does she go out much? Is it practical to take her out in strong winds? Variable pitch on the blades? Many questions come to mind on this.

Many thanks,
ROCKY

It's not photo-shopped very well because you can see what a stupid idea it is in the flesh. The twin Volvos make it move anywhere.

Unusual Catamaran with Wind Turbine Propulsion in Guernsey - YouTube

Don't feed the gulls...

Actually... they usually end up as bank owned... or burn to the waterline somewhere in a tragic accident!

It s an interesting question. Obviously alum and steel vessels can be cut and scrapped like Seafari (which sunk a couple of piers away from me during Wilma)

Fiberglass boats, which are being built bigger and bigger, will require different approaches. I don't think too many large FRP hulls have been scrapped yet, the smaller ones being cut up and going to landfills

I don't see why Fiberglass panels couldn't be ground and recycled. I have recovered sanding dust from fiberglass (with core sometimes) and used it as filler for epoxy. Works pretty well,

With the number of wrecks left by sandy i wouldn't be surprised if someone comes up with ways to grind up what s left after machinery and equipment has been removed.

Fiberglass can be ground up a disposed of but who's going to pay for it? At least with the metal boats there is the upside of scrapping the metal. The guys that cut up the Seafari say they made around $125k scrapping the boat, there is no upside when dismantling a plastic boat.

The OP poses a great question and one that I've asked myself several times throughout the years, what's going to happen to these older large yachts once they're no longer desirable for refits? For the time being it looks like they may turn into this...

I've seen several large yachts from the fifties and sixties that have been refit and are still languishing on the market. I know of one 130ish Camper & Nicholsons yacht (steel) from the mid sixties that was refit less than ten years ago that's been abandoned by the owner, the marina where it's sitting wants it gone and the bank that has the note on it doesn't want to have anything to do with it. After laying around without shorepower for the last couple of years, everyone involved has concluded that it's going to cost far more than it's worth to bring her back to proper condition again so there she sits, unloved, unattended to slowly turning to garbage.

The older ones have already become collectors items and are going up in price...

I think that the desk of the POTUS is made from the timbers of the HMS resolute. Back when pitch was the treatment of choice the wood could at least be burned for warmth. GRP tends not to smell so pretty when you burn it.

Yes, in 1880...

I thought it mostly a historical thing, but a quick google search for reclaimed ship wood furniture yields a number of firms claiming to do just that. None of which I feel like posting to the thread, but apparently it's still a real thing.

All of the furniture I saw was truly hideous.

Cost per benifet..mini reefs.. huummm

Where would the cost per benefit line be if you could use old hulls for artificial reefs? I understand it cost allot to remove hazardous items and a environmental cleaning but a bunch of 40 to 100+ boats, cleaned up, filled with cement or scrap culverts would have to be cheaper than cleaning a aircraft carrier for a reef. uh?
Old Small to large tugs are still offshore jax in 60 to 90 feet of water drawing fish. some more than 40 years old. I know the old WWII jax wreck is a pile of plates and near gone. A couple of plastic yacht hulls there could keep the fish close to shore for smaller boats as it has done for 70 years.
In my exploring offshore (years ago) I was amazed at the private mini reefs off the beaten paths. Found an old VW bug with a couple of r r scraps to hold it down. I'm sure it didn't last a year but it was drawing fish, just a bug for bugs. Now a nice Carver down there with all the windows out and decks up would be a wonder-home for a pile of fish.

Have not you guys heard of Tramp Steamers....

Now it Tramp Yachts plying the waters and lining the shores of far off third world seas...

I think I've found a new use for these old wind turbines.

Picnic spots.

Just think where the cameraman must be standing.

Hi,

I don't think the cameraman is standing anywhere, he or she will probably be sitting in a helicopter.

Wind mill farms

About 10 years ago, an old friend of mine from school, invested all his extra money in an wind mill farm project. The farm concisted of 10 windmills of newest technology and design with an output of 1 MW each. The onshore wind mill farm is located directly behind the dyke at northern Germany (optimum location, because of the everage wind over the year). The project company promised him a life time of the wind mills of 20 years and an average effective output over the year of 60 % of the nominal power. With the very high prices of ecologically produced electric power in Germany (guaranteed by the government for the complete 20 years), it sounded like a great deal. With the projected income per year, his investment would have paid off within 8 years. After that this time, the wind mill farm would have been a money making machine.

So far for the theory.

The average output of the farm was only 45 % in first 8 years. The provider of the electrical network in Germany had some paragraphs in the contract in very small printing, saying, that they can switch off his farm, if to much electricity is available, in order to stabilize the network. That happend quite often. So his average output went down to 38 %. After 8 years his financial plans went t..s up and he had to refinance with new loans. The bank became suspicious and rased the interest on the loan quite a bit. In 2 big storms, he lost 2 wind mills beyound repair. In one heavy thunderstorm, one wind mill got hit by a lightning and burned completely. They found out, that because of the salty air at the coast, the GRP body and the wings of the wind mill got a layer of salt on it, which made it electrically conducting and therefore susceptible for lightning strikes. Now they have to wash the wind mills regulary ($$$$). The wear and tear was much higher than expected and the lifespan of the wind mills had to be reduced to 12 years. The insurance company payed for the losses but after that, she got suspicious too and kicked him out.

Quintessence:

My good old friend from school, not only did not make any profit (the project company did!), he is out of business now and the wind mill farm is owned by the bank (which is not making any profit either). He got lucky away with it, because he listened to my advice, to run the wind mill farm as an independend Ltd. So, at least the bank could not take his private wealth.

Lessons learned:

Do not believe everything you are told. Especially from people, who want only your best, your money.