Burned yacht...

Passed by the South Bay boatyard and took some photos of what's left of the Polar bear...

Impressive how much remains....if she were fiberglass or aluminum it would just be a puddle on the ground. Looks like this may become a boat again someday.

I've been around a boat that had a minor fire (shore cord burned up some fiberglass around receptacle). It's been two years since the repair and everytime I step on the boat you can smell that burnt electrical odor.

Tad Roberts said:

Impressive how much remains....if she were fiberglass or aluminum it would just be a puddle on the ground. Looks like this may become a boat again someday.

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You might know better than most. But I find it hard to believe the cost of rehabbing it would be cost effective in the long run. I guess it depends on how deep the damage goes.

It does from the outside look like you could at least save the hull. Even if you had to cut away a great deal on the rest. But then there are all the costs of doing that plus the clean up/ gutting process.

Capt.Bill11 said:

You might know better than most. But I find it hard to believe the cost of rehabbing it would be cost effective in the long run. I guess it depends on how deep the damage goes.

It does from the outside look like you could at least save the hull. Even if you had to cut away a great deal on the rest. But then there are all the costs of doing that plus the clean up/ gutting process.

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Really impossible to tell anything from a few pictures....but, the paint is still on much of the hull. That paint and steel represent many many man hours that may be purchased at a salvage price from the insurance company. It might pay but obviously is only for those with rather deep pockets.

Tad Roberts said:

It might pay but obviously is only for those with rather deep pockets.

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And willing to accept some salvage karma!

Hey at this points disaster proof!

Depending on the clean-up and sandblast cost the hull and perhaps most of the superstructure is still good. Advertise it as a heat treated steel boat

CPseudonym said:

Advertise it as a heat treated steel boat

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Ski in NC said:

I've been around a boat that had a minor fire (shore cord burned up some fiberglass around receptacle). It's been two years since the repair and everytime I step on the boat you can smell that burnt electrical odor.

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Ozone Generators will clean up all odors. Amazon sells them for around 120 bucks. I bought an industrial one and it kills mold, mildew and all odors, period!

Best thing for stinky old boats. Makes them odorless.

Ozone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the U.S., air purifiers emitting low levels of ozone have been sold. This kind of air purifier is sometimes claimed to imitate nature's way of purifying the air without filters and to sanitize both it and household surfaces. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declared that there is "evidence to show that at concentrations that do not exceed public health standards, ozone is not effective at removing many odor-causing chemicals" or "viruses, bacteria, mold, or other biological pollutants." Furthermore, its report states that "results of some controlled studies show that concentrations of ozone considerably higher than these [human safety] standards are possible even when a user follows the manufacturer’s operating instructions."[76] A couple kept repeating health claims for the generator they sold, without supporting scientific studies. In 1998 a federal jury convicted them, among others things, of illegally distributing an ozone generator and of wire fraud.[77

My experience too after purchasing a fairly reputable and expensive unit.

I am very interested in ozone generators. I am going to start a thread so you guys can make more comments...

I also use an ozone generator on my boat when left sealed up. I set the generator to run for 10 minutes every three hours. The manual for the generator reminds you that ozone eats any neoprene based product when to much is in the air, so ya gotta keep the dosage under watch. One guy in our marina kind-of overdid it with a pretty big ozone generator he left running in his bilge for a week. He says some hoses were wasted.

I keep a portable unit in the head for those long, Sunday paper reading events.

Those of you using ozone generators have no idea what it might be doing to you. The impact to health isn't immediate but can be serious. Ozone generator manufacturers are notorious for making claims that have never been proved.

The owner and Captain of Polar Bear are wonderful people. They embraced the total boating scene here in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. Their boat and their crew will be greatly missed here. The boat was beautifully kept, professionally managed and a credit to all involved with her. We will miss her seasonal presence here. It was a privilege to get up in the mornings and sip coffee looking over at her here. What a tragedy, as all boat losses are!

CPseudonym said:

Depending on the clean-up and sandblast cost the hull and perhaps most of the superstructure is still good. Advertise it as a heat treated steel boat

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I would stay far away from that boat. Heat does some funny things to steel. Maybe the hot fire quenched with water tempered it. At any rate steel subjected to high temps is not the same steel as before. We have a couple of metalurgists on the forum like Sunchaser. It will be interesting to hear from them.

Moonstruck- You nailed before I could post. I'd stay far away from a steel hull after a hot fire as this was. Close examination will show buckling, heaving and general out of lineament so extreme that the cost would be huge and -frustrations many- Good candidate for the scrap yard, sad as it may seem. Let the insurance folks deal with it and find another project or boat. Good post-
Al

I would think the hull is going to have more value as scrap than as a hull. The problem is getting it in pieces and to the scrap yard.

BandB said:

I would think the hull is going to have more value as scrap than as a hull. The problem is getting it in pieces and to the scrap yard.

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Metal is bringing good money today. That close to Mexico, that carcass would already be gone today if not for fences and security. Never under estimate the power of the willing with a pickup truck and torches! Lol.

If they are going to scrap the hull, I'd imagine some enterprising yard might buy it at scrap price and refit her as a fishing boat or some other commercial use. It seems like a waste to cut up such a large steel hull.
She's not too ugly to drag a net.

It's impossible to make any real assessment, positive or negative, based on a few pictures or what you think may have happened. The real beauty of steel is that you can cut away the damaged parts (in this case certainly the entire topsides) and replace at essentially full strength and structural integrity.

Of course experts will assess what's left. My observation was that if the paint is undamaged (and I don't know that it is) the steel did not get very hot. Can steel change composition and leave the paint on it undamaged? I have no idea. This site seems to suggest that even if the steel is buckled it's only lost 10% of it's strength......

Fire damage assessment of hot rolled structural steelwork - Steelconstruction.info

Building a steel hull is the cheap part of the boat all the mechanical parts is where the cost is. Better to scrap and start fresh even for a fishing boat.

funangler said:

Building a steel hull is the cheap part of the boat all the mechanical parts is where the cost is. Better to scrap and start fresh even for a fishing boat.

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It's two-fold financially undesirable. First, is the value of the steel hull isn't that great especially when you need to test it and redesign the boat. But second it's a horrific gamble. It's not just that you're spending X dollars on the hull. You're then going to invest several times that in building beyond the hull. So you don't just stand to lose your hull investment. You now stand to use the total build investment or many times your initial investment.

You just don't build on a questionable foundation.

BandB said:

You just don't build on a questionable foundation.

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Thread drift......

I don't think that statement makes much sense. The vast majority of people on this forum are going to sea in 40+ year old fiberglass structures built by unknown Asian people with absolutely zero quality control and no testing. People are happy to risk the lives of their families on boats which they have no information as to structural integrity, seaworthiness, or safety. The only fact available is "It hasn't sunk yet."

Yes, I know about pre-purchase surveys, I've read hundreds of them. The structure "appears sound".....this is a joke. Fitness for purpose is avoided completely, due to liability. The only thing stated with conviction is that the boat exists, that they will stand behind.

The other side of that argument is that pleasure boats spend few hours under way, don't go far from shelter, and mostly travel in good weather. So far (and within tight limits) insurance companies judge the risk quite small.

Back on topic....

No one should touch her because the hull is the cheap part? No one should rebuild her because there are thousands of existing, floating, useable boats for sale at bargain prices. But some people have other ideas.......

Tad Roberts said:

Thread drift......

I don't think that statement makes much sense. The vast majority of people on this forum are going to sea in 40+ year old fiberglass structures built by unknown Asian people with absolutely zero quality control and no testing. People are happy to risk the lives of their families on boats which they have no information as to structural integrity, seaworthiness, or safety. The only fact available is "It hasn't sunk yet."

Yes, I know about pre-purchase surveys, I've read hundreds of them. The structure "appears sound".....this is a joke. Fitness for purpose is avoided completely, due to liability. The only thing stated with conviction is that the boat exists, that they will stand behind.

The other side of that argument is that pleasure boats spend few hours under way, don't go far from shelter, and mostly travel in good weather. So far (and within tight limits) insurance companies judge the risk quite small.

Back on topic....

No one should touch her because the hull is the cheap part? No one should rebuild her because there are thousands of existing, floating, useable boats for sale at bargain prices. But some people have other ideas.......

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The "unknown Asian people with absolutely zero quality control and no testing" isn't a fair statement at all. Furthermore, your analogy is off. It's one thing to buy a boat that has been built, can be checked and tested fully before putting more money in it. However, I stick by my statement. It's quite another to buy a hull, spend the money completing the boat before you can find out how it really performs.

As to Asian builds, many of the builders are well known and have a history of either quality or lack thereof depending on builder. No one hesitates to buy Nordhavn and they're an Asian builder. There are quite a few others with solid reputations.

Now a 40 year old boat is always subject to question. But it can be surveyed and a good surveyor can do more than you describe. Furthermore, it can be given a sea trial and the purchaser included. You cannot give a burned boat's hull a sea trial.

Again, I would never put money into just a shell of a hull that had been damaged even if it appeared minor. Wouldn't matter whether steel, glass or any other material.

That hull only at this point has salvage value based on the material itself. Anyone investing further in it is just like those taking old fishing hulls and building upon them. When they finish the build, the resulting boat is of far less value than the cost to build it.

There is a good chance there is a good bit of undamaged machinery below. Like engines, generators, tanks, pumps, shafts, rudders, props, etc. A fire on a steel boat often does not get through decks and bulkheads. Depends on if hatches were open.

Who knows..

Could also be flooded from the firehoses, too.